A worthy purchase?
Review
Visually, the changes are immediately noticeable. FIFA has gone World Cup crazy. As foot tapping Latino beats play in the background, the menu screens are coloured in yellow to reflect the home nation’s colours on the pitch and are full of interesting, and not so interesting (Did you know that Warsaw is the Capital of Poland? Yes, but I don’t really care) World Cup facts.
In the stadia there’s much more of a cheerful, party atmosphere then you’ll find on the average English football club terrace. The stadiums feel alive and are brimming with colourful supporters. The cameras often focus in on face-painted fans with silly hats dancing if you scorel a goal, or shaking their heads in disbelief if you miss an absolute sitter. The stadiums feel less full of cardboard cut-outs clones than FIFA 10 and the sound of passionate crowd chants certainly plays its part in motivating and encouraging your team on the pitch and creating an authentic and vibrant World Cup atmosphere.
Confetti rains down from the sky prior to matches and litters the sides of the pitch during the game, while the cameras flash across to emotional managers during tense moments, which ass that extra bit of passion into the matches. Player likenesses have certainly been given that extra bit of polish; some of them look incredibly life-like at close quarters specifically during the line-ups and goal celebrations, which are now even more satisfying due to a close-up camera that captures your over-the-top, in your face, two-fingers up to the opposition, back flips and cartwheels. So, visually it's safe to say that this is the best looking football you’ll ever play and it captures the essence and passion of the World Cup through its high quality production values and brilliant audio work -- not just the noise of the crowds in the stadium but some great commentary that is full of interesting facts about individual players and the teams.
On the pitch, the difficulty has certainly been ramped up. Goalkeepers are better (you won’t be chipping them time and time again here), while defenders muscle you off the ball unless you play an inch perfect pass. You can’t seem to breeze past players as easily as FIFA 10. I’d often use Sean Wright Phillips pace down the wing to speed past defenders, but they now seem more adept at tracking runs and leaning into you to knock you off your stride. The AI has been improved, no doubt about it. There seems to be less space as players intelligently mark your men. The result of the changes means that you really have to work at an opening, playing one-twos and watching players runs to execute a perfect through pass. The matches seem to flow much better than FIFA 10. There’s less free-kicks in the middle of the park, so the referee now doesn't blow if you slightly nudge a player of the ball.
As ever with FIFA games in recent years there are some brilliant game modes, but the Online World Cup is my personal favourite. You choose your squad prior to accessing the lobby and once you’ve chosen them these will be the boys that will hopefully take you through right to the World Cup Final. You can play through the group stages right through to the final online, but can stop and come back to it when you choose to; it doesn’t have to be played in one go.
It’s the most intense and enjoyable game mode that I’ve ever played in a FIFA game. Old rivalries are bound to ignite your passion and when you get knocked out in the Quarter Finals on penalties against Germany you will feel the pain. The World Cup means everything to any big football fan this summer, so it’s hard not to get totally emotionally involved in the action , perhaps angry that Henry just scored a last minute penalty, or over-joyed that bringing on Peter Crouch with 10 minutes to go has just paid dividends as he equalises to push the game into extra time. Playing these games wouldn’t be half as exciting if EA hadn’t created such a beautiful game both visually and on the pitch.
Captain Your Country gives you the chance to wear that armband with pride and though it’s a game mode that FIFA fans are already familiar with it provides yet another reason to be excited and passionate about its latest football game. The Story of Qualifying is another great addition. You earn points by completing objectives based on World Cup moments. There are some fiendishly difficult and exciting challenges, for example: Portugal score from a Deco penalty in the 86th minute to bring them 2-1 up against Denmark. Can you comeback and win the match? There’s some great commentary that run alongside these scenarios, and the enhancement to the AI means that you have to fight tooth and nail to succesfully complete them. It captures the drama of the World Cup superbly.
2010 FIFA World Cup isn’t 100% perfect. Throw-ins feel a little robotic and unnatural and there’s a lighting glitch that happens sometimes during the short cut-scene squences where the screen goes brighter. The worst culprit though is, out of the 20 or so online matches that I’ve played, I’ve been kicked out three times with the message “You have been removed from your session as you were not controlling your player.” That implies that I’ve been cheating when I haven’t. There's absolutely no explanation for this, I've been playing the game totally normally.
The big question here is: Does 2010 FIFA World Cup warrant a purchase when you’re probably already playing FIFA 10? If you're planning on watching the World Cup, if you love football and if you love FIFA, it's an essential purchase. It's the best FIFA game yet, it's just absolutely brilliant and it captures the spirit and passion of the World Cup with some style.
Pros
Visually stunning on the pitch and in the stadia
Brilliant range of game modes
Tweaks to the gameplay make it the most realistic football game yet
Nothing in a football thus far beats the feeling of lifting the World Cup
Cons
Throw-ins feel wrong
Kicks me out during online matches sometimes
