Fifa 2002 World Cup
Written: Jun 23 '02 (Updated Jun 23 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: graphics are even better, good artificial intelligence, star players
Cons: getting the ball makes you mad, exaggerated falls tackles jostles
The Bottom Line: I don't know when they will make it like real football but this one is still best.
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| lhdal's Full Review: FIFA Soccer 2002 for GameCube |
Creating a sports game is a though job and it seems this job is thougher for EA sports. They create great graphics, actions, stadiums and etc. But what they can't create is the soul of football. As there are no other games to challenge EA in PC football gaming they still create low quality games. They need to watch lots of real games. No one falls with a touch or there are no such jostles.
We know that the difference between good and weak teams are the players. If you have low quality players you play bad. But EA does not think so. In the last 3 releases (Fifa 2001, Fifa 2002 and World Cup 2002) they work really hard for the graphical interface and visual objects not for the realism of the game. Players like Thierry Henry, David Beckham are made nearly the same as the player himself. Also the number of actions for specific moves was increased. To get the ball when you press the "Shoot" button there are many possibilities varying on the ball's and player's position.
But even you are playing against a weak or though opponent in the World Class and Pro levels the opponent's player will immediately catch the ball when you go close to him. No luck factor, no other possibilties. Also any rating like tackling or strength is not important.I don't think there are any players in the Chinese team to get the ball from Zidane with great ease.
But when your player is pushed, he is out of the game as he tries to get back on his feet. I never saw someone going 3 or 4 meters after being pushed. Also you can not push opponent players as CPU does to yours. Even if you tackle, he takes back his position and tackles you.
What should make the game though or easy should be your player's abilites not opponent's. In EA's NBA games, this is made great. Your shooting becomes harder in those games. But in Fifa games, your shooting, passing, etc. stays same but opponent's abilities increase. You can not get the ball from them. They pass in the back court and lob the ball in a long range. When they tackle or push you have no chance if you had not made the special moves in the right time. What I want to mention is that there must be human things in the game. Of course th game should be made though but this can not be made by increasing th opponents ability. It must be in a way that if you want to play a though game you should select the weaker teams. I mean the rating system is out of use in Fifa 2002 World Cup.
These are the features:
You can only play in the World Cup as a competetive game. You can select around 40 countries. (some does not play in the real Cup)
Group stages are the same as the real tournament. If you get bored playing in the cup you can only play in Friendly mode. There are no club teams. But when you win the trophy with a team, that team's continent's all-stars team is unlocked in the friendly mode. (I am not sure how it happened but the World Stars team is also unlocked. It happened either winning the trophy with teams from all continents or winning with a hosting nation.)
A new difficulty level "Beginner" is used. To generalize the difficulty levels, in beginner no player tackles or challenges yours and you can get the ball with great ease, in amateur tackles and challenges are used in low difficulty and you can still get the ball easily, in pro mode you are tackled though and getting the ball is not easy, in World Class you are tackled very though and you have to work systematically to get the ball.
AI was developed amazingly. Now it does not only pass the ball but also dribbles. But teams with conservative tactic still passes in their backcourt. Also it uses 1-2 passes very much and after sometime you can feel that and block this passing.
Replay system has changed. When a shot goes close to the target it is replayed, too. (But only when ball goes out of field) Also after a fouled tackle replay is shown.
In Fifa 2002 sliding tackles were not favoured. But now you must use them in harder levels. Opponent player's don't give the ball easily when you use "shoot/press" button. They shake a bit but keep going. Also when you press "Shoot" and don't get the ball you may loose time (Nonsense but your player stays out of game longer than CPU's).
"jostle" feature is the worst part of the game. Players nearly fight using their arms and bodies. After the new regulations such actions are foul. But a press made with "shoot" button is NEVER called a foul. Even if the player falls down or is pushed.
Sliding between passing players is useful. Sometimes it is a must. Don't do it directing the feet of the player but his runway. It is also dangerous because of booking. The animations after being tackled has varied. That is really nice. The player can fall back, forth having his feet off the ground.
A very bad and in my opion one of the worst things in the game is that you can't slide to a no man's ball. Instead of diving, the lob indicator bar is filled and eventually if you can reach the ball, it is lobbed. This needs immediate correction by EA sports.
Passing has changed. You can select modes defining either the ball should be sent to a player or the way you direct on the controller. This seems a good thing you can select the one suits your needs. They say, with an analog controller "Normal" mode is better.
On the side lines, the action of keeping the ball is used. This means when you press the opposite direction arrow of the side the ball is going out, the player has his leg on the ball to keep it inside.
Team mates are now treated to be 3D meaning you can't go through them. Also this is valid for refrees. In fast plays the ball can hit the refree and change direction. But you stil can go through opponents that don't have the ball. Also if you slide towards them it does not cause any problem. Tackling a keeper is direct red.
Another 3D additon was in ball clearance. In previous games when the ball was cleared no blocks were made but in World Cup 2002 this changed. The ball may be blocked by the attacker or hit him and this may keep him out of play for a while. But you can't block long shots made by keepers.
Keeper features have not changed a lot. But the number of rebounds have increased. But keepers reflect balls exactly the same if the shot is made from the same place. The quality difference is made more obivous. Which means it is much harder to score against Kahn (82 total rating, best keeper) but easier to Buffon (75 rating) Be very careful not the press "shoot" button if you want your keeper to get the ball in hands. Otherwise he will not take the ball. In lobs and crosses there is something I couldn't figure out. Either when you keep "shoot" button pressed or in every lob or cross, the keeper comes forward leaving the goal. So if you can't clear the ball with the defender or keeper have it, ball will probably find the net.
Generally in side crosses (corners etc.), keeper may punch the ball away from the goal.
In lobs and crosses, the player either heads the ball or takes the ball on his chest and clears it when he is on his court.
When a player is not moving, with the special action button he can have the ball up and can bounce it on his knee, shoulder or head. The number of bounces increase by pressing spin buttons.
When a player is close to keeper in the box, after shooting keeper fouls the shooting player resulting his fall in the box. These should be judged as penalty but game keeps going and ball is owned by no one for a while.
Freekicks are sometimes very easy to score goals. If the standing players jump you can send the ball to the far post below them.
Also when last defender of CPU owns the ball if you press to take the ball, he will send the ball far away in your court. This makes the game dull. I mean he has to clear the ball, that is sure but why does he have to send that long. Also this is probably adjusted to be so and shows the lack of AI.
A very new feature is the star player abilities. Have you ever watched Japanese football cartoons. In those, the ball gets an elliptical shape having a fire trail on its back when shot. This silly thing is used but it can be turned off. It comes when a player has at least one rating of 7 out of 7. These ratings may be passing, speed, shooting. If passing rating is 7 when that player passes the ball a white trail appears on the ball. If the shooting rating is 7 when that player shoots a fire trail appears behind the ball. On both cases, pressing the controller direction buttons the ball gets a spin even if you don't press ballspin buttons. If speed rating is 7 when he runs he has a trail colored as his jersey. A player may have all of those 7. When he has at least one of those ratings 7, he has a star icon over his head. You have to discover those (You can see it in the team management).
Ballspin is still made with extra buttons. It requires more buttons pressed and in a gamepad is out of use. I believe this should be made by direction buttons in new games.
EA assistant is implemented. This changes the formation of the team when a player is sent off. Also it notices you when a player is tired with the possible substitute. When the score gap between you and the opponent increase (possibly 3 goals) it notices to increase or decrease the difficult level.
You can adjust the boost of shooting indicator in the options menu. This is nice for those who can't adjust it in a close interval. Also you may think the time for acceleration is too long.
Graphics are great. Faces of famous players are nearly same. (Veron, Beckham, Henry, Zidane)
But database is a bit weak. Some players are missing. Also the All-stars teams can't be changed before the game. Official ball Fevernova is used. And the friction speed factors are implemented. It seems to be a bit faster. The original stadiums are used in the game. Also the audio objects are great. It is like Far-East tunes played with Western instruments.
Game still doesn't require a perfect PC but some 16 MB Video Cards is out of use. Mine is Voodoo Banshee an unsupported card but I use an unofficial driver "Xpentor" and this is solving my problem. But my cousin has an Intel i740 and we couldn't solve it any way. You can see the requirements from the original readme.txt below.
All I can say is that there is no other alternative for EA in PC. You will probably bu it if you like football games and don't have playstation or so. But this is not real football. They created something and called it as a football game. Many features are either exaggerated or missed. If you want to be a good player you have to learn its own rules not real football's.
(This part is from the Readme.txt)
Notes on video card chipsets
If you are experiencing problems with your video card and 2002 FIFA World Cup TM, try updating your video card driver by downloading the latest driver available from the video card manufacturer. If there is no improvement, try using the latest driver provided by the video chipset manufacturer. Your video card chipset is the video processing chip located on your video card. If there is no information in your video card manual or website, check the video card for an identifying chip with the chipset manufacturer's name on it. Some popular video chipset manufacturer's websites are listed below:
NVIDIA http://www.NVIDIA.com/
3DLabs http://www.3dlabs.com/
Matrox http://www.matrox.com/
Intel http://www.intel.com/
ATI http://www.ati.com/
S3 http://www.s3graphics.com/
Kyro http://www.powervr.com/
Notes on Video Card Support
Chipsets tested and supported:
ATI Rage 128
ATI Radeon
Voodoo 2
Voodoo 3
Voodoo 4
Voodoo 5
NVIDIA GeForce
NVIDIA GeForce 2
NVIDIA GeForce 2 MX
NVIDIA GeForce 3
NVIDIA Quadro
NVIDIA RIVA TNT
NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 (Ultra)
Matrox G200
Matrox G400
Matrox G450
Matrox G550
3Dlabs Permedia 3
S3 Savage 3D
S3 Savage4
S3 Savage 2000
KYRO PowerVR 3
KYRO II
Recommended chipsets:
ATI Rage 128
ATI Radeon Series
Voodoo 3
Voodoo 4
Voodoo 5
NVIDIA GeForce
NVIDIA GeForce 2
NVIDIA GeForce 2 MX
NVIDIA GeForce 3
NVIDIA Quadro
NVIDIA RIVA TNT
NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 (Ultra)
Matrox G400
Matrox G450
KYRO
KYRO II
The 3D Setup program (located in "Start Menu/Programs/EA Sports/2002 FIFA World Cup TM") defaults to D3D support for the above chipsets.
If your card has D3D support and is not one of the chipsets above, the 3D Setup program will default to D3D Rendering. Please note that other cards have not been tested and may not work with 2002 FIFA World Cup TM.
If you experience problems, please contact your card manufacturer or chipset vendor to get the latest drivers.
Notes on Sound and Video Cards
a.) Notes on the 3Dfx Voodoo 2 Chipset
Users with a video card based on the 3Dfx Voodoo 2 may experience better game performance when using Glide drivers. Glide can be selected from the 3D Setup program, located on your Start Menu after installation.
b.) For Windows 2000 users:
Ensure that DirectX 8.0a is installed. It can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?ReleaseID=27742. Once installed, right-click on the 2002 FIFA World Cup TM shortcut on the desktop, select Properties, and add " 3D=dx8z" to the end of the "Target" property (outside of the quotations marks.)
c.) Problems with the S3 Savage4 Chipset
Users with an S3 Savage4 chipset may experience minor graphical issues in the front-end. Gameplay should remain fully playable.
d.) Problems with the Diamond MX 400 Sound Card
We have experienced some audio issues with this sound card during the development of 2002 FIFA World Cup TM. Gameplay should remain fully functional.
e.) Notes on ATI Rage Fury video cards
If rendering glitches are observed with the ATI Rage Fury line of cards, enter the text "VERTICAL_SYNCH = 1" (without the quotes) on a line by itself in the soccer.ini file.
f.) Notes on Intel i810 video cards
Video cards based on the Intel i810 chipset will perform best in 2002 FIFA World Cup TM when set to a resolution of 1024x768 or lower.
g.) Video Cards and chipsets NOT supported by 2002 FIFA World Cup TM
3Dfx Voodoo 1
3Dfx Voodoo Rush
3Dfx Voodoo Banshee
Hercules Thriller 3D
Intel i740
Diamond Stealth II
Diamond FireGL 1000 Pro
Matrox Millenium II
Number Nine Revolution IV
NVIDIA Riva 128
ATI Rage II
ATI 3D Rage Pro
Chromatic Mpact 2
S3 Virge
S3 Virge VX
S3 Virge DX/GX
S3 Trio 3D
Notes on Windows
2002 FIFA World Cup TM supports Windows 95b, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows ME and Windows XP.
*NOTE - To install the game properly on Windows 2000/Windows XP, you will need administrator access to your machine. Consult your Windows 2000/Windows XP documentation for more information.
Known problems with Windows 2000/Windows XP:
During testing, some video cards experienced problems due to driver incompatibility issues. Check your 3D card manufacturer's web site to obtain updated Windows 2000 or Windows XP drivers.
Data verification date
The player and team data used in 2002 FIFA World Cup TM was verified for accuracy as of January 15th, 2002. Any roster changes that occurred after this date may not be reflected in the game.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
lhdal
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Location: Istanbul, Turkey
Reviews written: 38
Trusted by: 3 members
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