It’s still the World Cup – 2002 FIFA World Cup

**2002 FIFA World Cup** (EA Sports, PlayStation 2, 2002)

In June 2002, I was sitting national exams and regularly getting up early to make best use of my study leave from school, by… spending hours watching the World Cup. Revision could wait until the afternoon. Exams themselves were a more immovable blocker, and I came out of my first physics exam to news of the shock first result of Senegal beating reigning champions France. For a couple of England matches I actually went into school early to watch them in company.

The 2002 men’s football World Cup was a different World Cup in several ways. It was the first to have joint hosts, with Japan and South Korea sharing duties. Its matches were on at a new time of the day for us, as well as slightly earlier in the year. And it had some very different teams doing well. Senegal and the USA made it to the quarter-finals. The progress of South Korea, who rode skill, preparation and some interesting refereeing decisions all the way to the semi-finals, was one of the most memorable aspects, and the appalled reaction in Italy and Spain to being knocked out by them only made it more fun.

One thing which hadn’t changed about the World Cup was its official video game going to EA to use their FIFA engine for. The game seems to have done better out of anticipation than commemoration, in that all four of its weeks at #1 were before the World Cup started. That’s partly an incidental matter of timing (two very big games came out after it) but it does show that the game’s hype was slightly removed from the big event it was tied into. And EA used it very effectively as a transition for FIFA.

FIFA World Cup 2002 doesn’t fix the gameplay flaws of FIFA Football 2002, which it plays just like. It’s still sluggish and too tricksy for its own good. But they significantly overhauled how it looked, and it’s a study in how much appearance and a sense of occasion can cover up for. The dramatic close-ups of newly recognisable players now work much better, and there is a level of detail in the surroundings that lends further realism (I don’t remember the giant inflatable mascots at the corners of the pitch from the real thing, but sure).

The atmosphere benefits from some other unusual choices. The game features an orchestral soundtrack in place of the usual pop-rock mishmash, and its broad dramatic sweeps, including during the matches, give a fitting pomp. When you score a goal in a virtual World Cup knockout match, it’s much more right if it feels like the whole world has been holding its breath and just let it out. The accompanying commentary doesn’t always hit the right note (I don’t think anyone cares to be reminded of the whole list of a team’s qualifying opponents during the World Cup semi-final, Motty), but the level of repetition of the importance of the events is just right. FIFA World Cup 2002 doesn’t provide the best football, but has confidence that, like the real thing, that’s not the most important part of the big event.