2-May-2002 The real thing may be only weeks away, but you can enjoy the carnival atmosphere in your home right now. The real thing may be only weeks away, but you can enjoy the carnival atmosphere in your home right now.
Yes! It's that magical time that comes around every four years, when novelty records can get to number one without a snowflake in sight, and you can walk into a pub proudly wearing football colours.
It's when 15 million more people tune in to the BBC, even though ITV are showing the exact same thing and when a United and a City fan can live side-by-side on a piano keyboard, in harmony, because we're all on the same team. Er, except if you live in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, where big orders are being placed for Argentina shirts. Why can't we all just get along?
Knowing the world is about to go football crazy, you'd expect some clever developer to cash in with the official game of the World Cup. So step forward Electronic Arts, proud owners of the lucrative licence. You may be thinking that it's only five months since the last FIFA was released – and you'd be right – but this is the World Cup! If the Salt Lake Winter Olympics can warrant an official game of dubious quality, then why not the World Cup?
SAME AS IT EVER WAS? Now, here's the real shocker. You'd think Electronic Arts would just get the code for FIFA 2002, do a little bit of cutting and pasting, get rid of the club leagues and whittle the competition down to 32 International teams and slap an image of the World Cup on the box, right? Wrong. There's actually a lot of refinement and improvements here. The first of these is evident as soon as the game loads – classical music.
In recent years EA have used songs by the likes of Blur and Fatboy Slim to liven up the intro movie that greets you when you switch your machine on. For 2002 FIFA World Cup chart-friendly tunes are out of the window and classical music is in. What's surprising is that it works so well. The symphonic score adds more drama and emotion to the proceedings than the latest hit to come out of Ibiza ever could. It really brings home the fact that this is the World Cup, that each game matters and that every goal scored is a moment of history.
BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM If you've played FIFA 2002, you'll notice another change when it's time to pick a team for the tournament. Some players have a star next to their name. Scroll through the teams and you'll see that these stars are used sparingly and that some teams don't have any at all. England has five stars next to the names Ferdinand, Gerrard, Scholes, Beckham and Owen. These Star Players look more like their real selves than before, but they now play a little bit more like them too.
After all, any free-kick taker can bend a ball, but players like Roberto Carlos, Figo and Beckham can bend it better. Most players can string together passes, but Zidane isn't like most players. All the Star Players have improved abilities that make them stand out from the rest of the team and they're abilities you'll want to utilise during the course of a game. Beckham's crosses automatically swerve to bypass defenders, and nobody can catch Owen at full speed. It also addresses one of the key criticisms we aimed at FIFA 2002 – that you really don't get a feel for the individual talents and skills that the most famous players possess. Well, now you do.
Any player that isn't selected for the star treatment gets a generic head. Electronic Arts claim it's too time-consuming for them to give every player a recognisable face, so only the Star Players get the luxury treatment. If you don't possess a flamboyant ponytail and a distinctive moustache like David Seaman who, while not being a Star Player boasts a near-enough likeness, then you end up with a chiselled jaw and foppish Hugh Grant hair. No, we know it doesn't sound anything like Gary Neville, but that's what he looks like here.
IN THE AIR TONIGHT The same passing system that was introduced in FIFA 2002 reappears here. If you missed that game, basically Electronic Arts overhauled the way players make off-the-ball runs into space and highlighted the fact by, well, highlighting the fact, with indicators that appear on the pitch that show you where a player is about to run to. At times the number of trails marked on screen looks like the Red Arrows are on the pitch too, but it's a simple to understand system.
Execution has been polished here, so it's no longer as hit and miss and you're able to play an inch-perfect pass into a striker's run. It's still not a fluid as Pro Evolution Soccer though. Air Play is another big addition, allowing you to select moves with one button while the ball is travelling in the air. It gives you greater control of what you want the player to do, whether it's header the ball on, take it down on your chest, or simply hoof it further up the pitch.
New player animations are also in abundance, with players pushing each other impressively as you step in for a Cautious Tackle. The move itself is more effective now as well. In previous FIFAs this secondary tackle didn't seem up to much, as you'd hardly ever win the ball using it. Now it's essential, allowing you to step in, shoulder barge and muscle players off the ball. Whenever you use it, you cannot foul – that's still very easy to do with the regular tackle. Cautious Tackle allows you to play as dirty as you want and is very handy for muscling defenders off the ball, forcing corners and own goals in the process.
Get into a position to score a goal, and the game encourages you to bury your shot rather than pick out the corners of the goal. Some gamers will balk at the lack of finesse, but there's still a degree of satisfaction as you get on the end of a tasty passing move. Make sure you ramp up the difficulty, though. The default Beginner settings will allow you to waltz unchallenged up the pitch as you rack up double-figure goal tallies.
THE DREAM TEAM On commentary duty we still have the pairing of BBC's John Motson and Sky's Andy Gray. The reduced roster of teams means there are more opportunities to talk about player histories and how the teams got to the finals. The pair also point out where the game is being played and point out interesting local trivia. With the stadia themselves so brilliantly recreated, it's only right that the commentators should have a babble about them.
The commentary is generally good, especially when describing what's happening on the pitch. Unfortunately, after you've played a few games the trivia about the players and places starts to be regurgitated much too frequently. "England may be the birthplace of football, but they've only won the tournament once, when they hosted it in 1966," says Andy Gray informatively. It's just a shame that he says the same thing every single time England play.
2002 FIFA World Cup is definitely better than Electronic Arts' last effort. It still may not be in the same league as Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer but it's a decent playable souvenir of the tournament, available a whole month before the real thing kicks off.
For a couple of months you can happily lark about in official kits and stadia, but by the time England are out you'll probably be hankering for Pro Evo again.
Alex Huhtala
// Overview
Verdict
The perfect World Cup souvenir, and plays decent footie as well
Uppers
New features add to the gameplay Identifiable players with enhanced skills Barging players off the ball Choose your 23-man squad for the tournament
Downers
Pro Evolution Soccer plays better The keepers are still dodgy Too easy to beat the computer
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New features add to the gameplay
