EA Sports, those mega-giants in video games, have released their second FIFA soccer game in just over 6 months. Luckily for us, this soccer game actually improves upon FIFA 10, and while not perfect, 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa stands on its own.
2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa is actually a pretty fun soccer game to play, even if they took out the online be-a-pro mode, the single player be-a-pro, or in this game’s case, Captain of your Country mode, is vastly improved. You pick your favorite national or international team – there are a lot of them,so you will not be disappointed – and from there you work your way up over a two year World Cup season to get on your national team and hopefully into the 2010 World Cup tournament.
Although you don’t have as much control over your created player as you do in FIFA 10 (World Cup 2010 does it automatically for you), playing this mode is very enjoyable and will defiantly keep your interest over a couple weeks. There is also a co-op mode in Captain your Country which really makes for a fun time, more fun than I had on FIFA 10. You can also import you FIFA 10 created player if you don’t feel like making a new one, a very nice option.
The overall menus, graphics and music are also a home run in terms of putting you in the festive World Cup spirit. The crowd still looks like cardboard cut outs even though I read in a few reviews that they looked realistic, not sure what they were smoking, but the sounds of the crowd are awesome and based off your play on the field.
Another interesting and fun game option that adds a lot of longevity to the title is the Story of Qualifying mode, where you try to rewrite history or fight to keep it the same in game situations from the 2006 World Cup. If you are good enough to complete the objectives assigned to each scenario you can unlock the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals in Germany, which is super cool.
There are a lot of options for online play also, you can play online matches while signed in from your home country, and which ever country amasses the most wins will become the champions of online play. You can also pick a team and compete in a tournament style mini-World Cup online; both modes add a lot of replay value to this game.
Overall I have to give 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa a 4.3 / 5 and recommend buying it for any World Cup of EA FIFA die-hard fans and definitely renting it for any soccer fans or anyone that enjoys a well made sports game.
4.5 – Graphics
4.75 – Sounds (Commentators are much improved upon)
4.25 – Controls (2 Button Mode is back for those who just want to enjoy playing the game)
4.25 – Replay Value
4.25 – Online Play
4.25 – Video Game Magic*
*Video Game Magic is the video game’s ability to transport you the player into the game experience – usually the effects this has on the human condition are, severe loss of time management, extreme video game jonesing, and an extended altered state of reality.
