Evolution Of FIFA 15 - 21 Years Of Incredible Football Graphics

14. FIFA 2002

By 2001 EA Sports' most beloved franchise had started to show signs of stagnation. It started as a groove, but was fast becoming a rut. We still hadn't seen a failed FIFA game, not by a long shot, but year after year the titles settled into a sort of 80% no-mans land - well received by critics, but not quite instant classic material either. FIFA 2002 did nothing to buck that trend, unfortunately. It was more facial animations, improved player movement fluidity and a closer look at the smaller graphical details once again, but by now gamers where getting tired of these incremental changes year after year. By now many had moved over to Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer, and would demand something more than just aesthetic tweaks to bring them back.

13. FIFA 2003

Sadly FIFA 2003 wasn't the kick-start the franchise needed to wow us all over again - it would take years, and a new console generation to really impress us - but that doesn't mean that it wasn't still a remarkable football game. On the gameplay front, no one was particularly thrilled about the new Freestyle Control gimmick and the impression was that EA Canada was running low on ideas of new things to add. Visually FIFA looked better than ever, which was pretty much the case every year. The PlayStation 2 era was in full swing, and we were seeing some lovely advancements across the board. You can see how the players had begun to seem more solid on the pitch, this time made even more believable by the inclusion of many player-specific attributes to tell the more prominent stars apart.