2002 Fifa World Cup Review

Good Points
A diagonal long ball over the opposing defence, breaking the offside trap for Di Canio to run through on goal - that's REAL football!!!

Bad Points
I'm sure the computer players still cheat sometimes by locking up the controller at key moments... but then that's probably just me!

General Comments
FIFA 2002 has stunning visuals, although I've only given them a nine because no doubt EA will further improve on them next year! The ball control is so much more lifelike and the gameplay is much more logical and you need to construct a game plan to win against the better teams. Previous to this, football games have been very pinball like. This game has a button to send a player on a run which is the major feature... they've removed the amusing but rare in reality 'Rocastle 360' and flipover (how many times do you see players doing that, certainly not every time they get the ball?!) You still get a little sidestep and, of course, the back heels and all that are still there. EA have gone for realism - and it works...!