2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa

EA Sports’ FIFA World Cup game (I’m too lazy to write out the bloated full name again) came out a few weeks ago and I’ve been having fun with the game despite some problems. Prior to playing World Cup 2010 I played through another league season in FIFA 10 to get reacquainted with the game engine and to also see if the newest FIFA 10 patch fixed the myriad of bugs in the manager mode (shockingly, it didn’t). After getting used to FIFA 10 again I switched to the new game and it’s definitely apparent that World Cup 2010, while not a major leap in gameplay, is a lot tighter and more refined game engine.

The biggest changes for me are the control responsiveness, particularly with one touch control and taking the ball down off the chest – it’s a lot swifter and less floaty than the previous game. Also less floaty are the crosses though they still seem to hang up in the air a bit too long and I would love to be able to drill in a high cross and thump in a header with the same aplomb as I would in Pro Evo.

Penalties have been revamped and I have to give credit to EA Canada for trying something different. The new system combines a side-to-side power/accuracy bar along with last year’s simple point and shoot method. I’m still getting the hang of it but thus far I do like the fact that nailing the corners seems a lot more difficult.

Graphics as expected are excellent with player faces pretty much on par with those in Pro Evo. The TV style presentation has been improved slightly with a few new substitution animations (though these are still pretty poor) but the game still has that odd disconnect when it comes to celebrations where your player does one thing in the game engine but in ensuing cut-scene they’re doing something completely different.

Feature-wise, I really enjoy the World Cup qualification modes but much like the Manager Mode in FIFA 10 there are numerous bugs (many of which you don’t hear a mention about in the mainstream gaming press) and simulation oddities. Stats tracking is absolutely bunk. I won the World Cup with Canada and though Rob Friend scored in every game in the finals at the end of the tournament the stats page stated that he had only played 2 games and scored only one goal. In fact, apart from Tomas Radzinski no one else on the team had played more than three matches – this despite the fact that I’d clearly played 7 games. Yes, somehow I won the World Cup with a 0-0-1 formation in the last 4 games!

Simulation results between computer controlled teams are bizarre and my Canadian team played in a World Cup that included Fiji, Andorra and Somalia (all three of which got to the knockout rounds).

Likewise, stats and achievement tracking in the Captain Your Country (Be A Pro/Legend) is screwy. I managed to make the first team squad and become Captain of Argentina with Martin Palmermo but didn’t receive the Xbox 360 Achievements for either. Even when I imported by Be A Pro character from FIFA 10 (a nice option....but it resets your bloody player attributes so what’s the point?) I didn’t get the achievements. Checking out the forums at 360Achievements.com it’s not a problem that’s isolated to my game and seems random – some get the achievements, some don’t.

The player ratings system in Captain Your Country, much like that in Be A Pro in FIFA 10, is fundamentally flawed as I’ve had numerous games where I’ve had boatloads of goals and assists only for a central defender to win man of the match. My favourite was getting 3 goals and 2 assists in single game with Martin Palermo in a 5-2 win against Peru only to have Gago win man of the match because he completed 3 out of 3 passes. Brilliant.

The Online World Cup mode is a neat idea – you play through the group and (if you qualify) the knockout stages – but be prepared to play the same five teams over, and over again – Spain, Brazil, England, Argentina and France. I really wish EA Sports would have a separate matchmaking service for those who don’t want to play with the 4 and 5 star behemoths. While it is a thrill to eke out a 1-0 win over England with Vietnam, its equally frustrating to be Vietnam and lose 6-0 to Brazil against a 12 year old shithead who makes you watch every replay and celebrates each goal like it’s a world cup winner.

I realize I’ve listed a lot of negatives about the game but when an incremental update comes out at full price I think it’s reasonable to expect things like stats tracking and simulation results to be working properly. Since FIFA 10’s Manager Mode shipped with numerous bugs that have yet to be patched (and I doubt they ever will) I’m not confident EA Canada will bother to fix the problems in World Cup 2010. I’m still enjoying the game and I guess when push comes to shove I still paid full price for it but that’s also because I’m a football gaming freak. If you’re not, you may want to hold on to get this used for a bit cheaper.

Lavan