Fifa 2005 - EA Back On Track

EA Sports' Fifa football series always had an important place in football gaming. But in recent years rivals for this dominant series gained strength. Winning Eleven Pro Evolution Soccer became very good replacement for many players. According to many players, it has realistic features which Fifa series lacked in some versions.

Indeed as far as I read from forum posts, the players only liked the commentary in Fifa games.

EA sports probably noticed those and made some additions to the game. My overall opinion of the game is that EA tried to add as many features as possible to make the game not look dull. The Fifa point system strongly encourages players to discover all features it offers. You earn points which you can spend in EA Store (in-game feature) to unlock many things (Collina for international friendlies, training grounds, balls, jerseys, etc.) just for visiting some parts or creating a tournament and etc.

The game has many modes that most users would like to have all in one. Multiplayer, tournaments, leagues, career and practice modes offer different tastes.

I think multiplayer modes are becoming the most important part of the football games. CPU does not offer the best opponent most of the time. Playing against a real opponent can be breath taking. Also the feel is better. Installing the multiplayer addon that comes with Fifa Football 2005 lets you play with online friends.

In practice mode you can train yourself for the very new features, free kicks, corners. This feature was sometimes removed from the series games but it is easier to learn the tricks in practice mode.

You can choose existing tournaments or create your own tournaments. There are nearly 40 real life tournaments: leagues and cups.
In custom tournaments league and knock out formations are employed.

What EA calls the career mode as in-depth. While I don't believe it is necessary to add a career mode I also don't think it's that deep. You can select your squad, upgrade the coaches, staff and etc, transfer players. You can have the game simulated or play it yourself. Also you have the option to intervene a game that is simulated. But those don't make it feel like a manager game. Still I guess EA added this to keep the players in game as long as possible.

A multimedia feature of the game is the playlist. Here you can choose your playlist from the alternatives listed. Also you can unlock some songs in EA store.

Player creation is really very good. All parts of the face can be modified. With some work you can really have your face in the game.

Also player faces and actions are quite realistic. Emotions are reflected by some special movements. A scoring player may act in several ways.

Commentators (the known two: Ally McCoist and John Motson) do not talk only about the in-game action but also they talk about the status of the tournament, form of the team and even the change of the captain.

There is a little bit of problem with the commentators though. The comments are mistimed in some occations. And sometimes they are wrong or irrelevant. While the pace of the commentator increase in some simple situations it can be dull in goals.

Also there is a problem with the environmental sounds. There are some specific bugs with some teams such as Milan. Where crowd does not have the volume there has to be. Also the fans of the home team might be making less noise than the visitors.


The game itself has improved a lot. I believe simulating a real life event is really hard. Also EA sports had very important mistakes in elder versions. But in Fifa 2005, most of the character moves are realistic then ever. The moves are not depending on strict rules. For example tackling from back mostly ended fauls and may be a booking. Now it is not that predictable. At least you have the chance to have a clean tackle from back. Also the conservative tackle never caused a foul (while keeping the tackled player out of the game for a long time) but now it can end up with a penalty sometimes. When keepers blocked a ball the same moves were repeated. Comparing the punching of the ball in several directions, this game has a very good engine in those aspects.

The new feature "First Touch" is another real life feature. Using the action key the players does some tricks on receiving the ball, which adds great range of possibilities to the game. It helps player to get lose the marker, start a run and many other opportunities.

One of the features that I like is that you can pass a keeper with the freestyle moves. If the keeper tackles you while trying to
get the ball, a penalty is awarded.

You can find out some features that are not listed in the controls settings. For example chip shots or fake shots. Try pressing the forward run button(default Q) + shoot (default D) for chip shot and for fake shots modifier key (default C) + shoot (default D)

Using the "player runs" and "through balls", you can find better attacking tactics. But be carefull to keep the attackers on-side as using excessive player runs might cause off-sides.

What I am undecided are the corners. Few players enter the box seeking the opportunity. But you can set up the tactics for the corners and use those few players to score.

Also the optional sending the indirect kicks directly to goal with a lay-off shot is very nice. Freekicks are similar to Fifa 2004 while it is said to be more random.

The presets for direct and indirect kicks which can be defined in tactics section offers many alternatives. But only three of these presets for each kick type (corner, direct and indirect kick) can be used in the game.


The AI of the CPU is better. The defense is not invulnerable while it does not allow you pass right near him. Especially the difference between good and bad defenders is impressive.

Keepers might punch or collect the ball depending on the position. It also is more random.

But I believe attacking options are still not used properly. AI tends to cross the ball a lot and doesn't try through balls as it should. But it is nice to see AI miss some open shots which also is related with the quality of the player.

Also passing is really unrealistic some times (both for user and CPU). No real life team sends the ball in then out then in again. Also the rate does not seem to be right.
Such passing combinations make it look like an arcade game. Games ending with 97% pass completion rate is too much.

Finally I can say I really liked to play the game. Especially compared to elder versions this one is much better.
So many to discover, both in the game and environmental issues. Both game features and AI is very nice. Not revolutionary but so many fixes for the elder mistakes.