2002 FIFA World Cup

"Last great FIFA game"

This is the king of Fifas, When you start playing it from the first time, you will drool by watching the fine graphics (They were superb for the year 2002).
This is far from being the most realistic soccer game of all time but it still offers some great arcade fun, the replays cinemas are incredible, and the fouls are not random anymore like in the previous Fifas, You make a foul by doing an aggressive move, so much better, so much safer. the players actually look like the players this time unlike previous installments in the FIFA franchise

But...
It has almost all those Fifa-like features that never change, like how can you always be alone against the goalie with just one pass every time in a real match? Also there are fewer moves and game options than the previous Fifas, just two game modes, friendly and the World Cup, they should do just like the last world cup (98) and add the old teams from old generations or something to give more incentive.

My ratings are:

Gameplay: 6/10
What do you expect? it's a football game, the point of the game is to score goals without using your arms, obviously there's more than that but i won't go into detail.
If the game would have featured more game modes and options it would have made the game a much better experience, It has an original intro for a Football game, so different than the previous, some people hate it, some people love it,I´m not going to tell you about it, but if you play it, you know what i mean, The game also features few teams that didn´t make it to the World Cup.

Graphics: 8/10
they are the best ones of any Fifa to date. The characters, the stadiums, replays, videos, and even the goal net have become much realistic than before

Control: 10/10
The control´s silky smooth, responsive, tactical, easy...
the power bar to shoot has improved a little since the last Fifa, you can even do do many of the tricks from the nike freestyle commercial.

Sound: 8/10
The cheer of the crowd and other usual stadium sounds give this game a lot of atmosphere, But no Football game so far has had a descent announcer, he sounds too mechanic, unrealistic and annoying. He repeats lines too much

Difficulty: 6/10
At first, you will find this game to be a little complicated, but you will eventually see it isn't, not much of a challenge, So this game is only recommendable if you have friends to play with.

Replay Value: Very high
Fun for a long time, you will play it for hours, days, and maybe months.

Final Comments:
This game is far from perfect, But at least it's better than FIFA 2003/4 because those were trying to imitate the all mighty Winning Eleven series while FIFA 2002 World Cup offers an arcade experience that's easy to get into. Even if you don´t like football, you will probably enjoy this game... If you hate the fact that it has fewer options, then i recommend you to play Fifa 2002 (the previous FIFA) which isn't as polished but features many more options. Play against the computer is fun, but gets old quickly. Playing against a friend is what gives life to this game, humiliating or being humiliated is always fun, The feel of scoring a goal is so much better than before

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/02/02, Updated 05/02/04