Sega Genesis
Released in 1996 by EA Sports
Grade: C
It’s more of the same in EA’s simplistic attempt at recreating soccer in 16 bits. It’s fast and frantic with its fair share of control difficulties.
Where it falls in the series
It’s the fourth of five FIFA titles on Genesis. Differences among the games seem to be pretty minor, and I’m not inclined to play them all since I don’t care much for FIFA 95, which is consistently hailed as the best of the Genesis run. In my opinion, soccer games don’t get really interesting until the PS3/Xbox 360 generation.
Praises and gripes
On the bright side, the game has EA’s typical look, with cute little player models on a nice grassy surface. The action moves fast, whether you play on simulation or the ridiculous, sped-up “action” setting. There are now real player names, which were added in FIFA 96. And you can play 6-on-6 indoor soccer in this version. That’s cool, right?!
It’s still got the diagonal camera view, which is still too close in. It works great when your teammates are directly above or below you, but it becomes a problem when the guy you should pass to is just offscreen.
The controls are fairly simple, but there are issues. The slide tackle is assigned to the same button you use to switch players. You can only slide tackle when you’re close enough, which seems to make sense, but it takes time to learn what that range is. There are headers and bicycle kicks, but they’re pretty tricky to get right. And in a bad adjustment, this game attempts to alleviate the “pass to nobody” problem from earlier versions by making passes go to a teammate most times, but it ruins the “pass to yourself” tactic that helps you sprint with the ball.
The game makes the effort to satisfy soccer purists with a solid set of strategy settings. There are fouls and offsides that can be toggled on or off, and believe me, you’ll ditch offsides after the first time your goal-scoring chance is ruined. CPU defenders are masters of the “offsides trap,” a crafty tactic that even scarf-wearing hipster soccer fans don’t know.
(I only know the offsides trap because I had a former Marine as a soccer coach when I was 10 years old, and he taught the team how to execute it to perfection, only for clueless teenage referees to ignore offsides calls in the games. He would then lose his mind and get kicked out of the public parks where we played.)
Anyway, the game doesn’t feel much like actual soccer. That’s probably a good thing, since patiently passing around forever like a real soccer team doesn’t sound too fun. But when I shoot and the goalie deflects the ball all the way to the sideline, I’m thinking, “Has that ever happened in a soccer game?”
I guess I just don’t get 16-bit FIFA. It’s not fun. It’s frustrating. Everyone else says FIFA 95 is the best of the bunch, and I’m comfortable agreeing with that without playing through all the games.