Background
To celebrate my recent visit to EA Sports Canada, and being one of the first lucky people outside of EA to play the final version of the game, you will find below my initial views on the game. This is not an official review as I only spent 4 hours playing the game but will provide a good preview of the features you can expect when the game is released.

Fifa 2003 Principles
One of the most promising things I heard from EA was the new approach that has been taken to the development of Fifa 2003. The team realised the communities views on the gameplay of the latest releases of Fifa and knew they had to make Fifa 2003 a major evolution.

To achieve this new people were introduced at the management and senior development levels and the best people from around EA Sports development teams (including NBA, NHL, etc...) were drafted in to swell the team from 60 to 112.

In 4.5 months the team has created a totally new soccer simulation experience with focus on removing the ball from the players foot and getting the AI to think like a footballer. Some of the biggest changes can be seen in the areas of passing, dribbling, shooting and the AI.

Main Features in brief

• 4 modes (Friendly, Season, Tournaments [back again!] and the all new Club Championship mode)
• 4 difficulty levels (Amateur, Semi-Pro, Pro and World Class)
• First time setup feature
• 350 teams from 16 leagues (including 16 Brazilian teams in Friendly mode)
• 18 actual stadiums + 4 generic
• Commentary by Motson and McCoist
• New and improved Gameplay features including:
  • sprinting (detached ball from foot)
  • jostling
  • passing
  • shooting
  • free kicks
  • making space for yourself
  • goalkeeping AI
  • great new "Have It" move for speedy clearances!
  • EA Freestyle moves including Zidane spin
  • signature moves including Beckham and Carlos free kicks
• Half time and full time highlights and stats
• Intro music by Timo Maas and many popular in-game songs by well known artists
• Creation Centre (full review by Matt at Soccer Gaming very soon!)

Below I have picked out some of the key new areas that have been introduced/improved upon in Fifa 2003.

4 Modes
These 4 new modes have been explained fully by Robert over at Soccered.com, click here for full explanation.

Note: The new Club Championship mode is where a you can play with the 18 most detailed teams in the game with their real stadiums, real faces, real chants, etc...

First time setup
This new feature enables you to select your preferred style of play, camera angle and speed of game to get you up and playing as you like asap.

Commentary
John Motson is this year joined in the box by Scottish ex-International and TV pundit, Ally McCoist, who between them provide over 13,000 lines of commentary. Listen out for those unique one liners where a lot of effort has gone in to building the real excitement of our beautiful game.

Gameplay - Running with the ball
When questioned, EA AI and Gameplay Developer Geoff Harrower described this as the single biggest improvement (the detachment of the ball from the foot). As soon as this was achieved the whole gameplay had to be rewritten to compliment this as now everything had to interact differently. Previously the ball was really part of the player.

When you now sprint the player knocks the ball ahead so it can be easily stolen by an opponent. This also makes changing direction interesting as the player can turn but the ball still goes straight ahead (as in real football if you forget to take the ball with you). This really is a great improvement and far more realistic.

Gameplay - Jostling for possession
Instead of being able to easily tackle your opponent using the standing tackle you now jostle for possession. Here the player attributes come into effect and the stronger player usually comes out with the ball - just like real soccer!

Gameplay - Shooting
No longer with every shot will you find the top corner of the net with a wickedly curved shot. The curving feature has been reduced/removed and now the power you apply defines the type of shot. Low power and a side foot shot is attempted and of you over power the ball will probably fly over the bar. Use of the power bar takes plenty of mastering but makes it very much like real soccer.

Gameplay - Free kicks
It is now possible to score from a free kick! This is big news for Beckham and Carlos fans. With the new free kick engine you can select where you strike the ball, how hard and in what part of the goal you are aiming for. This combination provides a great way for simulating your David Beckham specials. With the added benefit of the new simulation moves you can actually take a David Beckham free kick with Beckham and he strikes the ball as does Golden Balls with his arm swinging in the same way, etc... Roberto Carlos also does his stutter run up.

Gameplay - Goalkeeping AI
Plenty of time has been sent on this and it provides far more variation to the game. Now when you run one-on-one with the keeper sometimes he will collect the ball at your feet, other times it will bounce back off his hands or chest and you get a second chance, and sometimes he will miss the ball/player completely and you get a free run at the goal. The saves look far more realistic now and generally the keeper is a more intelligent digital saver.

Gameplay - Computer AI
This is another area where a big investment has been made in time and effort. For example, if you are now playing the computer and winning 1-0 with a few minutes to go, the computer will bring on 2 forwards, go for full out attack and press for the equaliser. Similarly, if the computer is winning 1-0 with a few minutes to go it will play very defensively.

IO even witnessed a game on the PC where the computer attacked down the left wing, got to the bye line and cut a ball back across the six yard line where an attacker arrived at the back post to shoot home. It looked so realistic I was left in amazement and joy.

Gameplay - Have it move
We were shown this great new feature and we can't wait to see if it makes it into the demo version. It will all become clear when you play the game!

Gameplay - EA Freestyle and Signature moves
A lot of the top players moves have been introduced to the game now such as the Zidane spin and the Beckham and Carlos freekicks. Using the new EA Freestyle control you will be able to perform some great moves/skills when in possession/running with the ball. Good use of this control makes a massive difference when facing an opponent and I am sure will becoming the defining factor for good multiplayer matches.

Half timer and full time replays and statistics
A lot of effort has been put into providing a good half time and full time analysis of the match (including replay highlights of the key moments). With the new statistics you can see who, where and when all the shots, tackles, fouls, bookings, etc... happened. A greta new feature for stat nuts.

Music
No big licences have been chased for this version of the game, rather a great selection of lesser known tracks have been included from different genres of the music scene. The game kicks into life with the excellent Timo Maas hit and the rest of the in-game music follows a similar quality.

Creation Center
This year it has been removed from the game and will be released as a free add-on for the PC version. Find out all about this great new utility over at Soccer Gaming by clicking here.

Future Improvements
So I hear you say, there must be something not right with this game? Well, there are a few irritating features which we discussed with the development guys at EA which should see the light of day in Fifa 2004. The main points identified for improvement are:

• Corners
  At a corner you now have the great new direction and power bar used for free-kicks. The only problem is that whilst you select your move all defenders and attackers are static in the box. This problem is amplified when you try to defend a corner as you cannot move your defender to a marking position.
• Defending break away attacks
  I found it some times difficult to select the defender you required to sweep up a run away attacker. When you swapped defender in tended to select the defender in pursuit rather that the saving defender who could sweep around and snub out the attack.
• Stealing the ball
  There are times during the game when you have the ball and an opponent runs by you and you are unsure if he has now taken control of the ball. This seems due to the lack of impact and reaction on the tackle.

In Summary
From touring the EA Studios, meeting the actual developers behind the game, and playing it for 4 hours, I can only commend what has been achieved. The Fifa series has rightly received a lot of hostile press in recent years and EA have at long last listed to us and provided a game with the correct principles (real soccer simulation) and have to be congratulated for this. I can only see the Fifa series going from strength to strength.

If I had to put a score against this game after 4 hours play I think it would be around 8.5 or 9/10. The game is a massive improvement and still allows for future improvements. Well done EA for listening and taking action.

The Gallery
Visit our Gallery by clicking here for early shots of Fifa 2003 and other scenes from our visit to EA Canada.

Special Thanks
I would personally like to pass on my thanks to all the following people for making this trip possible and enjoyable:

• Lizzie Deighton of EA Europe for making all the last minute arrangements
• Rachel Streek of EA for looking after us so well in Vancouver
• Matt Bilbey, Worldwide Product Manager of EA Sports Fifa for being so honest with us and taking us around EA Canada (and sorting out the Ice Hockey tickets)
• Kerry Whalen, Geoff Harrower, Ximue Kong and Jo Nickolls for watching us all play Fifa 2003 and listening to our feedback and answering all our questions
• Robert Marney (my newly adopted son!), Matt Holme, Chris (from Fifa Benelux), Steve Hildrew, Bruno Sol Nieto, Fran and Todd for making a great team over the period of our stay in Canada
• the people of Vancouver for keeping such a wonderful city