FIFA Road to World Cup 98

"A great realistic soccer game!"

FIFA 98: Road To The World Cup is one of my favorite soccer games on the Nintendo 64. It was better than I expected way better than I expected it to be and was amazed at all the teams and options that EA Sports crammed into the game.

The game features a whole lot of options; some of the options are listed below:

Friendly: You and a computer or friends compete in a 1on1 match with the level of your choice in a friendly game of soccer.

Road to the World Cup: You compete in three rounds. The first is the qualifying round, where nearby teams compete and the top teams qualify. Then there is another round and then the final rounds where the best will be determined with the award of the World Cup.

Penalty Shootout: You and a computer or friends compete in a penalty shootout. For those who don't know what a penalty shootout is, well, it's where your team and the enemy team compete in a goalie shootout. They take turns trying to knock in the goal. The person who knocks the most in by the time the rounds over that team wins the game. This usually happens after many tie games.

Customize: This is where you can customize any team almost any way you want. You can change the colors of the jerseys for the home and away teams. Another thing is you can change the stat points but you can only raise a stat point of your choice if you lower another of your choice.

I love the control that you have over all the players. You can move them with ease and it adds a lot of skill. Another thing is that you can trip and do many other special things with a touch of the C buttons. With the C buttons you can do many actions, including, a cool jump move, a side moving action, and even a pushing action for when you're really frustrated.

The graphics are really good as well. There is a replay option that lets you see in slow motion (or fast motion) and special cameras views for easier view. All the teams have their real jersey colors, which adds to the realism.

These are one of those sports game that really last. It is very good with friends and can get addictive at times. You can play with up to four players. You can have them all in ONE TEAM against the computer or 2 on 2 or however you want.

The thing I like the most about this game is how every time you feel like you want to stop playing the game you will always come back to it.

The music and sound are both good. There is an announcer and he doesn't repeat things TOO MUCH. He might get a little annoying with his English accent. The crowds sound real and at times you might even catch a glimpse of the realistic crowd doing the wave.

The game contains a lot of skill and you can set the computers difficulty. The computers can be very easy from very hard.

Overall I think this is one of the best sports games for the Nintendo 64 but I would give it an 8.5 but I think I am leaning more towards an eight. So, rounded to GameFAQs rating I hereby give this game an eight. It is a great sports game that would make a good choice from all soccer fans. I don't know about FIFA 99 but if you don't find interest or can't find that game you should go ahead with this one. I heard these two FIFA games for the Nintendo 64 are almost alike.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/29/02, Updated 08/17/02