Summary: The most popular team sport in the world receives another update in EA's FIFA Soccer 2002. Although not necessarily the darling of critics, FIFA has always been a big seller. With the soccer season starting to wrap up, and the World Cup kicking, how good is FIFA?
This FIFA's theme is that of World Cup qualification. The game does not include an actual World Cup mode , EA has a whole game dedicated to that. This edition also includes many other modes: Club season, several cups and tourneys. The game also features creation and editing modes.
FIFA's graphics are top notch. It seems as EA's artists have gone to a lot of trouble to match up players with faces. Player models look like the real thing, and textures for team kit looks great. EA has almost all of the team sponsors mapped right to the shirts (except for the notable exclusion of Arsenal's Sega endorsement), and even the clothing manufacturer logos make it. Stadia and the pitch look great as well, with special mention due to the crowd. EA has a 2d crowd, but they have applied a nice depth of field effect, and the animation of the crowd is really effective.
Sound is a high point in FIFA, tackles, crowd chants and posts all in Dolby surround. Play by play is exceptional, John Motson does the play by play while Andy Gray provides color. They often mention how a team is on a hot streak, or how many games they've won recently. It's very realistic and on the ball, so to speak. EA has a reputation of grabbing some of the top electronic music acts to provide music for FIFA. This year is no exception with BT, DJ Tiesto, and Gorillaz to name a few.
Ea has made huge steps in the gameplay and control department with FIFA 2002. Unlike earlier versions, this game is probably on par with Konami's soccer games. Passing and possession is vital in soccer and is no different in FIFA. There are a few different kinds of passes in this game: A ground pass(A button), air/lob pass(B), and the one-two (C stick) the longer you hold the button, the harder the pass. Passing is very hard at first, the ball isn't on magnets as in many games, and you will screw up until you get the hang of it. The difficulty in passing is worth it eventually as it allows you to be very precise in your ball placement. The one fault I found in the controls was this: X controls conservative tackle and shoot. If you are in a tight spot and possession is unclear, sometimes you will boot the ball when trying to gain possession. Overall I found control to be better than Konami's games.
FIFA is a real treat for fans of the beautiful game.. It has pretty much all you could ask for. Club tournaments, national tourneys, and a realistic season game. The club season mode can be taken through as a franchise, at the end of the season, you can choose to continue with your club. Teams will be relegated and promoted based on their records.
Over the years EA has taken a lot of deserved criticism of it's soccer games. They were sloppy, the controls were overdone, and often took style over substance, and simply didn't match the competition. This year's FIFA continues with the style that EA is known for. Cool electronic music, licenses all over the place and excellent graphics. Now they have all the substance to go with it. Excellent game.
100% of People (2/2) found this review helpful. Was this review 
Report this as 
There are no comments for this review. 
