EA Sports’ Fifa series has a bit of a rough standing within the gaming community. The number one sports game that everyone predicts will be usurped by Pro Evolution Soccer around the time August/September rolls around every year, Fifa has transformed from a adrenaline-pumping, state of the art soccer simulator to a franchise hellbent on squeezing every last penny it can out of its pennies.
It has become very normal nowadays to watch esports online, follow the best players and join esport tournaments easily from our computer. So if you don’t want to miss a game you can go on esportsguide.com and check the upcoming matches and tournaments.
Nevertheless, you have to be doing something right when you’re able to boast about owning the world’s best selling series of sports games, and there have been some true gems over the past twenty years or so of Fifa that every gamer can sit back and recall fondly:
Fifa 07
By the time 2006 rolled around, European Football was beginning to take its first steps onto a road leading to hyper-inflated sponsorship deals and broadcasting rights, and Fifa was really beginning to hit its stride with arguably its biggest leap forward in terms of graphics and capabilities.
As well as being released on home consoles such as the Nintendo DS, PS2, PSP and Gamecube, Fifa 07 was the first title in the main series to be released on the brand new Xbox 360 console, which it was an exclusive on for the first year of its release.
Everything from the player customisation (with the game featuring arguably the biggest leap forward in terms of graphics for player faces, accessories and kits in the game’s history), revamped career mode to the entire playlist has made this one of the most beloved Fifa titles released. The gameplay felt much slicker than those games that had come before it, capable of running on more powerful consoles and making matches feel livelier and much more like an actual simulation of a high-intensity football game.
For newcomers and veteran players of the series alike, Fifa 07 was a highly addictive, adrenaline-pumping new world of fun.
Fifa World Cup 2006
For those Fifa fans who only played the previous instalment of the World Cup special in 2002, the difference four years makes would have been staggering by the time they got their hands on the 2006 edition.
Whilst the graphics and gameplay are solid enough for the time, what really helps the 2006 World Cup game stand out from the crowd is the sheer amount of content thrown into the game, something that is all the more relevant given the path EA have undergone in the years since.
127 different countries are playable with all the kits and players licenced and in the game. As well as being able to take all of these countries on a trip to World Cup glory, the game also features unique story missions and scenarios based on real-world matches, as well as a virtual store that allows you to collect stamps, icons, kits, boots and balls.
Fifa 17
The first Fifa to employ its current Frostbite Engine, Fifa 17 was arguably the last addition to the franchise to bring anything new or innovative to the table. Ultimate Team was revamped, Draft Mode was improved, Career Mode was remodelled and the game finally welcomed in the much-hyped story mode following Alex Hunter’s rise to the top, a story that Fifas 18 and 19 would also pinch.
If you check out the latest Esports updates, you can see that Fifa remains a strong player in the world of competitive gaming, with its roots being formed during the heyday of Fifa 17. From the change in menu layouts to the fact that it was Marco Reus, as opposed to someone like Cristiano Ronaldo, as the cover star, Fifa 17 was the last Fifa game to really attempt to stand out from the crowd.