"A messy game"

I have been a supporter of the Fifa series ever since Fifa 97, even though I get disappointed with each new installment, with the exception of Fifa 98 which is the king of the Fifa series and one of the best football games I've played. Moving on, lets see how this game fares against the rest.

Gameplay: 5/10
This game is slow in terms of gameplay which is surprising because the other Fifa games are mad fast. I like the idea of the new passing/shooting system, but EA Sports just did not do a good job implementing it.

The passing is extremely slow. It takes forever for the player to release the ball, making it hard to make quick passing plays. The shooting system is actually pretty good. No complaints with the shooting system. =o The air situations I do have complaints for. Fighting for the ball in the air is just awful. It's okay on Amateur level but once you hit Pro or World Class things get stupid. The com will win air battles 95% of the time which is unrealistic and very unfair! They mind as well left out volleying too because it's a rare occasion to get it to work.

Free kicks are improved. It's easier to score on a free kick with a good player, unlike Fifa 2001 where David Beckham has as hard a time as anyone else scoring free kicks. EA fixed the formation bug that really hurt Fifa 2002, where if you got wingers, the formation will get really screwed up.

I don't know how many special moves are in the game. I've done about 3. There's that one move where the player brings his legs over the ball one after another(sorry for the poor explanation), fake shots and passes, and keeping the ball up in the air which is pretty cool. There still should be more though. Fifa 98's moves were great. After that EA reduced the number of moves. I expected this game to have as much as Fifa 98 did. EA needs to create a system where you can perform a good range of moves but players with good ball control rating have an easier time than players with low-average who will almost always lose the ball. Sound good people? I'm sure many of you out there agree with me. That same system should aslo be implemented in shooting and passing(like Fifa 98).

The AI is an improvement over Fifa 2001 but it's nothing spectacular. Things look good and evenly matched on Amateur. I have yet to try Beginner because it just sounds too easy for a Fifa veteran like myself. Once on Professional and World Class things get frustrating. Apparently for the past few years EA thinks that difficult=cheap. The higher difficulties are just plain cheap! There's a big difference between cheap and hard and EA has to learn that! The com will have control about 70% of the time no matter what team your using(yes, including France). That's right, Senegal will have 70% control while France have 30%. This is because it's extremely difficult to take the ball from the com while they'll have an easy time taking it off of you. And those dreadful sliding kicks! If the com loses the ball and it's still in range, they'll perform a sliding kick on a bad angle and sometimes score. Sure, this sounds good if it happens once or twice during a match but it always happens! That rounds up the gameplay.

Graphics: 9.5/10
Needless to say, the graphics are amazing. Graphics has always been EA's strong point and it really shines here. The stadiums are just spectacular. They're very well detailed. The pitch looks good. The crowd is great but too bad there's only the home crowd and the away crowd. Hey EA, people from all around the world attend matches. Player detail is great. Textures are great. You can see lots of wrinkles on the player jerseys. The other thing i have a problem with is the effects when a star players shoots or passes the ball. The ball has a fireball effect which makes the game look like an arcade game, not a football simulation. Nonetheless, it adds to the good looks of the game.

Audio: 8/10
The usual here. Good commentary, good sound effects. Music is different from the rest. It's got an asian style and sounds very dramatic which suits this game well.

Replay Value: 7/10
Once you capture the World Cup you can try again with another team or a more difficult setting, though I urge you to stick to Amateur with 4 min per half for a more realistic game. You can also unlock many more teams which add to the replayability.

Conclusion:
World Cup 2002 is a long way from being the perfect football game. I'm very disappointed along with many people out there. One new feature that is really great are the Star Players. They really help your team win. But I do have to question EA's ratings on some players. Zidane is not the best in the game. He actually has a lower rating than Henry. Same with Beckham. Also, how come Veira is not a star player? He's got a good rating but not a star player. That bothers me a little even though I'm not a big fan of Patrick Veira I know that he contributes to the team in big ways. You've noticed how I kept mentioning Fifa 98. That's because it was EA's best effort at a football game. EA should have stuck to the saying, ''if it ain't broke, don't fix it.'' Fifa 98's gameplay is among the best. All it needed was a little tune-up in gameplay, and a big tune-up in every other category. Like get rid of superhuman goaltenders who also like to smother the ball when no one is a mile near them. Then that would be a great footy game for 2002. Also, a note to everyone including myself. We gotta stop buying Fifa games! Enough is enough. Fifa is gone from the list of quality football games. We gotta stop supporting EA so they can't make anymore cheesy footy titles. With that being said, rent this game if you're really curious. If you're not so curious, just stay away from this game. Play Pro Evolution Soccer if you have PS2. I'm just trying to help all of you be cured of the Fifa disease.

Oh, and one more thing. I've read some messages from users who said you suck if you can't beat it on Professional. If you can't beat it on Pro, don't worry, you don't suck. This game sucks. For me though, I can beat it on Professional and World Class, but who wants to win with scores like 5-4 on 4min per half?

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 05/31/02, Updated 05/31/02