Ahhh, the 2002 World Cup ! Getting up early in the morning, at our Uni house and watching matches before Breakfast. Good Times. I'm not reviewing that though, I'm reviewing the accompanying video game, specifically the Gamecube version that I had a session on this previous weekend, some 17 years after those halcyon days.

It is, at heart, still Fifa. Though it's almost (...almost) unrecognisable from the slick simulation that you see in the modern games. I'm immediately struck by the FMV that opens the game, before drifting into a game simulation, such as you'd see today. It is, understandably, much more basic - given the processing power but the players are generally recognisable - Michael Owen and Emile Heskey featuring prominently. Then the menus appear and here I felt an immediate pang of nostalgia - as these menus remained in Fifa for quite a while.

I started a new World Cup and picked France and replayed their opening game against Senegal. The first thing I noticed about the gameplay was that it's a lot more arcade-y than what Fifa has become. Bent passes turn at right angles, shots roar at the goal with a fiery streak and an associated roar, sliding tackles can cover meters. I found it difficult to ping the ball about, as often the game had a different idea for who I was passing to than I had. The computer seemed a lot better a tackling than I was and at half time the score was 7 - 3 to Senegal (with El Hadj-Diouf having helped himself to all seven). Each break in play is accompanied by a rousing, if somewhat bizarre blast of music from the orchestra that EA obviously were very proud to have put together. Another noticeable flaw, the games camera was often unresponsive and unable to keep up with the speed of the action within the game.

I did find myself missing some of the finer points of modern Fifa, varied crossing and the through ball, for example - but it was a fun - if somewhat bizarre session as Diouf tortured my Fabian Bartez. I enjoyed a stroll down memory lane, but I'll be back to modern Fifa next time.

The sport genre features the world of sports, capturing the excitement, competition, and personal journeys of athletes, coaches, and teams. The stories cover a wide range of sports and activities, each with its own unique characteristics and themes.

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FIFA World Cup 2002 is the second EA Sports official World Cup video game developed by EA Canada and Creations.

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2002 FIFA World Cup

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