2002 FIFA World Cup

"It captures the feel of the World Cup, but it does little else.."

I am not a fan of soccer. I hate playing it and I think it is the most boring sport to watch. Yet for some reason I've always liked to play soccer video games. When I took a trip to the local department store to see what deals they had for Playstation 2 games, I saw a soccer game, 2002 FIFA World Cup, for $9.99. Seeing nothing else that intrigued me, I bought the soccer game. After I brought the game home, I put it in and was a bit disappointed. I had played and enjoyed the regular version of FIFA 2002 a while back, so I was expecting World Cup to be as fun. Sadly, it was not.

2002 FIFA World Cup (FWC) is basically a special edition game. It almost feels like an expansion pack. You are only given two methods of play - friendly and world cup. ''Friendly'' is just a standard exhibition game. ''World Cup'', on the other hand, is like a mini-season mode. You pick one of the 32 World Cup qualifying teams (or one of a dozen or so non-qualifying teams) and well, try to win the world cup. The journey to the world cup doesn't last very long; you'll only play a handful of games before it's over. New all-star teams are unlocked if you successfully win the world cup, but they are not worth playing over and over to get. If you ask me, it's a bit ridiculous for a game to be released nowadays with only TWO game modes. That might be acceptable, say in the 8 or 16 bit days, but not in today's world. The lack of ways to play really detracts from the game's replayability.

2002 FIFA World Cup is a slow game, much slower than the regular FIFA games. If you want to get anywhere close to scoring a goal, you'll need to do a lot of passing. And tackling, too. Don't expect to be able to run down the field by yourself without getting touched, for the CPU will make sure to knock the ball away from you. The slow pace of the game hurts FWC, as it makes games more dull. I have to admit though that it is exciting when you finally break away from the defense and score a goal. The game excellently manages to capture the glory of a goal, as triumphant music plays while the crowd goes crazy and the player celebrates. Unfortunately, these goals don't happen as often as one might like.

One thing that FWC does well is offer a lot of different moves to use on the field. You can head, volley, lob, pass, shoot, juggle, bicycle kick, and even fake a shot, all with the press of the corresponding button. The control system is pretty easy to use, too. You'll be able to pick up and play right away by just knowing the basics. The more advanced stuff will take a while to learn, but once you've learned it all, you'll be playing like a pro.

Visually, 2002 FIFA World Cup is merely just good. The character models look great, and the attention to detail in the player faces is fantastic. Each player has their own facial expressions, too. If he is booked, the player will frown and act disappointed. If he scores a goal, the player will have a grin as big as his face can handle. Unfortunately, for all the work that was put into the players, there remains other problems. Most noteable is the slowdown experienced while playing. The constant slowdown detracts from the game experience and is just uncalled for. The game also suffers from blurryness at times. While this isn't as big of a problem as the frustrating slowdown, it is still troublesome nonetheless.

In terms of audio, FWC fares pretty well. The commentary is done by Andy Gray and John ''Motty'' Mottson, and for the most part, they do a good job. They do get repetitive at times, but it's not too bad. At times it may hard to hear those two commentate because the crowd can get very loud when it wants to. If you score a goal, the crowd will go crazy. Give a foul and the crowd will boo. It's a big crowd and it really sounds like one, too. EA did a nice job on the sound.

Sadly, 2002 FIFA World Cup is merely an average game overall. With just so little to offer in terms of game modes, there's no reason to bother playing it for very long. The slow pace of the game and the tedious graphical slowdown don't help matters either. It surprises me that this game once sold for $49.99. That's outrageous. I'm not even sure if the game is worth the $10 I paid for it. If you're looking for a soccer fix, get one of the regular FIFA games instead. Just don't get this one.

5

Best Feature - The sound is solid.
Worst Feature - Only two modes of play.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 01/02/03, Updated 01/02/03