Most passes work great, but they falter at times, especially crosses and lobbed passes. It’s not clear how players jostle for position as a long cross comes in. It’s hard not to miss the net completely, yet you’ll occasionally see a superhuman one-timer drilled into the top corner. The control is awfully touchy when taking a shot. There are a few drawbacks in AI though, like defenders who play too far back, leaving a lot of room between the mid line and back line, and defenders who occasionally let a guy go right by him. The game is loaded with leagues and teams, and the difference in their skill levels is clear. The tactics and formations have obvious effects on the flow of play, making different matchups unique. Instead you’ll use a standing tackle or just running into a position to knock the ball away. The slide tackle is almost useless against a decent gamer or CPU opponent. I like how the game helps you out automatically by making players wrap their passes around defenders and how defenders slide to intercept the ball. There are a lot of advanced controls, some better than others. The basic controls are intuitive, with passes and shots affected well by how long you hold the button. A lot of the FIFA staples in its excellent PS3/Xbox 360 era are already in place, including a wide camera that gives an optimal angle of the action. This game rightly belongs in the “ambitious simulation” subset of soccer games. I love how the players have momentum, how their passes are skillful but rarely perfect, how the ball takes natural bounces, and how the action doesn’t follow the exact same patterns twice.
The game has an impressively natural feel to it.
#FIFA 2005 FOR PS2 SERIES#
It brings the series a big step closer to simulation greatness, but it’s got some quirks that are hard to forgive. FIFA 2005 is a realistic, deep, strategic soccer sim that looks great by PS2 standards.