Defending and dead ball situations
DEFENDING
This is possibly the weakest part about the gameplay of FIFA 07. The animation of the players running backwards on their toes back into a defensive position or trying to grab a player’s shirt as they chase them back towards goal looks the part, but there’s only a fine line between judging a perfect interception and missing an attacker completely and having to make up the ground. Recovering from such a miss-timed tackle takes far too long and making your defender turn feels far too cumbersome and unnatural.
Sliding tackles often result in a free kick and free kicks are often awarded even when you haven’t pressed a button; for example shoulder charging. The referee however does a fine job in making the gameplay flow and will often allow the match to carry on if you still have the advantage. EA have now included an offside function and by pressing the RB button you can shift your players forward and hopefully catch any attackers offside. It does work extremely well against computer AI, but online I got caught out numerous times leaving the opposition with a clear run on goal.
Click for larger imageFREE KICKS & CORNERS
In previous FIFA games I found it difficult to score from free kicks just outside the area, but it’s certainly easier in FIFA 07. It’s simply a matter of pointing towards the goal and pressing down the shoot button for the required amount of power. Extra touches can be applied via the right thumb stick to swerve the ball, but unlike the Xbox version there isn’t a variety of novelty free kicks available, such as laying a man off to create some space for his shot. You still need to use a fair amount of skill to score, but the balance seems to have shifted in favour of the player and gaining a free-kick outside the area is now a real advantage.
Corners don’t have the same range of options that you’ll see in Pro Evolution soccer; instead you’ll simply have a choice of whether to drive a cross in low, send it high or to pass it. Player’s jostle in the area for position and if you time the cross by watching the player’s movement and execute the right strength of the pass you can score some great goals. I sent a driven low cross to Paul Scholes who was standing just outside the area in space, as it reached him I timed the shoot perfectly and sent a tremendous volley flying past the keeper.
Click for larger imageTRICKS
The tricks are back, but this seems to be the one area that hasn’t been improved on. In Pro Evolution the tricks feel natural, but in FIFA 07 they often feel too clumsy. Amongst the manoeuvres is ‘change lane’, allowing you to dribble past a defender, ‘stop and go’ and feint. The change lane manoeuvre is probably the one that you’ll be using the most as it’s the easiest to pull off, but it feels and looks unnatural. On the other hand, ‘stop and go’ is a great trick where you can suck the defender in until you burst away with the ball just as he thinks he’s timed his tackle to perfection. The feint manoeuvre is extremely difficult to perform; in the middle of a 45 degree turn you need to use the right thumbstick to flick the ball in the opposite 45 degree direction and so far I haven’t seen anyone use this online or any AI in single player. I’d like to have seen the 360 roulette, which is found in the Xbox and PS2 versions, and some more subtle tricks; as it stands the range of tricks available are often too risky to attempt.