The release of 2010 FIFA World Cup this week means the bar has been raised for soccer games on all platforms once again.
The game is very similar to FIFA 10, which is not too surprising really. EA Sports would be silly to drastically alter such a great format, and it won’t be too long before it is time for the annual update of the FIFA franchise.
I’m not criticising 2010 World Cup, far from it. It is a fantastic game, but the additions of a more realistic crowd and manager interaction does not excite me that much. It can be said of all genres, when it comes to a point that not much more can be added, but only to tweak each title accordingly.
FIFA became king of the franchise in the last two years, just like Pro Evolution and International Superstar Soccer (ISS) before it. I actually hold high hopes for the next Pro Evo release: they‘ll get it right again and FIFA will have to respond.
The key to those games taking on the mantle was a dramatic change in gameplay. FIFA has had some stinkers in its time and only in recent memory have EA found the right formula.
Obviously gameplay will always decide which game is best. Giovanni Trapattoni on the touchline and appearing to gesture and give out orders will never make much of a difference to the hardcore fan.
It can be as realistic as it wants, but unless it plays well, then it will not succeed. The best example is the "Captain Your Country" mode in 2010 World Cup. The Be A Pro feature in the normal FIFA was never my cup of tea because it does not play as well as the normal game mode.
There will always be that little voice in the my mind, hinting that there could be more to it. A Wii-type element to the genre of kicking a small ball in your living-room to pass and hoofing it towards a window when a sight of goal appears.
3-D glasses used to make watching the real game on television even more enjoyable would double as a means of really getting into the FIFA action.
But I don’t think it can ever take off. It has to be a handheld controller, one button actions and keeping things simple. That has always restricted what developers can do, and I don’t think it is necessarily a bad thing.
Game play, camera angles, the number of teams and sustained enjoyment of a single and multi-player basis will be the key elements to a brilliant soccer title.
FIFA has that; Call of Duty is king of the war game format; and Nintendo continue to produce top-quality Mario games of all genres because they all have ‘it’.
I’ll continue to play 2010 World Cup right up until the real-life event and maybe after.
EA will not rush to make huge changes anytime soon and maybe we should be happy enough with that.
Rory Houston
