FIFA International Soccer

aka: EA Soccer, FIFA 94, FIFA International Soccer Championship Edition, FIS
Moby ID: 2078
Genesis Specs
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Description

The game that started the best-selling series licensed by football's world governing body, this first installment in the long running series used a dimetric (colloquially known as "isometric") viewpoint, previously unusual in football games but quickly imitated by several titles. The televisual presentation, one of the unique points of the early EA Sports titles, with hosts introducing the matches, was another thing making the game stand out from a market dominated by Sensible Soccer and Kick Off games.

Based on international teams (with fictional player names), their abilities in each skill area rated out of 10 to give the player an overall impression of how good they are. The options available follow the standard set: fouls and offsides can be toggled on and off, the match length can be set, and if the timer operates continuously, or only while the ball is in play. Gameplay privileges quick runs, short passes and blistering shots outside the penalty box, and set pieces are controlled by moving a box into the target area for the ball, and then passed, lobbed or kicked directly. On the tactical side, formations can be selected, with 5 different strategies also available (although not all of these combinations make sense) as can the team Coverage - the areas which defenders, midfielders and strikers cover.

Spellings

  • FIFAインターナショナルサッカー - Japanese spelling

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Credits (Genesis version)

59 People (42 developers, 17 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 82% (based on 48 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.4 out of 5 (based on 110 ratings with 2 reviews)

An absolutely terrible game, with not even one good point...

The Good
Um.... Well.... Errr... Mmm... Umm... Well... Errr... Mmm.... NOTHING! OK, maybe the graphics are OK and are quite decent for the time.

But, if we look for anything apart from that... Umm... Well... Errr... Mmm....

Still Nothing.

This game is the worst sports game ever created for anything that handles games. Just HORRIBLE, just, the worst...

Now I'm gonna fill up the bad section, with umm... everything!

The Bad
Graphics: Well, I've always wondered how a player can kick a ball if his foot is in it... And how does a ball split into half when a player hits it with his head? And how do heads disappear of people, then magically come back? And how do goalposts almost completely stay still when the ball comes strongly into it?

Sound: WARNING: This game must be played with ALL speakers off... On a second though, this game must NOT be played at all...

And finally... Apart from the technical flaws, how can anyone enjoy this game, it's quite impossible actually! And finally, ONE tournament... I wonder, how anyone can play this!

The Bottom Line
AWFUL!!! SIMPLY AWFUL, unless you like horrible things... I'm sure this game has many fans, many brainwashed fans.

0/10

A final word: EA Sports is excellent, and the other FIFA games starting from 96 to the latest 2002 are just excellent, that's all I have to say... EA created one catastrophe while it created hundreds of miracles. WAY TO GO ELECTRONIC ARTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DOS · by Jim Fun (207) · 2002

A useless conversion of an over-rated game

The Good
There are loads of options and loads of moves available, as well as a unique viewpoint which ensures that you can see lots of the action.

The Bad
The slow tempo of the original turned into downright sluggishness on the Amiga version, with the players lurching around and being pretty tricky to control. Football should be a fast, frantic end-to-end game - in this it takes ages for the ball to get anywhere.

There are loads of moves, but the animation of the players didn't depict them very well. What's more, the game has a habit of taking over your control at times, often making successful tackles and runs past opponents without your control. The assistance to your shooting makes it far too easy to get a shot on target - and the feeble nature of many of the goalkeepers means that you score too frequently.

Passing was almost impossible, with neither the natural one-touch system of Sensible Soccer, or any kind of challenging system, and it wasn't easy to beat opponents while running either. It all becomes a game of hit-and-hope pretty quickly.

The Bottom Line
For years, EA have churned out identikit versions of this license, with only 2 or 3 of them making significant gameplay alterations. Its excess popularity comes down to a) nice graphics and b) the fact that your moves look good even when you've had no effect on them, so it doesn't take much effort or skill.

Fortunately, the Amiga incarnation never went any further, while it's last version of Sensible World of Soccer was released in 1997. I doubt anyone ever considered whether an Amiga version was feasible - the only thought appears to have been "fumble it together, but make sure it's out for the Christmas money"

Amiga · by Martin Smith (81669) · 2005

Trivia

Bugs

During the country team selection Poland and Czech Republic have the same flag.

CD version

FIFA International Soccer CD (for DOS) contained improvements of AI algorythms and in-game commentary courtesy of David Anthony "Tony" Gubba.

Cover

  • Some European editions feature Piotr Åšwierczewski and David Platt (Poland-England match) on the front cover.
  • The Game Gear and Master System cover art was previously used for FIFA Soccer '95, complete with the same font type.

Dream team

When playing with the EA dream team in the game, a shot with the great player H. Van Smeiter could pierce the goal.

Awards

  • Amiga Joker
    • Issue 02/1996 – #2 Best Sports Game in 1995 (Readers' Vote)
  • FLUX
    • Issue #4 - #53 in the "Top 100 Video Games of All-Time" list
  • GameFan
    • 1994 (Vol.3, Iss.1) - Soccer Game of the Year
  • GameStar (Germany)
    • Issue 12/1999 - #22 in the "100 Most Important PC Games of the Nineties" ranking
  • VideoGames
    • March 1995 - Best Sports Game in 1994

Information also contributed by Big John WV, M4R14N0 and Rola

Analytics

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Related Games

FIFA Soccer 95
Released 1994 on Genesis
FIFA Soccer 10
Released 2009 on PSP
FIFA Soccer 10
Released 2009 on Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360
FIFA Soccer 12
Released 2011 on PSP
FIFA Soccer 11
Released 2010 on PSP
FIFA Soccer 96
Released 1995 on DOS, SNES, PlayStation...
FIFA 13
Released 2012 on PlayStation 2

Related Sites +

  • MCV
    Rejection, tragedy and billions of dollars - The story of FIFA

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 2078
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Luiz Pacheco.

Game Gear, SEGA Master System added by Bock. Genesis added by Rebound Boy. Amiga added by Kabushi. SEGA CD added by Kevin Johnson. SNES added by Terok Nor. Game Boy added by Big John WV.

Additional contributors: paul cairey, chirinea, Kabushi, Martin Smith, Luis Silva, Niccolò Mineo, Cantillon, Patrick Bregger, mailmanppa.

Game added February 19, 2020. Last modified February 12, 2024.