a really perfect soccer game . could be the best ever but ...
I usually start talking about the problems os a game rather than the good parts bat this game is so good , I really can't start with the problems .
this game is definitely one of the best soccer games ever . from the start when you want to select your team you are able to do it either the classic way searching in lists of different regions or do it buy moving your cursor on the map which I think is way too better and even more fun to explore different parts of the world map . I even found out things about countries near my own country that I never knew so you get a free geographic lesson !
about he teams available in the game I should say that there are 199 national teams + 2 un-lockable teams . there are no club teams and that's not really a problem because the game is all about world cup and you could find no reason for playing with clubs .
the game-play is really awesome just like Fifa 10 but there are problems as well . for instance the radar is really small and hard to see and usually vivid . and another problem is with the Tele camera that doesn't show you the bottom outline of the field .
but that doesn't make it a bad game .the control is great and there are thing added to the core of Fifa 10 for this game . the managers of some of the teams are designed and you see them in cut-scenes in the middle of the match although the moves they do are really limited and sometimes its really annoying to see thing like Diego Armando Maradona standing there with his arm under the chin and thinking !
the other new thing is that you can select your goal celebration by some button press after scoring the goal which is really exciting . but one of the games big problems occurs in the goal celebration which is made of two cut scenes - if you don't decide what celebration you want to have - in the first cut scene you see your player for example runs toward the corner flag and in the second you see him celebrating in front of the goal ! if you try to ignore it , its no problem but if not you really get a bad feeling .
there are lots of technique in the game which is really tricky and hard to learn but once you mastered them there is no way to stop you .
you can set many options before the match starts bu one option the game really lacks is the 90 minute game which could be a real fun .
the game has 5 different difficulty modes with a good variety for beginners to Fifa-masters but in the hardest mode - called legendary - you should play against 11 players + 1 referee . I mean the ref clearly supports the AI team !
playing local with friends a good solution to the problem but if you and your friend are in the same team there will be a bigger problem . you cant really find out which player you are and which one he/she is although the pointers on your heads have different colours they both are pretty dark and sometimes you can't find a difference between them !
another problem is that the ball touches the referee many times ! at first it looks fun but after a while you realise the game just wants to tell you that : " the physics of the game is good . look ! the bal touches the ref ! "
my country was ranked 64th in the Fifa ranking when game was designed and the players lok a little bit like themselves although there are problems with the appearance , the players names , the commentator ,the post they play in and the abilities are pretty good and have few problems which I think is really acceptable .
but the biggest problem of the game is the appearance of players . it may happen many times for you to see a player and not recognizing him . for example Zambrotta ( Italy - A.C.Milam ) looks nothing like himself in real life . Rafael Van Deer Vaart ( Netherlands - Real Madrid ) as well and Arjen Robben ( Netherlands - Bayern Munich ) has lots of hair and is impossible for you to recognize him from a far distance . etc
unfortunately the playerss' numbers are not the real ones as well . so sometimes you really have no way to identify your player other than reading his name displayed on the lower part of the screen and that could cause a lot of distraction . and another problem is in the team squads . each team consists of about 40 players but there are some problems . for example you can't find Grafite ( Brasil - Wolfsburg ) or Marcelo ( Brasil - Real Madrid ) Mario Balotelli ( Italy - Man City ) Rod Van Nistelrooy ( Netherlands - Hamburg ) and Holger Badstuber ( Germany - Bayern Munich ) in the game . even Thomas Muller ( Germany - Bayern Munich ) the 20 year old player who was one of the 4 player that scored 5 goals in the final rounds and was announced the best scorer at the , is not in the game !
even the players who are in the game have some problems for example some players are marked with a star and should be the star player of their team . but in Netherlands Robin Van Persie ( Netherlands - Arsenal ) is a star player but Arjen Robben ( Netherlands - Bayern Munich ) and Wesley Sneijder ( Netherlands - Inter Milan ) are not star players !
game modes in an offline match are various . you could have friendly match in kick off or go to the world cup competition . you could play with the original groups or change them or you even can start from the qualifier rounds .
also there is a mode called captain your country that enables you to create a player and start the game with him . this mode plays like be a pro . for those who don't know I should say be a pro is a mode in which you take control of certain player and take part in the match . Its obvious that you take control of the player you created him ! the be a pro mode for a friendly match is not available .
another exiting mode is called " story of qualification " in which you start a match from the usually middle of it and you should do three objectives such as score 3 goals , avoid defeat , win by 2 , etc .
some objectives are really impossible to do whereas some ther's are very easy and that's the main problem of this mode but the exciting thing is that this matches are real and have happened before ! I mean when you start a match with the result 2 - 0 in the 76th minute and one player sent off , this has actually happened in a real match in the qualifying rounds before .
comparing to Fifa 10 , the game-play has few changes . the penalty system has changed and the players are easier to control . another good feature of the game is that it has there default game-control options which is really helpful .
the training part is really good and is just like Fifa 10 . you could design your set piece , have a training match or try 1 on 1 in th arena . although all the training videos in Fifa 10 aren't available here , there is a HELP section in which all the thing you need to know is written .
the music in south Africa fifa world cup 2010 is really good and makes you enjoy the experience and the commentator does his job well but some problems happen that are no big deal and are really forgivable . but the big problem in soundtracks is the lack of Vuvuzela which is acceptable because it wasn't so famous before the Final rounds .
the loadings take a lot of time but don't make you tired because in loadings you could read some information about different countries and their national soccer team . and for the loading before starting a match , the game takes you to the arena to try a 1 on 1 match with a keeper .
in the end " 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa " is a great game and if players looked better and more like themselves , I could say it is was the best football game ever but yet it's not a bad game . I can put this game and three more soccer games among the best :
PES 6
PES 2008
UEFA EURO 2008
2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa