So it’s that time of year again, when EA release a new version of its high profile football franchise. Waiting for a new FIFA game is like a game of videogame Russian roulette. Will the game be a bullet like the great FIFA 98 Road to the World Cup or FIFA 2003? Or will it just be a blank misfire like FIFA 97 or FIFA 2002?

After decanting this new EA Sports treat, we’ve decided that FIFA 2004 is a vintage year. In fact, it’s the best FIFA yet. But let’s not jump ahead to the cup final yet; we’ve some preliminary rounds to get through first. And probably more metaphors to mix.

The centre of this year’s FIFA is the Career mode. Essentially, it’s last year’s season mode with some new stuff tagged on. Now you have a budget of prestige points to spend on training players and bidding for new signings. Players become fatigued, out of condition, out of form and sometimes unhappy – so the player has to rotate the squad to give players a rest.

The usual friendly option and choice of tournaments has been joined with a handy practice mode. Sadly, there doesn’t seem to be any international competitions, no doubt because EA Sports has a Euro 2004 game up its sleeve.

On the pitch, the game has changed a lot since last year. There’s a much stronger emphasis on passing rather than running, heightened by the career modes collection of sicknote toting, mardy footballers needing a rest, boss. This is only possible as EA has made the players much smarter, they seem to find space and draw out defenders in more convincing fashion.

A new context-sensitive sliding tackle aids defending. Some rather tasty argy-bargy can be employed on overpaid primadonna strikers to push them off the ball rather than directly tackling them; this lends a very realistic edge to defensive action.

And then we have the new off the ball system. It’s not actually that new, as players of some of the older FIFA games might remember this kind of thing back in PlayStation days. You can choose between three receivers and move them with the right stick, or make them go on auto runs, before choosing to send them a lob or a through ball. It takes some getting used to, but is ultimately rewarding when you string some passes together and get the ball in the back of the net.

The graphics are gorgeous, with some spookily lifelike player models on show and wonderfully rendered stadiums. The animation is particularly good with smooth transitions between the different moves. The default camera position is very good, yet there are several to choose from and can all be adjusted.

The sound is the best we"ve heard in a football game. The top clubs now boast even more recognisable chants and we even noticed some well-known songs among more lowly teams. The commentary provided by Motson and McCoist is as potty and entertaining as ever and the whole package is a super slick one. While Xbox owners may scoff at the lack of custom soundtracks, the music on offer is varied and even includes classics by The Jam and The Stone Roses.

[Harry]
FIFA 2004 is quite a triumph for EA Sports. After a few years of trying out several different gameplay models, it feels like they’ve struck gold. It’s not going to be to everyone’s taste – but here is a game that is a great all-rounder. There’s never been a football game that looked so good, or combines all the right elements together to make such a compelling sporting spectacle.

[Jen]
No Eastlands Stadium? That bites! But everything else is mucho goodo. I wish they’d add a “knock the ball ahead and run” feature, but everything else seems to work a treat. I’m gonna start a “bring Andy Gray back to FIFA” campaign instead of Ally McWhotsit but I do admit chuckling to myself and enjoying the commentary. Graphics on all versions are lovely and the on-pitch action very realistic. But oh dear, Senor Beckham, what have you done to your hair?

[Alex]
Don’t read the manual, it will only confuse you. There are some issues with the control system and the manual will just confuse you more. I found it very difficult to get the one two pass to work and the automatic player runs – which seem overly complicated compared to last year. It"s only a matter of double tapping the button – it"s just that the manual was very confusing. And where is the rain and snow? It’s good, very good, but I prefer Pro Evolution 3.