Full Review

I never played any of the prior FIFA games, so my comparisons to earlier versions will be limited. But FIFA 2003 is a stellar game.

THE GOOD

The best feature of this game is its sheer vastness, particularly at the club soccer level. There are hundreds of clubs and thousands of players from all over the world, even obscure leagues from places like Korea. Just about any club or player you're looking for will be on this game.

To go along with the clubs are their own uniforms, stadia, and chants. All of the teams are outfitted in their actual uniforms. Most of the best European clubs teams play in realistic renderings of their home stadia, complemented well by team and player specific cheers. For example, when Michael Owen scores, the Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore cheer begins.

The general fan intelligence is excellent as well. Team names are chanted. Scores are yelled (Three-Nil...) when appropriate. The crowd noise rises and falls with the ebb and flow of the match. They cheer and boo with the appropriate home team actions. It's not something I noticed at first, which means it was completely fitting.

The learning curve of the game is solid. There are four skill levels. You can probably jump right in on the second one, but it takes time to work your way up the ladder. My brother and I were stuck between levels 2 and 3, then 3 and 4, for some time. We were highly frustrated both times, but that was a good thing. We had to learn different ways to score and play the game. Offensively, you can't just dribble straight down the field every time. You have to master both passing buttons, make runs, and learn how to cross the ball into the box. Defensively, you must learn how and when to utilize both tackling techniques, and how to avoid foul calls.

The multi-player option is another highlight. With multiple good human players, the game is not necessarily easier, but is definitely a different challenge and enjoyable in a different way.

Other good things...

Player reactions. If a ball is over a guy's head, he'll probably look up to see it pass.

The different sorts of passing. One button is a direct ball; another leads a teammate into space.

The audio commentary. Even after hundreds of games, the announcers blend into the background, rather than grate on your ears. And you'll still find yourself chuckling at various comments that you swear you hadn't heard before.

The motion of the players. Most every movement on and off the ball is fluid and looks like something you'd actually see in a soccer game.

The option to buy/sell players. You can easily create a team with whomever you want on it.

You can play basically any legitimate formation, all of which have pros and cons.

Replayability is high. With so many teams and options, you'll keep playing even once you've mastered the game.

THE BAD

Most of my complaints are minor, with features rather than gameplay. The biggest problem is World Cup related. Any nation that didn't qualify for the 2002 World Cup is not featured in the game, with Holland being the glaring omission. You also cannot play through World Cup qualifying, like you could on some previous editions of FIFA. This is disappointing, leaving you with only the option of a custom tournament if you wish to play a season's worth of games with a country.

In fact, there must have been some sort of rights issue with the video game itself. The words "World Cup" are not used anywhere, nor is "Champions League" or other phrases. This is a tad frustrating when initially sorting out what tournaments are what, but you'll figure it all before long.

Two other things missing from prior versions are Training Mode and Shootouts. You can't go mess around on a field by yourself to experiment with buttons and techniques. This slows down the learning curve somewhat. Yes, you can play a friendly or face off with another human, but those are still game situations with computer players that mess your experiments up. Shootouts were a practical and fun feature that provided both training and entertainment. Not practicing penalty kicks is the big loss. You have to learn on the fly, and since PKs aren't common, you learn slowly.

My only complaint with the gameplay itself is the inconsistency of offside whistles. The game never stops play erroneously, but sometimes it flat-out misses obvious calls. Those errors usually lead directly to goals on crosses or through balls. While usually the missed calls are in the humans' favor, scoring and winning on illegal plays just isn't enjoyable.

Other slight disappointments...

After a while, scoring on free kicks with a stud and scoring on corner kicks are both fairly easy.

As with most sports video games, eventually you can beat the game with relative ease most of the time. But this will take several months at least.

I'm nitpicking here, but computer player and goalie motion is occasionally jerky. Not a big deal, just detracts a bit from the realism.

For those who care, the faces, particularly those of non-stars, aren't all ultra-realistic.

Despite flaws, FIFA 2003 is the best soccer game I've played for GameCube. If you like soccer and video games, you must purchase this game. If you like one or the other, you'll still enjoy it.