FIFA 2002 Review

You have to give credit to EA, despite the annual FIFA updates and the constant bashing from the gaming press, the simple fact is that they had a winning formula as far as sales go. So it took a big decision to strip the game down to its basics and redesign the games mechanics for FIFA 2002.

FIFA 2002 opens with the usual excellent presentation that you’ve come to expect from the franchise, the opening introduction features exciting game footage spliced together against music from the Gorillaz, so far so good…

The standard modes are on offer, giving you the chance to take club or national teams through domestic seasons or cups. However this being 2002, you’ve also got the option to take your chosen team to the 2002 World Cup Finals, in a Road to the World Cup style scenario.

The usual FIFA tactics are available, so you can alter the formation, change strategies, swap players, etc… However most of your team tactics can now be taken care of by the FIFA 2002 Assistant, if a player is injured, tired or not performing the assistant will recommend substituting him when the ball runs out of play. You can either follow his judgement, change the players involved or just ignore his opinion, it’s a neat feature that works surprisingly well.

Onto the pitch you couldn’t ask for a better visual recreation of the sport we all know and love. The stadiums are represented in all their glory giving a great sense of scale; at times it does feel that you’re playing in front of 100,000+ eager fans. Players warm up before games, psyche themselves us, chat about tactics, etc…

Whilst not looking as accurate as in This Is Football 2002, player models are incredibly detailed and feature some of the best animation in a football title. However it’s the little things that we’ve come to expect from FIFA that shine, such as during a penalty you can hear the crowd noise quiet, and the heartbeat of the keeper begin to get louder and quicken. Goal celebrations are the best seen in a football game, as the music kicks in and you can see the joy and agony on player faces.

The actual game though has changed significantly; the arcade feel of previous versions has definitely evolved. Firstly EA have revamped the entire passing and lobbing mechanics, you’ve got far more control over where you place passes in 2002, giving you the scope to play some very attractive football. Most notable is the through ball system, rather then just having a through ball button as featured in most games, players making runs are now marked by a dotted line of their intended run, it’s up to you to place the pass with the right amount of power and pace to latch on to the forward runs. It takes awhile to get used to, as it’s much more demanding then most other games, however with practise you’ll soon be putting in pinpoint accurate through balls, with an immense feeling of satisfaction as your forwards run is perfectly met by your pass. You’ve also got a greater sense of control over lob passes, eventually you’ll be whipping in 40 yard Beckham style passes and deadly crosses. FIFA’s first big change gets a resounding thumb’s up from us.

Players actions seem to be a lot more responsive to your actual controls, no longer do needless animations need to be carried out before your resulting button press occurs. The general feel is that FIFA 2002 play mechanics are a lot tighter, however you’ll need to be on top of your game to get results. No longer do passes automatically find your teammates; you’ll have to search them out with accurate power and position. Thankfully the pinball nature of previous versions has finally been dismissed. FIFA’s second change gets another thumbs up.

Another crucial flaw with previous versions was the ability to score easy goals, which the opposition couldn’t do a lot about. This seems to be rectified for 2002, as it’s a lot harder to score goals in general, meaning that you’ll try and get one, in any means possible. I’m not too sure whether after extended play, guaranteed goals will appear, however at this stage it’s looking promising, so another thumbs up…

It seems that EA have significantly reworked the player AI to incorporate the new through ball system. Players constantly make intelligent runs into space, and the keepers behave a lot more realistically then their superman counterparts from previous FIFA titles. However when playing against computer controlled opponents you can occasionally spot areas that need to be worked on, when through on goal players will shoot from 18 yards out rather then taking on the keeper. In this aspect FIFA’s competition, most notably Konami’s effort wins hands down, however it’s still a big improvement over previous FIFA titles.

One area that FIFA always shines through is the in game commentary. Football legend John Motson is back, alongside Sky pundit, Andy Gray. The two make intelligent comments about the game, including references to injured players and poor performances. Without a shadow of a doubt the best football commentary around, and pleasantly refreshing after the recent debacles found in TIF2002 and Pro Evolution Soccer.