Here's my VERY comprehensive wish-list of improvements for FIFA 2005. Some of the stuff has been said before, but its stuff that matters to me too.
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1) Add Holland national team.
2) Add the Saudi Arabian national team. Yes, I know, they're not a force to be reckoned with on the world stage, but they're a major force in Asia that has stayed at the top for the last 20 years. If winning 3 out 5 Asian Cup titles and playing in each of those finals is not an accomplishment, I don't know what is. And I don't think they would charge an arm and a leg like the KNVB either...
3) Oh, please don't get rid of the Turkish national team. I usually notice that as soon as I start getting too happy about something, its gone. And please bring back the Turkish League, or at least two of the other big Turkish Clubs, Fenerbahce SK (current Turkish league champs) and Besiktas JK.
4) Add more national teams in general- there's not enough in Fifa 2004. If EA Sports can't get licenses to authentically represent / recreate some of those teams, put in generic teams with fake names and generic kits. Not the best scenario, but at least that way, all we have to do is remake the kits and retouch the stats, instead of having to replace one national team to add another (like the patch with Holland replacing Urugauy).
5) Speaking of retouching stats, please bring back the in-game creation center where we can fix faces, change numbers and change stats, change kits (or at least colors, in case of generic kits).
6) Ability to buy players from any team / league.
7) Ability to set up custom tournament / league - international or club, group/elimination or elimination, one-or-two leg games, etc. This can still be done in Fifa 2004, with clubs, but I don't want to have to edit the teams in the FA Cup to play a best-of-europe tourney. I like to have the ability to make my own league with all my favorite world clubs.
8) I don't know why, but sometimes, I could have my player facing one direction and i hit pass and instead of passing to the player straight in that direction, it will pass the ball to someone who's standing 25 degrees off that direction. That's very frustrating. And maybe it's just me, but the throughpass in Fifa 2004 seems pointless and completely ineffective.
9) Please make it not as easy to score from 30 yards out. It's good once in a while, but it gets really boring quick, and I get pissed at people who don't even make the effort to build a good attack and just take shots from way out hoping to get lucky (and then they do, like 3 times in a game!)
11) A lot of the stuff in FIFA 2004 is locked into the career mode. I'd like to be able to do all that stuff outside that mode too.
12) When I start a career mode with a big team like AC Milan, I'd like to be playing in a European tournament instead of having to wait one season to earn that right.
13) Add Penalties to practice mode. I know penalty kick techniques haven't changed much over the years in the game, but I'd like to be able to get a feel for it.
14) Also, something is very wrong with team ratings, when 15 weeks into the season, Modena is second in Serie A and Juventus is lying in a lowly 15th. It gets further frustrating that my 4th placed AC Milan beat Modena 3-1 with ease, while Juventus schooled me 5-1. A team in 15th place can't possibly be playing that good. In all fairness to EA Sports, my opponents usually play as well as they should in real life when I have a match with them, but the simulated match results for the computer controlled teams are just too weird. A shock every once in a while is fine.
15) I don't want to have to play 2 other Italian clubs in my Champions League group besides AC Milan. It doesn't happen that way.
16) Okay, here's what else doesn't happen in real leagues, or especially Serie A. You don't play the same team back to back in league match-ups (not talking about two leg playoff games). Usually in a league, you play each team once before you go around and face them again. Back to back matches with the same team may happen in the NBA regular season, but not in European soccer.
17) I'm curious if Football Fusion is just on the PS/2 version, or if it's on the PC version too. I'm in the US, and I bought FIFA Soccer 2004 (which I expect would be the exact same product as FIFA Football 2004, just titled differently for marketing purposes), and I don't have Football Fusion (or even Soccer Fusion) for that matter. Why not?
18) Along the same lines, this one's for the folks at EASports.com who run the US Fifa Soccer website- STOP TREATING AMERICAN CUSTOMERS LIKE THE BASTARD STEPCHILD! We deserve a comprehensive website too. The UK website is filled with news, helpful stuff and better graphics, while the American website is just a drab, near static webpage. I pay just as much money to EA Sports to buy their games, so be fair to us.
19) When my winger / midfielder is going down the wing (running or sprinting, say down the right wing) and I try to cross the ball or lob it in the box with 'A', I hate it when he lobs it straight out of the pitch, instead of crossing left into the box. I mean STRAIGHT!
20) Right after the corner animation stops (when the taker places the ball), I'd like to be brought back to my camera mode. It sucks when the corner is played and the ball is deflected and I am hitting buttons blindly because I don't know where to clear the ball because I can't see the rest of my players.
21) How about some flags on the corners?
22) Some animated substitutions please. I'd like to see one guy come on and the other guy leave.
23) A lot of the music in the game is stuff that people in the US have never heard. How about having music that the average american listens to for Fifa SOCCER 2005?
24) Like someone else said, I'd like to be able to see my entire squad on one screen when I'm selecting my team, instead of only being able to see 8 of them at a time. Also, I'd like to be able to position my players when I choose a formation. Like move them around a little if I choose 4-2-4 so two of my forwards are spread really wide.
25) In career mode, the way the stats section is organized is RETARDED! I can see who my team's top scorers are, but there's no LEAGUE TOP SCORERS / BOOKINGS section. That stuff matters more than what my shooting average is. Again, this is soccer, not basketball. And by default, how about sorting by goals scored? All this stuff used to be in your older games, so it's frustrating cuz it feels like you guys took a step backwards!
26) When I'm seeing the league standings / table, I'd like to be able to see at least the following on one screen (P-W-D-L-Pts). Its nice that you have it further broken down into home games and away games and all, and I don't mind scrolling for it, but the basic stuff needs to be on one screen.
27) I like to be able to go back and see my results from previous games in a list, instead of having to scroll back and forth on a calendar, and also be able to see how the other teams did in their respective matches. In other words, have a RESULTS section.
28) PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, make the menus better. Take your pick from any of your older games, I've never had a problem with the menus until this year.A lot of the above can be summed up with: BAD BAD MENUS! MAKE THEM BETTER, MAKE THEM LIKE YOU USED TO!
29) How about DIRECT IP Connect?
THANK YOUS!
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That was the bad stuff.. Now, here's some stuff I'd like to thank the makers of FIFA 2004 for. I hope we see more of this again next year:
Thank you for that free season of online game playing!
Thank you for bring Perluigi Collina to the game!! Next year, you guys should add that other famous referee, the tall, skinny (lanky) Dutch dude.. I forget his name.
Thank you for the wonderful graphics and sound! And for superbly recreating the San Siro among other stadiums!