Fifa world cup 2010 video game review

Another world cup, another game, another ridiculous mascot.

As unfound English optimism floods the country yet again, and yet again we will probably be knocked out the quarter-finals, EA games has capitalized on this with their fully licensed World Cup tie in. The question with this, and of all the previous world cup titles is a simple one. Is it really worth the purchase in the face of the larger FIFA games?


So you start up a friendly game, and it’s so far so FIFA. The visuals have the distinctive realism and flair that we’ve come to know from this strand of football games. Animation of players has been ever so slightly tweaked and feels slightly more believable; but that’s the extent of change. A credit goes to the far superior sound and commentary over FIFA 10. I had a feeling that what we experienced at the end of last year sounded rather robotic, and not particularly inspiring. World cup 2010 definitely feels much warmer and, well, human.

The game’s span of licensed content doesn’t span the masses that FIFA 10 holds; but it certainly is expansive within the international context. You can look forward to 199 international teams! EA have indeed pushed the boat out on this one. However, it’s just a shame that there isn’t really anything to push the boat out on in a World cup game. You have your traditional modes to expect: world cup mode, which you can choose to start either from the final stages or from the qualifiers. You have EA’s new fixation on create-a-player and individual character play in the game, which works…when the AI can keep up with your intentions. It’s a small niggle; but it makes calling for and receiving a pass much more of a slog than a rewarding experience.

Besides this, gameplay is a tightly honed experience. You can tell that it’s elementally the same game as FIFA 10 through the fact that it feels great in terms of player control and strategy. No new mechanics are on offer; both a good thing and bad in fear of breaking the experience or in pure laziness of not changing what is there.

Make no mistake, the modes on offer are entertaining; but there over before they’ve even begun. This is something that will always plague the World Cup titles so long as FIFA’s far superior offering is offered each year. Out of everything the main draw would be the multiplayer. I know its on offer in FIFA 10; but nothing can emphasise the sofa gaming potential of football games, even if it means getting a game just because its relevant to the world cup. Xbox Live offerings are limited to the usual online friendly matches, and world cup tournaments. Things that you’d expect from an online; but not explored. However, the game does sometimes suffer from a very slight amount of lag that mucks up your penalty shots. It certainly doesn’t break the game; but it’s guttering when a man can blame his tools for misfortunes.

Lets put this all into the mix. What we have here is, infact, a good game. Years of football experience has lent EA to make something that can be really enjoyable, especially in a local multiplayer aspect in the living room with your mates…but the experience is muted in the face of the fact that we’ve played it all before. Its graphics, regardless of how pretty have been seen before by us all. The gameplay is a doppelganger of FIFA 10, and the modes have been severely cutback from its bigger brother. Slap a full price RRP on it, and you have a rather pointless game here. The fact that there’s merely slight tweaks between the big FIFA games each Christmas time is one thing; but to sell essentially the same game all over again, six months after the original and superior title is something I can’t promote in this review.

You’ve seen it all before dear reader, wait until the inevitable summer price-cut of FIFA 10.