More FNR3 and FIFA meta-review

Well I haven’t gotten all of the FN:R3 achievements but I can safely say that I’ve finished the game.  Overall I think FN:R3 is a great game but I will also say that I put it down a lot quicker than I thought.  The game itself is fun but there could have been so much more to the overall career mode to make the game more engrossing.  I wasn’t terribly impressed with the game online either as it appears that everyone just throws haymaker punches and dirty shots to win the fight, rarely did I ever discover people who wanted to box.  In the end the game will probably end up being the most fun when 2-3 friends are over and people are punching the shit out of each other.  This is probably why I bought the game, while I am a boxing fan I wanted a game that would appeal to a larger audience and that was fun right out of the box.  

I finished FIFA:RTWC this weekend, pretty sad that you can finish an entire game in less than a week (considering I’m pretty much a casual gamer) but then I didn’t hit all of the points on the game and didn’t play an online match.  Initially I didn’t like the game as it seemed WAY too difficult, even on amateur mode but after a little experimentation I figured out what worked for me and was able to run through the “career mode”.  Once you figure out the mechanics of the game it grows on you and you start to look forward to making great passes and watching the replay of your goals over and over again, especially against a good opponent.  Some complaints about FIFA were length and the game does exhibit some pretty serious slowdowns.  The framerate can regularly drag and the speed up so that the gameplay looks rather humorous at times with people moving in slow-motion then the game catching up on the dropped frames and people running like they’re on speed or a bugs-bunny cartoon.  For a first attempt at a next-gen football game FIFA:RTWC is pretty decent but I can’t help to think that it would have been better to skip this version of the game and put out a more polished game that included not only the “road to the world cup” but include the world cup and spend more time tweaking the graphics and improving the gameplay.  Overall FIFA is a good rental but I don’t think I would buy it unless you’re a true dedicated FIFA fan.  The world cup version of this game should be out in 6 months or so and from what I’ve seen from screenshots it looks more like the title that should have came out for 2006 regarding soccer/football.