2002 FIFA World Cup

"Great Game.. But..."

I have loved the FIFA games since the beginning and i keep buying each one that comes out because they are great. Here's my review on the official 2002 FIFA World Cup video game:

Graphics - 9/10
The stadiums are excellent and very realistic, they kind of look like the real thing! The faces of the players look really good too and all of the other stuff in the game. The referees, the football, everything! The graphics are really great in this game.

Gameplay - 7/10
Although a lot and i mean a lot of people out there who have played the FIFA games really dislike the gameplay. I for one, like it. It's not bad and it's not good, it's piggy in the middle. The gameplay is basic but good on the other hand, the headers are good, the volleys and overheads are good and the corners, free kicks and heck, you name it, i like it all. You may disagree, but it's good and easy to get used to. The passing and shooting are alright, you have to hold down the pass or the shoot button to get more power on your pass or shot, which is good. So, the gameplay, is good, but also bad in a way.

Sound - 8/10
2002 FIFA World Cup has good commentary by Andy Gray and Good ol' Motty (John Motson). The only bad part about the commentary is Andy Gray's history talk, where he talks about history of the team who is currently playing, which is very repeative and gets way boring after a bit. In the match though, the commentary is OK, it's not repeative and it's not top class. The crowd chants are quite good too, because say like you're Brazil, you can hear in the crowd some kind of Brazilian music with whistles and drums and all that. The same with Argentina, Spain etc. The crowd are alright.

Options - 5/10
On the main-menu, there is ONLY a Friendly option and 2002 FIFA World Cup option and a Bonus Material section. Can you believe it?! That's all you get, which made me nearly puke at the time when i saw it. I selected Bonus Materials, all there was was a few movies about John Motson's talk on things such as his prediction on the winner, the co-hosts Korea and Japan and the worst haircut. The other movies are just movies about Football/Soccer passion and ''Why do Brazilians love football?'' all that crap. No one wants to know about ''A Brazilian isn't a Brazilian if he/she doesn't like football.'' We don't want to know! The options are well and truly boring. On a lighter note, The World Cup takes long to complete (about 1 hour for me with 4 minutes each half!) But on the World Cup, you can't have 2 player, 3 player, 4 player etc etc. Like you could be England, your friend is Brazil, your other friend is Germany, your other friend is Senegal, your other friend is Spain, your other friend is Italy and so on. It really let me down that you couldn't have this. But you could be one team together by selecting side select when you're in the match.

Buy or Rent - I would definitely rent it first because i don't know if you would be happy once you have baught it. If you're a big fan of football/soccer then you will like it, but rent it if you are not that much of a fan. And if you own FIFA 2002, don't buy FIFA World Cup because it's just basically FIFA 2002 with better graphics and less options. So it's a choice between graphics and gameplay.. i would go with gameplay (FIFA 2002).

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/14/02, Updated 07/14/02