Being a FIFA fan from way back I have to say that I am a little disappointed in this game.
My first FIFA game was FIFA International Soccer on the Megadrive, what a game that was. Since then I have bought just about every FIFA game. Being a fanatic World Cup (and Euro) follower these have been my favourite games.
This game looks and sounds (for the most part) better than previous FIFAs but it lacks some (cool) key features available in World Cup 98 and Euro 2000.
First off I intensely dislike the music in this game. Why did they have to replace cool "popular tunes" with classical "gladiator"esque music. I even preferred chumbawumba or oakenfold (this may be blasphemy) but the classical music just isn't all that fun. However, once you get past the menu system I have to say the crowd noise is fantastic, players also talk to each other which is cool. The commentary is good, but still a little choppy at times. A nice features is that Andy Gray occasionally rattles on about team or player history during play which is pretty cool.
The graphics are good, with some cool statium effects and replays, but the player models look a little bit unreal (and scary).
The presentation of the game is very average, lots of game based options (length of half, camera angle) but there is very little in the way of customized tournaments. The menus are bland and the intro movies are lame. World Cup 98 had some great "Welcome to France Movies" but these have been scrapped. Euro2000 had cool 3d animations of your bus rocking up at stadiums or travelling across the country side which have also been scrapped. These have been replaced with static menu screens.
The gameplay is good; but so is the gameplay of just about all FIFA games. This is FIFA2002 with a World Cup focus. That should be OK, but I wish they put a little more thought into the presentation and tournament options.
Now for the gripes:
- AFAIK you can only enter 1 TEAM PER WORLD CUP TOURNAMENT. So if you want to have a multi-team mini world-cup (which I did in 98 with the PC version of World Cup 98) you can't on the XBOX.
- The music: (sorry EA) why do we have to have this corny music?
- The videos: WHY do we have to see the classical music being performed in an old warehouse as the intro? It has nothing to do with the World Cup - did EA just want to show-off the fact that they had musicians playing their intro music? No offense to the musicians but why doesn't EA present some of the scenery of Japan, or some photos of the stadiums OR ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE WORLD CUP. IMHO it is things like this that really holds this game back from being a classis. The DVD "bonus" content is just a bunch of drunk english people and a few brazilians and africans saying how much they love the World Cup ("The World Cup is great", "I think I love the world cup because it is so Good" etc..., quite pointless) and a documentary about how they made the music in the game. Come on EA - you can do better than this. Classic World Cup goals perhaps? Stadium Explorations perchance?
Sorry about this long-winded review but this game could (and should) have been so much more than it is. And in all honesty in the mini-world cup I am staging this year we may have to revert to EA's World Cup '98.
Bottom line - if you don't have Fifa 2002 then this is probably worth a purchase, however if you do I would avoid - Unless you have Fifa 2k2 and you love the World Cup (as I do) and in that case you will probably purchase it no matter what I say. If you are interested in a soccer game for Xbox and not in a hurry then I would probably wait for Fifa 2k3.
Graphics 8/10
good graphics, but models aren't that detailed and isn't completely smooth
Sound 7/10
sound is great, however as you may have gathered I don't personally care for the music much
Presentation 4/10
cool commentary and stadiums BUT lacking options/tournament configs
Multiplayer 6/10
multiple team tournaments - HELLO, otherwise easy to use and control
Gameplay 8/10
If you love the World Cup you will enjoy this game, that said it could have been SO much better. Alas...
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