2002 fifa world cup review

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Average Ratings

Addiction Level	9.1/10
Graphics	10/10
Value for Money	8.6/10
Reviewer Rating	8.6/10
Overall Rating	8.8/10

80% Recommended4 out of 5 Reviews

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By SRRAE. on 4th Dec 2002

SRRAE.'s Ratings

Addiction Level	7/10
Value for money	5/10
Overall value	6/10
SRRAE.'s recommendation

Good Points

Nice graphics. Good animation of players and the new system of star players, makes certain teams seem that little bit special. More realistic rebounds from players and goal posts.

Bad Points

The speed of the game. Annoying sound. Only World Cup mode or practise.

General Comments

As a fan of all the EA Fifa Football games, ever since the first one came out, with its unique diagonal scrolling pitch to Fifa 97 with the first 3D Fifa football game to the new ones that come out twice a year. However I feel that too much time was spent on the animation and graphics of this game and not enough of the playability. EA have tried to make the game more realistic with the players bumping, pushing and jumping to get position of the ball. It all looks impressive until you try to play the game and the computer wins virtually all the battles on the harder levels. On Armature, you lose most but the computer is nearby when you finally get control of your player again. On Professional the computers pin point full pitch length passes often ends up with your player stumbling around while the computer runs 1 on 1 with the keeper. The AI (Artificial Intelligence, the thing that controls how the players you are not moving, act) is the worse one I have seen on all of the Fifa series. I would often be caught out by one of the computer's deadly long passes to a player 10 yards behind a depleted defensive line. On replay I find for some reason 2 of my 4 defenders run to the half way line when the long pass was being made, leaving 3 computer players in an empty box with 2 of my defenders nowhere near anything. Now I go onto your passing. There is a bar which is displayed, as about 8 white squares which fill up the longer you hold the pass button, to show how hard you are passing the ball. Nice for when you want to do a pass to space. However I found that the ball hardly ever goes to the player you want and that the powerbar had very little to do how hard you pass. Many times I have just wanted to do a little pass to a player in front of me and only a few yards. A quick tap of the pass button and I often the ball being kicked way past the intended player, because there was another player of mine off the screen and the computer thought the pass was intended for him. Also the direction of the passes are very confusing. A red circle goes below the player you are facing and the way the ball will be passes. However, most of the time the ball will go no where near. For example 4 defenders in your own half, the left centre defender has the ball and you want to pass it to the left defender who is 2 yards in front of your player and 10 yards to the left near the touch line. You press up towards the player, and the red circle appears below him and hold the pass button so there is enough power to get the ball there. You find the ball will be passed in a straight line across the pitch go straight out and not a little bit forward as you wanted. So next time you try pressing diagonal to pass to him, only for the pass to directed to beyond the half way line to a player who may or may not bet there. This totally took all the enjoyment out of the game for me. As I said the animation of the game is great, the best I have seen. However these animations take time and while they are happening you have no control over the player. Many times a player of mine was controlling a cross on his chest, where controls the bounce off his chest with a little knee of the ball then to let it land softly on his foot before landing softly on the ground. By which time the computer has ran 20 yards to you taken the ball off you, which again results in you stumbling to stay on your feet, where again you have no control over the player until his has finished his animation of stumbling for 2 steps the hands on the floor to steady himself and getting up before any input from your controller will do anything. Another example of what I like to call "Once the animation started nothing can stop it" was once when a I was defending a corner and it was scored by a scissor kick into the top corner. Once again I was confused why it went in so easily and watched the replay. While the ball was in mid-cross, the goal scorer started is beautiful animation of doing the kick, and once the animation has started nothing can stop it. Not even the 2 motionless defenders who I watched the ball go through their chests before landing on the sweet spot of the goal scorers foot. I would like to have one final moan before talking about the good bits, and yes there are some. I have never known a ref to get in the way so much. I have had passes blocked by him, tackles and even shots. Another piece of realism put in which wasn't thought out and makes the game annoying. As promised the good things about the game. The star players for teams are players who are better at doing things than other team members. Owen, his good speed and shooting, Beckham has good shooting and passing. You can tell your start players by the start above their head, instead of the arrow which tells you which player you are controlling. Another nice touch is when these players do their special talents. Owens shots will leave a blaze trail accompanied with the sound, and a while blur will appear when he gets burst of top speed sprinting. Beckham's passes have the ability to curl a little more and will again, leave a small blaze trail. Its a nice touch that makes the players seem a little more special. Another very welcome touch is the realistic free kicks, with shots on goal being possible and not, almost errors like in previous Fifa games. However, not having too many free kicks in the correct place means that I don't score with them often, but this is where the practise mode found on most Fifa series games comes in handy. But for some reason its not there. The only time when I would have found it handy to use it and its been taken away. Bad judgement. My final conclusion is that the game is very beautiful and impressive, but not the most playable Fifa game. While on Armature level I win 4-0 upping to Professional I get slaughtered 5-0 and don't have a shot on goal, and I am a player who plays all the other Fifa games on World Class. If you are a die hard EA FIFA fan, I dont think you will like this one. However if you are a new FIFA player, this is not a bad place to start. The easy levels are good enough to challenge the new players, and the ground breaking graphics is what old FIFA players expect to see with every new FIFA game.

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