Just as every four years brings a new World Cup to life in reality, it has become equally as synonymous in the gaming world that EA Sports brings a new World Cup video game to life alongside the real event. While some fans of the sport may dismiss these titles as nothing more than an “addition” to the core gameplay that was founded during the FIFA game in the previous year, many fans (myself included) end up giving in and taking the bait to buy the World Cup game as well — and I’m usually not disappointed.

“2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa” is certainly a long title for a video game, but are the additional words just more glamor on an already aging layout for FIFA 10 — which was released in October of 2010? I believe that’s the real question on the minds for most hardcore fans of the sport. And for casual fans who are simply jumping on the World Cup bandwagon, is this game worth the purchase?

Perhaps the best way to start this review is address what may be obvious — 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa was released at the end of April, so why now do a review? To be honest, I only made the purchase for this game a few weeks ago prior to the start of the World Cup. But I see this delay as something of a benefit considering that the World Cup is still in progress right now and the hype is riding a wave of momentum.

As stated in previous reviews — the version of this game that I’m reviewing is the XBox 360 version. The XBox 360 version and the Playstation 3 version are virtually the same from what I can tell. The Wii version is extremely different visually and even though I’ve preferred the play-style for soccer games on the Wii in the past with Pro Evolution Soccer, I simply couldn’t bring myself to buy the Wii version this time. The Wii version took a very stylistic and “cartoonish” approach to the visuals in order to appeal to a younger audience. I imagine the game plays similar to the FIFA games on the Wii in the past (which were never bad), but I simply chose the more realistic approach for my purchase this time around.



So what does 2010 FIFA World Cup have to offer?

If I had to award only one achievement the developers of this game, it would be the ability to capture the atmosphere and feel of the World Cup. Every single menu screen has an element of the South African setting and really makes you feel like you’re playing the World Cup game to end all World Cup games. If there’s ever been a videogame that captures the essence of this global sport, it would definitely be this one. Literally with the press of a button right off the main menu, you find yourself scrolling the globe to select which country you want to play as — and not just play as their national team, but you can also pull the trigger buttons to learn different statistics and facts about that nation as well.

Another great element of this title that has been consistent with most of the FIFA World Cup titles in the past is the presence of (nearly) every single national team. 204 national teams partook in the qualifying process for the World Cup. EA Sports managed to get 199 teams in the game. One minor complaint I had about the 2006 FIFA World Cup game was the lack of detail in some of the uniforms for the smaller countries, and while there are a handful of countries in this edition that lack detail for their kits, most every team has at least two detailed jerseys (if not more) that are both accurate and recent.

The game features a bulk of stadiums to play in, and while a number of them are generic and blur together in terms of design and look, the lack of detail in a select few is made up by how good certain ones come across — especially some of the official stadiums located in South Africa that are being used now.

To be completely honest — the presentation is spectacular. It’s not just good — it’s excellent. Everything has had a lot of attention and detail put into it. Seeing Bob Bradley stand on the sidelines and stroke his chin as I prepare a sub is just one example of an extra mile that this game goes. Granted, some of the animations for the players and fans on the sidelines and in the seats do get old after a while, it’s never an unwelcome feeling.



As far as the gameplay, to put it in blunt terms: the game plays very well. Switching back from offense and defense is a smooth transition for the most part. Simple tasks such as passing, through-balls, crosses, and shots are all controlled with the face button when on offense. While playing defense you can challenge the ball in a more acceptable grapple with the opponent, or you try a sliding tackle — both of which are controlled with the face buttons as well.

I did run into a few errors when taking control of the ball again; such as being on defense during a corner kick, for example. The ball would land and one of my defenders would win the cross. I found myself hitting the cross button to clear the ball out, but in a split second the opposition would take control of the ball again and then I found my player performing a sliding tackle — IN THE BOX — just because “X” (on the 360 version) served as both a cross and a slide tackle. At the same time, I can really only blame myself considering I could have hit “B” to clear the ball out and play it safe, but I can’t imagine I’m the only player that’s gone through this.

The game is a visual feast for the eyes. Jerseys and faces are very detailed and just serve as being a treat to look at. Being an American (and being familiar with the US Team), if I were to nitpick, it seems that Landon Donovan’s hairline is a bit TOO high and Clint Dempsey’s face was a little off. While that really is digging into details, I feel that the US National Team (among other teams) didn’t get quite as much attention as England and Spain (among others). It’s just hard to deny that certain players got more or less attention than others, but that’s bound to happen when dealing with nearly 200 teams.



You have your standard gameplay modes that fans have come to expect out of soccer games. From you basic exhibition matches to penalty shootouts and training sessions — the essentials are all there. Along with pursuing the actual World Cup tournament you can actually go through the qualification process and take any team you wish through the rounds and try to make it among the top 32 who compete. The game does vary up the results when qualifying and it’s always nice to see the different results you can get. When qualifiying South Korea out of the Asia Division, I noticed that Canada managed to qualify in the CONCACAF and had managed to edge out Mexico. While that seems unlikely NOW, it was a pleasant surprise and it made for a more interesting lineup in the World Cup.

One mode that I didn’t get much use out of was “Captain Your Country”. Basically, CYC is a parallel to the “Be A Pro” mode from FIFA 10. For those who don’t know, the mode haves you take control of one character and work with him through a two-year process prior to the start of the World Cup. Controlling only one character feels unusual, but you get the hang of it. You can actually play the mode locally with up to 4 players, and not only that, but if you’ve already created a player from FIFA 10, you can therein transfer that player over to this game and start playing with him once again. Personally, I just found the mode to be not all that fun. To me, I found it more pleasing to just take control of an entire unit and try to qualify. I may eventually find myself getting bored with the game overall and then I might give CYC another try, but I can do without if for the time being.

The game features both local and online multiplayer. I’ve enjoyed many a game with older brother (who owns the game as well) and many friends who came over to play it on the same system. You can obviously play competitively against one another or cooperatively on the same team. When doing the latter, switching players is controlled by hitting the Left Bumper (or L1 on the PS3). This action is actually done in all gameplay modes, but it becomes especially apparent in multiplayer when two players are trying to become the same person. It simply becomes a game of clicking the button first. It can be difficult to work out who will be who when you anticipate becoming a certain player on the field, but actually become someone else. However, you can tweek this “automatic change” in the options and alter it to where you always become a player closest to the ball or someone on the field who may be farther away from the action.

One personal favorite element of the FIFA games has always been the soundtrack. Hearing great music from not only America, but countries all over the globe is a real delicacy. It opens your ears to other kinds of popular music all around the globe. Already, I’ve found myself listening to music artists that were previously unknown to me such as “The Very Best” and “Buraka Son Sistima”. I’m sure you’ve heard by now the official theme of the World Cup, “Waving Flag” by K’Naan, and the song is most definitely in the game.

I really struggle to think of ways that EA could have done more to capture the feeling of this World Cup. They did such a good job. As a fan of this beautiful sport, all you can ask is for a game that looks and feels like soccer and plays in a way that is both realstic and fun. The FIFA franchise has certainly achieved this in recent years, but this World Cup edition goes an extra mile.

Not only that, but the super adorable mascot “Zakumi” shows up on screen after screen to walk you through the menus and tells you interesting facts about different countries.



And did I mention that you have the option to control the sound of the infamous vuvuzelas?



Overall –

The World Cup is in full swing right now and soccer fever has hit the world. You probably know already if this is the kind of game you’d be interested in. If you do find yourself on the fence and have recently enjoyed watching the World Cup games on television, this is game that you’ll certainly enjoy. The full $60 dollar price may feel a little steep, but the purchase is still wise for a serious soccer fan. FIFA 10 was a huge improvement over previous years and it seems that EA is the new leader in soccer video gaming by leaving Konami in the dust. 2010 FIFA World Cup continues to build off that great gameplay and it captures the vibe of this World Cup better than I could have imagined.

So let me break it down:

The Good:
*The presentation for the game is unmatched. From the cut scenes showing fans dancing to seeing the coaches celebrate or become upset, the attention to detail is worth applauding.
*Plain and simple — the gameplay is great and it just works. It’s very easy for anyone to pick up and play, but it involves enough depth to provide a challenge and let you become a better player than you were before.
*199 nations with the real squads and many of the nations feature their actual kits — plus there are free squad updates via Playstation Network or XBox Live.
*After scoring a goal, you can actually control your celebration in a number of ways. It’s a fun little element that’s a welcome change.
*The soundtrack is really good. The variety of nations that the contributing artists are from makes for a nice collaboration of sound, but it all still fits within the “South African” setting the menus are portraying.
*Realistic and entertaining commentary from regular FIFA announcers Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend.
*A very cool (but not easy) mode called “Story of Qualifying” lets you play out past scenarios of teams trying to qualify for the World Cup as well as famous World Cup moments in general.

The Bad:
*The animations of fans in the crowd becomes predictable and a bit stale after a point.
*It’s obvious that players on certain nations got much more detail than others — which is expected — but I can’t help but feel that many corners were cut.
*During the Qualifying for the World Cup, I seemed to run into a lot of injuries for players on a lot of teams — to an unreal degree.
*The “Captain Your Country” (while a nice addition) just wasn’t much fun for me.
*A few scattered glitches can be found — for example: I was trying to edit the numbers on players for a certain team, but no matter how many times I would save the change and then exit, the game would always revert back to the default number. The only way to fix the glitch was restart the game and try again.

The game is great, but that doesn’t mean it’s lacking the presence of some minor flaws. It serves it’s purpose in being a fun and in depth game for soccer fans. Make no mistake — 2010 FIFA World Cup is most definitely an excellent game.

2010 FIFA World Cup gets a very solid 8.5/10.

-David