FIFA 07

FIFA 07
UK version cover art featuring Ronaldinho (right) and Wayne Rooney
Developer(s)	EA Canada, Exient Entertainment (DS/GBA)
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Designer(s)	Joe Booth, Hugues Ricour, Kaz Makita
Series	FIFA
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows PlayStation 2 PlayStation Portable Nintendo GameCube Nintendo DS Xbox Xbox 360 Game Boy Advance Java ME
Release date(s)	September 25, 2006 ^AUS September 25, 2006 ^EU September 29, 2006 ^NA October 3, 2006 ^KO October 27, 2006 (PS2)[1] Game Boy Advance ^EU September 29, 2006 ^NA October 3, 2006 PlayStation Portable ^AUS September 25, 2006 ^EU September 29, 2006 ^NA October 17, 2006 ^KO November 7, 2006 ^JP January 18, 2007[2] Xbox 360 ^AUS September 27, 2006 ^EU October 27, 2006 ^NA October 31, 2006 ^KO November 1, 2006[3]
Genre(s)	Sports game (football)
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer, online multiplayer

FIFA 07 (also known as FIFA Football 07 and FIFA 07 Soccer) is the 2006 edition of EA Sports' series of football simulator video games. Developed by EA Canada, it is published by Electronic Arts.

It was the last game in the FIFA series to be released for the GameCube, Xbox, and Game Boy Advance, and the first to be released for the Xbox 360. The next-generation graphics and physics engine used in the Xbox 360 version will be exclusive to the console for a period of 12 months.^[4] It was also released for PC, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, and PlayStation 2.

There are seven different covers of FIFA 07, each with a different player, depending on which region the game is sold in. Ronaldinho (FC Barcelona) graced the cover of all the games and was joined by Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy) and Francisco Fonseca (UANL Tigres) in North America; Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) in the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Benelux; Lukas Podolski (Bayern Munich) in Germany; David Villa (Valencia) in Spain; Kaká (Milan) in Italy; Juninho (Lyon) in France; Tranquillo Barnetta (Bayer Leverkusen) in Switzerland; and Kim Nam-Il (Suwon Samsung Bluewings) in South Korea.

FIFA 07 sponsored Accrington Stanley for the 2007–08 season, with the FIFA 07 logo displayed on the back of the team's shirts.^[5]

Game features

The following features are in the game:

• More than 510 teams in 27 leagues and 20 countries with over 10,000 licensed players.
• Interactive Leagues: An interactive online league has been introduced which creates interactive versions of the FA Premier League, Ligue 1, Bundesliga, and the Mexican League. Tracking the weekly real world fixtures, it matches up fans of one club against the fans of that week's fixture.
• More interactive crowds that react to every move during a game. Crowds also sound like the region the player is playing in. Home and away fans react in different ways to different incidents on the pitch, such as a small corner of the stadium cheering the away support.
• Manager Mode is enhanced to match realistic player experience rates. Players age and gain more experience, which improves their overall rating.
• Improved passing, crossing, and free kick techniques and advanced goalkeeper artificial intelligence (AI).
• Improved shooting techniques that measure up a player's space, composure, and technique to decide what will happen to the shot. A new "finesse" shot has been included that requires a lot more space and composure, but has less power, and can curl.
• Manager Mode can be transferred between the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable with a simple USB cable. Manager Mode also features player growth and development, as well as youth training camps to produce more players (with older youth players moving up to the main team).
• New ball physics such as top spin and backspin take into account the pitch, weather and player conditions. The player can add spin to free kicks in different directions, something which was not possible in FIFA 06.
• Ability to create original clubs (not in PSP version).
• Manager Mode money is measured in pounds sterling, euro or US dollars rather than points.
• Like its predecessor, FIFA 07 offers a World XI and a Classic XI, plus an MLS All-Star team.
• FIFA 07 takes into account the kicking strength of each player, which includes a weakness on a player's non-preferred foot.
• New unlockables in the Fan Shop. Wayne Rooney is available in the shop.

Leagues

There are a total of 27 leagues available in FIFA 07. There is also an International league that features national football teams, and a Rest of World league that includes other notable clubs from around the world.

Xbox 360

Electronic Arts developed a new sports engine for the Xbox 360-version of FIFA 07. This meant not only improved graphics and better controls, but the physics and control were also improved. The game collects more data from the matches than previous version, and thus is able to give a "man of the match" award. The commentary in English is provided by Clive Tyldesley and Andy Gray and the commentary in Mexican Spanish is provided by Enrique Bermúdez and Ricardo Peláez.

Extra features include up-to-the-minute real-world game results via real-time, weekly podcasts and news ticker, detailed football stats, information and real-world news available in five languages. Finally, the Xbox 360 version will offer a mini-game while the game loads, dropping the player in a one on one face off against the goalkeeper on a practice pitch. There is also very limited leagues on the Xbox 360 compared to the other consoles.^[6]

EA cut all but seven leagues from the Xbox 360 version of the game - one of which contained only one team (Juventus). According to producer Jean-Charles Gaudechon, this is because the new game engine took so long to develop that EA was not able to implement everything.^[7]

A FIFA 07 demo was made available on Xbox Live Marketplace on 6 October 2006.

This version has different physics from other versions, including the PlayStation 2 version.

Tournaments

FIFA 07 was also included in the Championship Gaming Series and the World Cyber Games.

Reception

Critical reception

Reception

Review scores Publication Score DS GBA GC PC PS2 PSP Xbox Xbox 360 EGM N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 6.5/10[8] Eurogamer N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 8/10[9] Game Informer N/A N/A 7.75/10[10] N/A 7.75/10[10] N/A 7.75/10[10] 7.25/10[11] GamePro N/A N/A N/A 4.5/5[12] 4.5/5[12] N/A N/A N/A Game Revolution N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A B[13] GameSpot 7.1/10[14] 4.1/10[15] 8.2/10[16] 8.5/10[17] 8.4/10[18] 7.3/10[19] 8.7/10[20] 8.1/10[21] GameSpy N/A N/A N/A 4/5[22] N/A N/A N/A N/A GameZone N/A N/A N/A N/A 8/10[23] 8/10[24] 8.9/10[25] 7.6/10[26] IGN 7.9/10[27] N/A 8.4/10[28] 8.5/10[29] (UK) 8.9/10[30] (US) 8.5/10[29] 8.5/10[31] (UK) 8.9/10[30] (US) 8.5/10[29] (UK) 7.6/10[32] (US) 6.8/10[33] Nintendo Power N/A N/A 8/10[34] N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A OPM (US) N/A N/A N/A N/A 8.5/10[35] N/A N/A N/A OXM N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 8.5/10[36] 7.5/10[37] PC Gamer (UK) N/A N/A N/A 71%[38] N/A N/A N/A N/A Detroit Free Press N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 4/4[39] The Sydney Morning Herald N/A N/A N/A 3.5/5[40] 3.5/5[40] N/A 3.5/5[40] N/A Aggregate scores GameRankings 63%[41] 30.50%[42] 77.19%[43] 77.77%[44] 81.40%[45] 79.36%[46] 85.48%[47] 74.05%[48] Metacritic 72/100[49] 41/100[50] 80/100[51] 78/100[52] 82/100[53] 80/100[54] 85/100[55] 73/100[56]

The game was met with favorable reception. GameRankings and Metacritic gave it a score of 85.48% and 85 out of 100 for the Xbox version;^[47][55] 81.40% and 82 out of 100 for the PlayStation 2 version;^[45][53] 79.36% and 80 out of 100 for the PSP version;^[46][54] 77.77% and 78 out of 100 for the PC version;^[44][52] 77.19% and 80 out of 100 for the GameCube version;^[43][51] 74.05% and 73 out of 100 for the Xbox 360 version;^[48][56] 63% and 72 out of 100 for the DS version;^[41][49] and 30.50% and 41 out of 100 for the Game Boy Advance version.^[42][50]

Achievements and awards

• UK: Seventh fastest selling game of all time^[57]
• IGN: Game of the Year 2006: Best Sports Game (Xbox, PC)^[58][59]
• IGN: Game of the Year 2006: Best Licensed Soundtrack (Xbox 360)^[60]
• TeamXbox.com: Game of The Year 2006: Best Sports Game (Xbox)^[61]
• UK: First FIFA title to top the UK Christmas chart since FIFA 98^[62]
• AIAS Nominations (10th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards): Best Sports Game of 2006,^[63] Best Licensed Soundtrack of 2006^[64]
• BAFTA Nominations (2007 Video Game Awards): The PC World Gamers Award (voted for by the public) (PS2)^[65]

References

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External links

• FIFA 07 Soccer at MobyGames
• Official website