FIFA: Road to the World Cup 98

"The only FIFA worth playing"

THE WORLD CUP 1998
FIFA Soccer '98 is slightly different from the rest of the series due to the major event that occurred during this year. C'mon, I don't have to tell you that…What, you really don't know ? In '98, the World Cup took place in France with the same country winning it by beating Brazil in the final by three goals to nil. Goals scored that night were two by Zinedine Zidane (who is now the world's most expensive player due to his move to heavily-indebted Real Madrid) and the third one by Emmanuel Petit who has since then been cleaning the bench for Barcelona.

Man of the match France vs Brezil : Zinedine Zidane, France
Of course, FIFA '98 thus concentrates mainly on the World Cup although there are still all the other leagues and tournaments just in case someone wishes to play those. But why would even think about those when you can play as one of the best national teams in the world !? In 98, you can choose your team and then play all the matches starting from the qualifications. This takes a lot of time considering the number of matches that you have to play - just think of it, if you've chosen a team in the CONCACAF region, you'll have to play at least 30 matches,and a lot more depending on how well you fared. Hope you get my idea…

Best goalscorer: Davor Suker, Croatia
Once you've started, you have to play against those teams in your region and if you managed to qualify, prepare for some tough matches. Like in all other titles, there are 3 modes of play : Amateur, Professional and World Class. Don't bother with Amateur, the teams play like there in the Nationwide Division (I have nothing against the Nationwide Division but comparing these matches with those from the Premiership is just like comparing an ant to an elephant!). Most likely, you will win all your matches by at least seven goals to nil and there's no use wasting your time with it. The real challenge lies in Professional and World Class. Professional is the regular level and you need to be familiar with the game. And don't even think about winning by a 4-goal margin here unless you're damn good. And World Class is really…world class. The players' AI gets boosted by an incredible amount and even at the Normal speed, the game is damn quick. Things get really tough even at the earlier stages and you can only count on your skill and speed here (i.e. don't count on the opponents to make mistake or the goalkeeper to act like a weirdo…).

Fact : Croatia third for its first appearance in the final part of the competition. Extraordinary, to say the least !
The number of teams you can play as is simply fantastic with every team listed even those you may never have heard of. Why, even my country (Mauritius) is listed !! Well, they've put a player in the team that nobody has heard of (and never will) but we were all surprised when we saw this. Of course, the team's stats are weak but nobody cares as it's just a pleasure to control players whom I know personally instead of drooling over the likes of Ronaldo, Overmars or Trezeguet (who I simply cannot bear by the way…). All the regular options are present and the Save feature is bound to be a good occasion for you to boast about your skills to your friends ! How about scoring a goal from the halfway line and bragging to your friends for weeks about it afterwards !? Well, I did that… :)

2 corner kicks, 2 headers by Zidane, 2 goals…
The control also hasn't changed in the least (still A, S, D and Ctrl and so on for added effect) and is very easy to grasp after some time. Human opponents can use the mouse and although, using the mouse may seem difficult, I find it more easy for various reasons. First of all, using the mouse dramatically reduces the risks of rough tackles and hence, the dreaded yellow and red cards. And the players are more easily to control due to it. Well, opinions may differ here but that's how I feel. Of course, you still need to have good strategies and formations to have a chance of winning the matches or you won't even touch the ball once you reach the quarter-finals, let alone the final itself. IGM hasn't yet been introduced but things are still easy although scoring from free kicks is a real pain in the @$$.

GRAPHICS : 9
The intro is enough to make your eyes pop out of your head. I was stunned by the smooth animation and how the players were as realistic as possible the first time I loaded the CD and even now, I can't help but wonder. And that's even more wonderful considering how weak was PC was the first time I played the game (P-233, no graphics card !). Some players can be easily recognised and a few of these are Scholes, Kopke and once again, Zidane (by now, you are probably thinking that I'm a great fan of his but you're wrong, I hate him ! Bayern will kick Real sorry once more !!). During the matches, the players are still well-designed although I'm noticed some bugs here and there. The pitches may be resumed in one word : PERFECT ! Amazing, the grass looks real and it's all I could do to prevent myself from inviting my girlfriend over for a picnic on seeing those beautiful pitches (even more than in reality if you ask me…). The crowd is good too although I did not like some places where the colours seemed to mix together in a blur and became quite ugly too. Oh well, you can't get anything and anyway, you don't have the time to stare at the background when you're playing on World Class level.

SOUND : 9
The music in the game is just too good to be true. Well, by now, you probably all know the themes of FIFA '98 and I don't really have to talk about these. I still remember how often they would pass it on the radio and how often the clip was played on TV. The sound effects are among the best in a soccer game. Actually, even ISS has to learn from FIFA when it comes to sound effects ! The cry of a player as another one makes a horrendous tackle on him (Keane anyone ?), a player shooting the ball trying to score a crucial goal and, most of all, the crowd encouraging you is just too good for the ears. The crowd never gets tired and I really like listening to them, they're always excited whether you're losing or winning. Of course, they always show if they agree or not with the referee's choice. The commentators are good too but they always say the same things over and over again and I grew tired of hearing them after a while. Sure, it's good to hear them and their witty comments but hearing the same thing about a dozen times is just too much for my ears.

CONTROL : 10
Whether you're using the keyboard or a mouse, the control is perfect and don't even think of blaming the controls because you lost ! The response is quick and it's very easy to pull out bicycle kicks and to dribble a couple of players before scoring an awesome goal once you've played the game for a few hours. Of course, it's essential to practice the scenarios but things get easier as you keep on playing the game and believe me, you WILL keep on playing the game.

GAMEPLAY : 10
This excellent football game does not fail to provide the diehard fans with an amazing gameplay. The World Cup itself is bound to take about two weeks to complete and if that isn't enough, there are literally dozens of other leagues and tournaments to prevent you from putting the disc in a drawer. And the 2-player mode is even better since EA has put in a nice feature to prevent unnecessary quarrels. Indeed, it doesn't matter which team you took when you're playing against a human player. The statistics are important only for the league and tournament matches. When playing against a friend, you must rely solely on your skills to win. Heh heh, you have been warned…

OVERALL : 9
FIFA '98 is by far the best in the whole bunch. Sadly, the titles have been getting worse each year after the special world cup edition. But if you just happen to want a good footy game with a lot of replay value in it, then '98 is your first choice. Besides, the gameplay it offers is way better than in any other football game and you would be stupid to pass it up. So, wanna write history by taking your team to the final and being the world champion… ? We'll see about that…

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/08/01, Updated 11/09/02