There are no reasons
to own this over the same exact cartridge version. The only addition is the EA intro with
the Foosball table. Like any other sports title, FIFA played great and was well liked in its day. Soccer fans remember the early entries in this franchise fondly and use it to demonstrate why Sega was such a winner with sports titles during their console reign.
The game is played from a ¾ perspective, which would rejuvenate EA Sports NBA franchise a year later. The problem is with the color and detail. The field looks faded and needs to be brighter. Players don't have the detail that they need to be enjoyable. Later entries would fare better.
Sound needs improvement too. The crowd has no ambience with a monotonous echo. The audio is sparse elsewhere too. The 3DO version has a vibe that this port just can't live up to.
Thankfully, the game play holds its own. All of the standard features and modes found in each version of FIFA are present here. The control is easy to learn but occasionally the angle can cause the ball to be hard to see. Game play stays competitive. This is still a good way to show the Genesis's classic sports games off if you have a group of friends that are sports fans.
Sadly, FIFA is hindered since it makes no use of the Sega CD's capabilities. This was obviously pushed out to fill space on a console with a sparse library of games. If you are a collector you will need this to finish a set. There is no reason to own this game otherwise.
