The time is drawing ever nearer. We're a little over two months away from the English press declaring that maybe Fabio Capello wasn't the right man for the job, after a striker-less national team crash out of the FIFA World Cup at the Quarter Final stage yet again. Prior to that moment, EA are once again giving us the chance to right wrongs, make interactive predictions, and build false hopes about ending 44 years of hurt.
As is often the case with EA and their spring soccer spin-offs, what we have here is a slightly tweaked version of the existing FIFA engine, with a few mild changes that are sure to find their way into the next game (or be dropped/improved if they prove unpopular). Most notably, the graphics have been given a rather nice spruce-up. Players look better than ever, teams now feature realistic renderings of their coaches as well as most of their players, and much like the UEFA Euro 2008 game, there are multiple shots of the crowd, decked out in national garb and dancing around.
Meanwhile, the pitch on the Durban stadium seen in the demo looks beautiful, despite being littered with ticker tape around the edges. No doubt the same will be the case for all the official tournament venues that are being included, but it remains to be seen whether some of the qualifying venues are quite as pretty.
Actually on the pitch, the action plays out near identically to FIFA 10, and anyone with sufficient experience of this will soon be threading together passes and scoring beautiful goals. Mind you, this may become a little tougher come the full release when in charge of lesser teams than Italy or Spain. Where it looks like it will be tougher to score is with the new penalty kick system. Fresh from PES altering (read: ruining) its spot kicks, now FIFA gets in on the act, mixing analogue aiming, the power bar and a swing meter, which all combine to help you blast your shot over the bar.
When the ball does go in the net, you'll notice the other main change, which is the improved graphics for the interactive celebrations. Rather than just follow the player from a distance, the camera now moves in seamlessly and swings around to follow the scorer, apparently removing the need for separate scoring animations. It's a minor change, and no doubt overuse of these will continue to cause annoyance online, but it shows a willingness to improve the now two-year old feature, rather than let it stagnate.
Post game, a multitude of stats are on offer from easy-to-view screens, which show the team formation and details such as successful passes, shots on targets and saves. If you substituted players during the course of the action, even their stats will be shown in the corner as well. It's stuff that won't interest everyone, but its laid out in a more exciting manner than FIFA's black and white lists.
Elsewhere, the modes follow the standard pattern of these games. Primarily, you'll be able to recreate the tournament, from the qualifying rounds through to the final. This can be done with an individual nation in the World Cup mode, or from the feet of an individual player in Captain Your Country. CYC can also be played multiplayer, with up to four participants vying to take the armband for one nation. Rounding off the local play are the "Story Of" modes, which puts players in scenarios from qualification matches and finals past, asking them to remake or repeat history with the current crop of players. It's admittedly not original, but these modes generally bring a lot of frantic fun.
A particularly exciting feature is the online World Cup option, which will allow players to compete online from the group stages through to the knockout phases with other players across the world. While it's likely that the knockout parts will work in the same way that the online tournaments seen in Euro 2008 and the FIFA Ultimate Team DLC, it will be intriguing to spy just quite what system is employed for the group stages - will other results be random, or will you be automatically paired with three other players, whom you must play in quick succession. What is known about online is that earning victories with weaker teams will be more beneficial to your rankings. Of course, there will be the ever-present risk of quitters not willing to take a loss to lesser opposition, so let's hope EA are on the ball to ensure that possibility is sufficiently covered.
2010 FIFA World Cup is looking likely to be the perfect companion to this Summer's tournament, perhaps even the perfect antidote to our inevitable disappointment. Whether it quite justifies a full price purchase alongside FIFA 10 remains to be seen, of course, but there's always the option to wait for its inevitable autumn price drop, just in time for FIFA 11!
Comments
