Tweaking perfection

With the World Cup just around the corner, it was only inevitable that we get a follow on title from EA, the creators of the superb FIFA 10. However, instead of resting on its laurels and putting out a game based purely on the FIFA 10 engine, it’s clear to see that EA have tweaked and upgraded many of the gameplay features to FIFA 10, creating a more refined and perhaps, an even more enjoyable experience.

2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa brings players right into the midst of the World Cup madness with plenty of World Cup game modes to keep you busy. You have the traditional World Cup mode, where you play as a team that has already qualified for the World Cup, hopefully guiding them to success. This mode is based exactly on how the World Cup tables and fixtures have been set out, so you’re out of luck if your home nation hasn’t made it to the finals. But fear not, you also have the superb Story of Qualifying mode, where you start out as a country at the very beginning of their World Cup odyssey, guiding them through qualifiers and friendlies, hopefully steering them all the way to the World Cup Finals. You also have the Captain Your Country mode, which is very similar to the Be A Pro mode in FIFA 10. From here you can create a pro, import your virtual pro from FIFA 10, or use an existing player. But don’t be fooled into thinking that choosing a countries star player will grant you an easy ride, you still have to prove yourself in the B team games to gain access to the hallowed turf of first team football.

As well as the offline modes, you have your general online matchmaking as well as the Online World Cup, which in essence is, the offline World Cup, instead you play with the general public. Once an Online World Cup is started, you are stuck with your chosen team until that campaign is over; however, you can pick up and play this mode game by game as it retains all your previous games data and group standings. I found this approach very fresh, as it didn’t force you to complete that online campaign in one sitting, and also because playing against the AI can get a tad predictable at times.

Getting back to the improvements on the FIFA 10 engine, it’s just seems a whole lot tighter. Hard to describe I know, but the players seem to have some weight behind them, you seem to have a better chance of scoring a “screamer”, and the AI seems vastly improved. While on attack, you will notice your fellow teammates running into more open spaces creating space for you and confusing defenders. And passing seems no more to be a foregone conclusion, with battles for the ball breaking down in midfield. The game looks as stunning as you’d expect, and with the addition of close ups to jubilant fans, anxious coaches and expectant fellow players you get a real sense of occasion and excitement. The balancing of the game is also much improved, lesser nations are a struggle to beat away, whereas get them on your stadium and they will soon come to pieces after the first few goals. Also nice to see, is teams chasing a game in the knockout stages of the World Cup, they simply don’t just lie down and die, they fight till the end and sometimes claw their way back into games.

My personal favourite part to the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa experience has to be the Captain Your Country mode. You are set objectives before each game, nothing too out there, just be better than players A, B and C, or get a match rating better than 7 or so. You can see your own player rating move up and down in real time depending on how you play, making you really consider your positioning and those around you. As a striker, an assist is nearly worth as much as a goal, so no need to be a glory hunter the whole time focusing to be far more of a team player. You move up and down your countries ranking system based on your match rating, hopefully leading to a first team position. But that’s not the end of the story; you can be dropped as quickly as you are picked up, so the game really forces you to play your “A game” the whole time.

However, since 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa is tied to an event, it’s hard to see it living online for long afterwards, especially with FIFA 11 due out in a few months. So that would be a main concern to many of the online players out there, and perhaps the only drawback of the title.

2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa might not have the same depth of FIFA 10, but EA more than made up for that with a fantastic Story of Qualifying mode and addictive Captain your Country mode. 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa is not a cash-in title, and is well capable of standing on its own merits. Well worth the look.

8/10

Review by Brian Buckley