Reviewed: December 9, 2006
Reviewed by: David Hillyer

Publisher
Electronic Arts

Developer
EA Canada

Released: October 17, 2006
Genre: Sports
Players: 1-2
ESRB: Everyone

8
9
9
8
8.6

Supported Features

I’ve tinkered with the PSP before, but not a whole lot, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I recently reviewed the XBOX and XBOX 360 versions of FIFA 07. The XBOX version I liked a lot, the 360 version… not so much. As usual, EA made a big deal on the box about being the #1 selling soccer franchise – which isn’t to say it’s the best, just that they’ve sold a lot. So I unwrapped the PSP version with some level of trepidation. Would I find all the fun of hundreds of teams, or the disappointment of a PSP sized handful of teams?

The EA team that developed FIFA 07 for PSP worked alongside the team that developed for the PS2, so I was hoping for a feature-rich treat.

Club leagues include: Austrian Bundesliga, Belgian League, Brazilian League, Danish SuperLigaen, Dutch Eredivisie, FA English Premier League, FA Championship, FA League One and Two, German Bundesliga 1 and 2, Italian Serie A and B, K-League, Ligue 1 and 2 Orange, Major League Soccer, Mexican 1st Division, Norwegian Tippeligaen, Polish Ekstraklasa, Portuguese Superliga, Scottish Premier, Spanish Primera and Segunda, Swedish Allsvenskan, Swiss Axpo Super League, Turkish Super League, and a Rest of the World which includes 14 club teams such as Boca Juniors and River Plate. Thrown in for good measure are 3 unlockable teams in Classic and Current World All-Stars and the MLS All Stars.

FIFA 07 also includes 41 International teams. Which is a fair amount, however when you look closely, you’ll find that there are some glaring omissions – most notably 11 of the 32 teams that were just in the World Cup! EA did not include Angola, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Costa Rica, Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Trinidad & Tobago.

Let’s say you wanted to second guess (former) USA coach Bruce Arena and add Taylor Twellman to the squad… just to see how the USA would do in the World Cup. Well, you can’t. Ghana and Czech Republic were in USA’s group of death but not in FIFA 07. It’s the biggest sporting event in the world. Ghana and Netherlands even qualified for the round of 16!

I understand EA needs to make money to cover the costs of league licenses and paying all the big star players for… well, motion capture I guess. So it’s understandable that they would want to push people to buy FIFA World Cup to get international teams. The people that wanted to buy it already have, now the World Cup is over and FIFA 07 is missing some entertaining teams.

Also absent once again from FIFA are Women’s international teams, even though the Women’s World Cup is in 2007. Come on EA. The women’s game has enough fans to warrant a few sectors of disc space devoted to their game. It might even open up FIFA’s advertising demographic a little.

It would also have been nice to see some classic teams like previous World Cup winners and a handful of classic clubs. Maybe next year.

Basically aside from the few omissions above, this game is loaded. Nobody else even comes close.

Actual gameplay has improved greatly over previous versions. The PSP uses the same player physics as the PS2 – for good and bad. There are specific weaknesses to the player A.I. which these games share, but overall the gameplay on higher levels is very challenging. I went from killing teams in Amateur mode to finding myself in survival mode in World Class. Needless to say, the gameplay has improved greatly from previous years.

The opening menu has the standard list of options plus a few ones unique to the PSP.

FIFA 07 Manager is a fairly robust simulation putting you in the management seat. The PSP version operates similar to the XBOX and PS2 version. You sign on with the team of your choice, pick a sponsor, and you choose how to best spend money. You can upgrade coaches, stadium managers, and even do special training sessions to increase player ratings. Statistical data is also included to help you make wise decisions during transfer windows.

You can choose to play the games, manage the games in the visual simulator (with the option of intervening if your team is playing like garbage), and quick sim just gives you the results.

Game Modes includes a tournament with specific leagues or custom. Tournament mode allows from 8 to 32 teams in standard World Cup style group play, straight up knockout, and a league with up to 24 teams. There are also 61 challenges which are considerably different than other consoles. There are three categories of challenges: Comeback, Rout, and Custom. Challenges range from coming back from 2 goals down late in the game to winning by a certain number of goals with a clearly overmatched team.

Unique to PSP are two mini-games including a really fun juggling game which you turn your PSP on its side. Your player of choice then appears onscreen and starts juggling. Arrow icons appear and you must quickly hit the corresponding arrow on your PSP. It’s a little frustrating at first, but once you get the hang of it you’ll be stuck there for hours.

The other mini-game is called Wall Attack. It’s basically a soccer version of Jawbreaker. At first I thought it was a complete waste of time but after a few rounds it tapped into my Tetris addiction and I couldn’t put it down. Basically you kick a ball at rows of colored blocks. They explode when you hit them and the blocks above slide down. Various combos come into play with colors, team logos, and other items. It makes for a really fun game.

You had better practice the mini-games because when you go into management mode, those are the key to improving your team. The training session in management mode is accomplished through the Juggling and Wall Attack mini-games. If you do well on them, your player gets a bump in experience and skill points. But do poorly and your player will suffer the consequences.

FIFA 07 is Wi-Fi compatible so you can play against others in the same room via Ad Hoc networking, or over the Internet via Infrastructure network through EA Nation.

If you play over the Internet, you’ll be treated to an ESPN Soccernet ticker which streams scores from various soccer leagues around the world. Rosters are updated automatically (you can choose to save them or not). Just make sure your rosters are current on both your PS2 and PSP if you plan on transferring management data between the two.

The times I was online there were usually around 15 people playing so it took a couple minutes to get a match going. But once started, it was a new challenge every game. It’s unfortunate that voice chat isn’t possible, but playing against an unpredictable opponent is always fun.

You can also sync your Management team data with your PS2 to take your club with you on the road. When you get back home you can sync back up and complete your season on the PS2. It isn’t clear if this is possible with FIFA 07 on the PS3 with backward compatibility, but with Sony’s focus on added value between these systems, I suspect FIFA 08 will bring even more cross-console features.

Load times are a bit on the slow side, but given all that’s included in this game it’s understandable. Remember to save between games to free up some much needed memory.

The graphics that suffer most on the PSP are probably the crowds and other minor details. The crowds are of the flat paper cutout looking variety with the correct home team colors, but the focus is on the game, as it should be. Players have unique looks and hairstyles. Some players have unique signature moves. Unfortunately there is no player creation or team creation mode.

FIFA 07 for PSP includes 48 stadiums, with an additional 45, which are unlockable variations (nighttime versions of specific stadiums). Also included as unlockables are 23 Adidas game balls, 35 alternate kits (uniforms), and useless highlight reels from the German Bundesliga and English Premier League.

There are 6 views during gameplay with each having adjustable bars for camera height and zoom. The PSP version is unfortunately missing the overhead view found on the Xbox. I found it easiest to play on end-to-end view but after a few hours I started adjusting to others.

Clive Tydsley and Andy Gray again do a great job adding excitement to the game. I expected to hear clips of the same commentary transferred over from other consoles but surprisingly this version is mostly fresh and provides new comments. Player names seamlessly blend in for commentary in the major leagues while other not-so-major leagues (such as MLS) are instead announced with positions.

FIFA 07 also includes 40 music tracks providing an international flavor from all over the globe.