Review | FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa
Back off the post…
Format: Xbox 360/PS3 | Genre: Sports | Publisher: EA | Developer: EA | Price: £40 | Release date: 27/04/10
As the big event rolls around once more, Sam Morris chases victory in FIFA WORLD CUP 2010 SOUTH AFRICA.
IT ONLY comes along every four years, and when it does millions are glued. For one month, 32 nations battle away for the most prestigious prize in the business: the World Cup. However, this so-called holy grail of football probably isn’t seen in as much high regard by EA.
Every two years, EA get their chance to experiment with the formula laid down in the annual FIFA series. Two years ago they took this chance and ran with it, filling UEFA Euro 2008 with trials. Some were great, some weren’t so great, but regardless of success it’s always exciting to see what they give a go – even if we are all effectively paying to be a tester.
That’s what makes FIFA World Cup 2010 feel so distinctly iterative. Past a few notable alterations, it will take a seasoned veteran to find any tweaks they’ve made.
Let’s get those glaring ones out of the way. Nothing could be more different than the new penalty system. Previously shootouts were freshly coated in ambiguity. Without any noticeable feedback on why you blasted that penalty over the bar, penalty shootouts were frustrating affairs that left you blaming the on-screen player’s skill, rather than your own.
This time, however, a composure meter swings backwards and forwards. You’ll have to time your shot when it’s in the green for the best chance of hitting net. It’s a little more than the result of EA Canada playing some old golf games, though: every player has a different meter. For example, that ‘super-striker’ from the Faroe Islands is going to have the smallest area for maximum composure, while a seasoned veteran from Italy should have no problem. This still leaves penalties slightly biased towards the better teams – and I’ll still be blaming the stats – but that’s football. At least you now know why Totti fell over on his way to the ball.
Saving the day
Saving penalties is also made a whole lot clearer, with a simple flick of the right stick to send your keeper diving into the stuff of legends. If you guessed correctly, that is. The whole system has been made clearer and more informative, and while you’re occasionally still at the mercy of the stats, you’ll no longer have people asking which button it is to dive.
Otherwise, the core of the action remains intact. I had a little problem getting to grips with some of the inevitable minor tweaks. Tweaks like the – to coin a phrase – ‘passfinding’, which seems to have devolved especially when in the box.
The ball has a little more weight to it, shooting appears less accurate, and you can concede free-kicks for less, but otherwise it’s still FIFA. Yet the World Cup entries have always 
come with a staple mode that’s absent from the annual series: Road to the World Cup.
Unfortunately, this year’s mode doesn’t have the sheen that it did back on its introduction in in ’98. They’ve spruced up the backend between games so it looks like a website. You’ll now be informed of other countries progress and read boilerplate sentences on your own nation’s progress. Oh, the wonders of the Internet. But ultimately, this year’s mode is functional, and no more than exactly what you would expect.
Elsewhere, you can create a custom player to take the finals in the now obligatory Be-A-Pro Mode. It’s the same as it was last year, but now with a little pizzazz because of the World Cup.
Then there’s the Story of Qualifying mode, which is is, again, what you’d expect. Admittedly, it benefits the most from the World Cup license. Here you’ll take part in scenarios and challenges based on what actually happened in the build up to the finals. Whether it’s coming from behind with an expectant Senegalese nation behind you or achieving the unthinkable with Luxembourg, you’ll be pushed to the edge with these extremely challenging objectives. The persistent will be rewarded with scenarios from the 2006 World Cup 
and those who wait will get challenges from this year’s world cup as they happen through the platform-specific stores.
Otherwise, the online features haven’t changed much. The national leaderboards are in place, as they were with Euro 2008. These pit every nation against one another in a global leaderboard to find the EA Sports World Cup winners. It’s interesting, but nothing to get particularly excited about.
There is something you might not expect from this year’s rendition. It’s something that tends to get pushed to the back, but the sound design is completely spot-on. From the roar of the Vuvuzelas and the atmosphere created by the drums, to the satisfying smack of ball hitting net, it sounds perfect. There’s still a fair amount of ambiguous commentary, but that’s nothing new.
But ultimately, FIFA World Cup 2010 does suffer from precisely that: nothing exceptionally new. As its own game, it’s everything you could ask for and more. However, most of its audience will have played FIFA in the last couple of years, and for those people, everything is – say it with me now – what you’ve come to expect.
I’m sure you could argue: if it isn’t broken, why fix it? But equally, if it isn’t new, why release it?
