It's not a must-have, but Fifa 2004 is a worthwile game in almost every respect.
-Quite a lot of different players and teams to choose from
-Practice mode is a great way to improve your skills
-It is quite challenging in a lot of respects
-The manager mode is quite addictive
The Bad:
-Crowds look like cardboard cut-outs
-You have 1-in-a-million chance of figuring out free kicks
-You can really only get the fullest out of it if you live in the UK and get the EA manager game with it and export the content
-Long loading times
I had this game in England, and I was very impressed by the overall realisticness of the game, especially with the game's age in mind. The only aspect that Fifa 2004 has against it graphic-wise is that the cardboard cut-out crowds can be a bit of a drag. But. with all aspects considered, this game looks very good, and has some decent, quality sound.
When you actually turn Fifa 2004 on, you'll notice that it has really long loading times. While these don't change gameplay, they can be a bit of a pain, with the same "Chunk-Chunk" sound being repeated for 5 minutes while the game loads. After you've gone through all the painful loading and actually reached the main menu, Fifa 2004 is likely to be a lot of fun.
You have many options to choose from, and I'm going to tell you all about them.
First, there is the same old friendly match mode that has been in pretty much every footie game ever invented. You can pick a team, from loads of countries, England, Scotland, USA, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Sweden, Austria, Korea, Sweden, Norway, The Rest of the World, or international. The players on the 100s of different teams look a lot alike the ones in real life, so there is probably at least one player you'll recognize, especially if you are playing as your own favorite team.
The gameplay is pretty lack-luster, but it has some great and memorable moments that you will definitely remember. The enemy AI is quite difficult to defeat, but, once you have gotten use to the controls, which are pretty much the same as other footie games, you can probably score some pretty awesome goals.
As I have already mentioned, the controls are pretty by-the-book for soccer games. X passes, O shoots, Square lobs, R1 lets you run, R Analog is kind of a free-move type thing, and the Left Analog Stick is the moving control. The defending is O to walking tackle, square to slide tackle, and X changes player. Goalies can kick the ball far with O or Square, or throw(or roll) it with X. One unique thing about Fifa 2004 is the all-new(back in 2003) off-the-ball-control, in which you press R2, and then select a player to lob the ball to. While this is hard to master, there is pretty much no stopping you when you have mastered it. You can also use this to move other players that are not on the ball even when one of yours has it.
The game also has a practice mode, in which you can play practice games, and also practice set pieces. The only real thing you are likely going to have to practice are your free kicks, which can be kind of tricky to master. I haven't fully figured out how to do them myself, but I'm sure you probably can master it if you practice a lot. Corners are simple, you just have to select a player to pass it to.
The manager mode is pretty fun, as well as the tournament mode. They both haven't changed much, but are extremely fun to play.
In Manager mode, you enter your name and select a team, starting a season in their league. You can buy and sell players to and from other teams to improve your squad or make money. You can either play each game, or make the CPU simulate it for you. This can be a little risky, unless you are playing a low-level team(1/5 stars), as a 5 star team. Both modes can be fun, but the simulator of scores by the CPU takes a while.
Tournament mode lets you play various different tournaments from all the different leagues available in the game. You have to play all the games, no CPU here. This mode can be especially fun if you have friends to play with.
In the English version of the game, there is a cool little feature which lets you link Fifa manager 2004 with Fifa 2004. This gives you a bunch of new teams and leagues to play with, and some really cool bonus features. This does cost money, though, if you want it you have to buy the other game, and it is available in only Europe.
I am sure you will enjoy Fifa 2004, and it is, overall, a great game, even if it does have a few flaws.
Overall, 8/10-GREAT!