As the case is with many 3D Windows 95 games at the moment, development began too early to realistically allow Direct3D to be used and so that nice Voodoo card you just bought will be of no use, as FIFA '97 only uses DirectDraw. Both DOS and Windows 95 versions are on the CD, the latter of which uses DirectX (version 2, although it works fine with version 3, although you'll need the version of DirectPlay that comes with version 2 of DirectX for multi-player games). It runs well on my 16Mb P166, but my work P100 chugged a little at times, although this probably wasn't helped by the lacklustre 2D performance of the Rendition chipset. The system requirements have gone ballistic accordingly, with the recommended spec being a 16Mb P133. Anyway, the team data has been updated to the end of the 1995-96 season, or thereabouts, although it still has some strange inaccuracies, for example, the Liverpool full-back Steve Harkness is listed as a forward!!! Why we couldn't have had Trevor Brooking (ex England international player and Motson's usual sidekick in the commentary box) instead is a mystery to me, it would have completed the BBC triumvirate nicely.

John Motson (the BBC's top football commentator) is joined this year by Des Lynam (veteran BBC sports presenter and one-time host of the BBC's Saturday night Match of the Day highlights programme) and, somewhat bizarrely, Andy Gray (ex Wolves striker and who now spends most of his time as expert co-presenter on Sky Sports football coverage and has a tendency to play with video tapes and equipment in the process). Read on to find out whether this lives up to the hype. In fact, EAmade much of the new motion blending feature which purports to morph between say, a running animation and a shooting animation fluidly and rapidly to provide a quicker response. This time the Virtual Stadium engine has been upgraded to match that in NHL '97 and NBA Live '97, with 3D polygon motion-captured (from the Newcastle and France winger, David Ginola) player models. So, here we are again, the latest incarnation of EA Sports' all conquering series of football simulations, FIFA '97.

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