Soccer fans get ready. EA's latest version of their long running soccer franchise is here. While I rarely watch soccer on television it's always been one sport that translates well to a video game and each year I always find myself upgrading. This is mainly because the Fifa series is one of those games that just seems to get better and better each year. Last years version was no exception, myself and everyone else I know absolutely loved it and this was probably pretty obvious in our Fifa 2003 review.

Fifa 2004 carries on from 2003 with the same great attention to detail. The stadiums and team uniforms are all accurately represented as well as 350 teams from Europe's Super Leagues to the Americas Club Championship. The ball still follows the ‘realistic physics' first implemented last year where instead of appearing stuck to your foot, you have to deal with the fact that the ball is a separate entity from the player and if you take a big sprint, just like in real life you have to kick it further out in front while running. This lessened the arcade gameplay that previous Fifa games were known for and moved it slowly towards a more realistic soccer game.

The upside of this is a slightly slower game that makes defense and tackling a bigger part of the game. The downside is that Fifa 2004 isn't the sort of game where you can casually stroll up and nail goals from outside the square so if you prefer that more arcade style of soccer well I'm sorry to say that the Fifa series is probably going to appeal to you less and less from now and into the future. The realistic physics that is a feature of Fifa now leave you a lot more open to tackles and having your runs at goal systematically blocked by some great A.I. You actually have to think now and employ some strategy to be able to score!

Last year I pretty much thought that EA had just about nailed the perfect game of soccer. It still had its arcade ‘feel' but the realistic ball physics made it more enjoyable. The difficulty settings were just about right for me as well and after a few weeks I was able to turn it up harder as my skill increased. To begin with i found Fifa 2004, even on the easiest setting a real challenge. Soccer fans should really appreciate the new A.I as it's probably the most challenging I've faced in a Fifa game yet. A mate of mine could score easily even on the hardest setting in Fifa 2003 but struggled at first with 2004. He's fine with it now and naturally gives me a hiding when we play multiplayer but gone are the days where you could use the same tactics over and over to score goals. In the dozens of games we've played against each other and together against the A.I, scores rarely seem to get higher than a handful of goals. The majority of them are close with wins only happening by 1 goal most of the time and 2 goals every now and again.

Overall the gameplay in 2004 has been greatly enhanced. Last year I struggled to get headers and accurate corners happening. This year the corners are handled much better with the option to aim for the near post, centre of the goal, the far post or just drive it right in. Once that's decided upon you then get to pick what player to aim for and a target appears on the turf, get your player into this area and the chances of scoring rise. Naturally it isn't easy as the A.I gets right in your face and does everything possible to block you or get the ball. The tackling still features the ‘hard and soft' tackles although the hard tackle doesn't seem as aggressive as it used to and I found myself missing them most of the time. The soft tackle also seems to give away a lot more free kicks than it used to. Rather than just going for the ball, the soft tackle seems to also provide the occasional push or shove in the back that gives away a free kick.

What looks great here and is a real feature of Fifa 2004 is the excellent animation. During the corners the players will jostle and move around very realistically. During the game the view is pretty far back which doesn't really show off the graphics at all but give away a free kick and the replays look great with fluid animations. The one thing that stood out was just how many animations there are. During attempts on goal I noticed my players falling over after taking big shots and the general running and gameplay animations are all excellent. After scoring you get treated to some pretty cool replays and even the occasional small cutscene from within the crowd itself that shows them all stand up and start cheering. I'd like to see Fifa enhance upon that next year as the tv style really increases the immersion factor. The sound in game is up to the same high standards that we come to expect from EA sports games and features a rocking soundtrack as well as over 300 crowd chants.

With the animations in Fifa 2004 as great as they are, it's also good to see that the graphics have been improved upon as well. Actually let me clarify, mostly improved upon. The players all seem to feature higher polygon counts than last year and the stadiums look top notch as well. The one thing that jumped right out at me, especially during the replays, was that while the majority of the players look pretty good, some are just downright freaky looking. All the popular players look fantastic but occasionally you'll see a player with a face texture that looks all stretched and sporting the pastiest, whitest skin that I've ever seen. Unfortunately these players just look awful and because most of them look great, it's really noticeable when you see the lower quality ones. Sure, it doesn't detract from the actual gameplay itself but before Fifa 2004 launched I remember seeing all these ‘work in progress' pictures featuring some of the best looking player art I had ever seen so I'm curious to find out where it went. One last concern is the ingame menus. They look better than last year and are easier to navigate but aren't responsive at all and there is too long a pause between selecting something and then having it happen.

The main new feature this year is the ‘off the ball' mode. This allows you to control another player while you try and employ tactics such as driving the ball up wide. You can then pass it or lob it to yourself to try and set up the perfect play. It works pretty well but took a lot of practice to get working even semi properly. Lucky for me that the game also features an all new training mode that was sadly missing last year. Another new feature for the manager buffs is the all new ‘career' mode. You get 5 seasons to manage the club of your choice (you can pick from any of the 350 included) and avoid relegation. You have the options available to make trades, train the team or even train individual players and enhance their skills. I'm not a big fan of any soccer management games and in my opinion it probably isn't in depth enough to appeal to your normal ‘Championship Manager' fan and something that probably won't interest enough of the gamers just looking for a quick casual game with their mates. Oh and if you want a game against your mates you better invite them over to your place as Fifa 2004 still features no Xbox Live support whatsoever.