It aint mine but i thought you guys might like 2 read!:
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Well, I have both games now, Fifa 2005 is the FULL PAL release/retail version, Pro Evolution 4 is a Final Alpha Version (the exact copy that UK OXM had) and below is my review/comparison of both games (so far!!!).
GRAPHICS
Fifa outshines Pro Evo 4 by a long, long wayon initial impact. Believe me, many of you will be dissapointed when you see Pro Evo 4 as it is almost a straight port of the PS2 version, albeit much, much smoother. Fifa has the best moddelling, the best animation (still over animates at times though) and resolution wise, its like a PC game (seems to be optimised for HDTV).
Pro Evo 4 is smoother on Xbox than PS2, no slowdown at all, but there are many graphical glitches in the replays and goal celebrations, with clipping a major problem. Both games have excellent collision detection, Fifa maybe having the edge here once again. The players themselves are defined better on Fifa, but on Pro Evo 4, they have the animation down to a tee. You see Thierry Henry or Ryan Giggs running and you know its them. Fifa doesn't have that advantage, but does seem to stand out on overall realism of the players. Although both games have some problems with newer Premiership players, ie: Gabriel Heinze looks like a man in drag.
Presentation wise, Fifa wins hands down. To be honest, Pro Evo 4 has the worst front end I've ever seen in a football game and the menu systems are awkward. Please make sure that when you same a game, you have to create a new save data and save it on that everytime. There is a bug in the game where the autosave function seems to only work for the option file (Hopefully, the final release will have this sorted).
One thing though - Pro Evo 4 is much more fun when editing players, teams, names, etc. Mainly cos you don't have to on Fifa, but I personally love to edit the teams. - Oh and you all know about the licensed Euro leagues, but you may like to know that the Premiership teams are all full represented and player names are correct, you just need to edit the stadiums and team names, ie, Man Utd are 'Man Red' on the game. And you can choose to keep these names in the Master League as well.
SOUND
Well... Fifa wins here again, with many famous name bands, 'The Streets', 'Scissor Sisters' to name two provinding the soundtrack. Pro Evo has tinny rock playing that really irritates you when in the menus. The in game sound on Fifa is like being at a real match. I suppose its best heard when you are not playing and watching someone as you can pick out the crowd noises. The sound changes as per the tempo of the game as well, so if you are losing and you are the home team, they cheer you more to help you, but boo if you lose!! Pro Evo 4's sound is abysmal for a next generation console. Always has been though!!! The commentary on Pro Evo 4 is a MASSIVE improvement over all previous versions though! Commentary on Fifa is second to none, only NHL 2005 has comparable commentary.
PLAYABILITY
Here we go... The icing on the cake for BOTH games. I actually enjoy Fifa, its refreshing to be honest and the passing system is superb. You can pass it directly to whoever you want, the new 'first touch' system does work and when you mess up a pass, its cos you rush or made a mistake... As it should be. both games are ruined by over animation, especially Pro Evo 4, where your players don't seem to be able to control the ball and the oppostion gain control, especially evident when playing on four or five star level.
But Pro Evo 4 has that 'just one more game' feel to it. You lose and you are pissed off. you win because you deserve it. Fifa, you score and you feel lucky. Fifa relies far too much on build up play and long shots, with few penalty box shots taken as the defenders are too good... Even West Brom, which is not realistic!!
Fifa has that weird ball mechanic though, where you don't know where the ball is going and it erratically swerves everywhere all the time, especially on crosses where the ball is in the air far too long at times and seems to se like a boomerang. Pro Evo 4 has it down to a tee. Almost perfect physics, apart from the over animation problems, I can't tell you how frustrating it feels running the ball out of play!
Now, Fifa is easier than Pro Evo in the higher difficulty settings, which I'd urge you all to play on, but the most annoying thing about Fifa is the fact you can't change the controls, or at least I don't think you can. Whatever you do, if you have both games, do not play one after the other has you'll be pressing pass when you should be shooting, etc (unless you make the default settings for Fifa the same on Pro Evo 4).
MULTIPLAYER
The Xbox live aspect of Fifa is actually very good, once in a game at least. You do wait forever sometimes in the lobbies (but it is early days, come Friday, they'll be thousands of players). I've not played the Live aspect of Pro Evo 4 yet, but it does seem like you can only play friendlies and not the leagues as promised. Fifa does have organised leagues and competitions. Thing is, Pro Evo 4 is two player alone is the best multiplayer experience away from LIVE, so I'm sure the LIVE aspect will be incredible, especially as the game is so smooth.
OVERALL
Now, at this moment in time, it would be unfair to say one is better than the other as my key aspect of any Xbox game is the LIVE function and I've not had time to check both out. The career mode in Fifa gives a great 15 season mode where you begin with a lower league team and work your way up and you can even work in different 'zones'. Ie: one Zone is Europe, another is South America. But the Master League mode on Pro Evo 4 is the business!! Transfers are great, injuries genuinely affect your squads, which are bigger this year and its much, much harder. I played four games in a row on five stars at 0-0 each game and don't know how I didn't win each one 5-0. Fifa is actually easy to win, especially if you score first as the computer seems to stop playing somewhat.
For now, I wuld say this: As a complete package, Fifa surprised me a lot. I didn't like 2004, but 2005 is actually very good and I think some of the games press have been unfair to it and not played it properly. Pro Evo 4 actually disappointed me. Maybe I expected too much, but the graphics in the game are not up to standard. I had Pro Evo 3 on PC as well and thats the level I expected from Xbox Pro Evo 4, it really is like a PS2 port.
So... You might thing I'll vote for Fifa 2005, as it did genuinely surprise me more, but Pro Evo 4 will always be a better game playability wise. If it had the licenses of Fifa and the graphical shine, it would be truly amazing, but hey, theres always Pro Evo 5!
SCORES:
FIFA 2005:
GRAPHICS: 94%
SOUND: 96%
PLAYABILITY: 85%
MULTIPLAYER: 90%
OVERALL: 91%
PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 4
GRAPHICS: 75%
SOUND: 70%
PLAYABILITY: 95%
MULTIPLAYER: 95%
OVERALL: 91%
Those are not overall averages of the scores as Pro Evo 4 would've got 80%, but I do think FIFA 2005 may surprise a lot of people and deserves to be reviewed in its own right and not as a direct comparison to Pro Evo 4 (which is exactly what I've done!!!). Pro Evo 4 IS a better game to PLAY, but there are negative issues about graphics and sound, which are EXPECTED on Xbox now and really let the game down. As a package, Fifa is stronger. A newcomer will always choose Fifa, real football game players will choose Pro Evo 4. Greedy, want everythings (like me) will get both and thats what I advise you to do... But be warned, as I say, NEVER play one directly after the other!!!
Make your own judgments if you do, but this is my review so far, if you have nay questions, add them as a reply and i'll tell you the answers if I can!
Thanks, hope you liked the review
Steve Smithson
