Customer Reviews

FIFA Soccer 2002

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In Fifa 2001 you would just press the shoot button and it would do everything for you. In this game you must choose the power of the shot and stand in front of the goal to get a shot on net. Also in Fifa 2001 you would just press the pass button and it would do everything for you. Now you have to choose the power of the pass and it is very easily intercepted. This is one of those games where once you finally understand the concepts of the game you become a "master". If you like soccer get this game!

Fifa 2002 for the Playstaion One is an excellent value. There is some great gameplay which easily rivals that found in its Playstaion 2 and Gamecube brother. The graphics are not as good, but since the game is viewed from overhead camera angles, they do not really hurt the game. This is better than 2002 Fifa World Cup on PS1, as it is faster and more exciting. Both are excellent soccer games, but this is really the cream of the PSone crop.

I'll give the developers credit for attempting to fix the previously dull and boring FIFA efforts, but they went too far in the opposite direction and have now created a frustrating & boring game.

The worst thing about previous incarnations of the game was the "magnet ball," the innate ability for every pass to connect with the target player EVERY time. It limited the ability to be creative in play selection and didn't mirror the real game closely enough. In addition, the camera was formerly too tight, not permitting the player to see the field around him, and FIFA's colored arrow system was too inaccurate too much of the time to plan careful passing.

So now we have a "total control" type system where your passes are now handled like shots: every pass is accompanied by a power meter and passes can end up anywhere. Sounds good, right? If you want to lead a receiver, or pass into space, you can. Well, not so fast, junior. The camera has thankfully been pulled back, but at the expense of graphical detail, giving the game an overall washed-out pixellated, less-than-impressive look. Not to mention passing opportunites are still too far out of frame to mean anything except pass and hope it makes it to your guy. And the passing is so maddeningly touchy that you will be lucky to complete a majority of passes without looking like an utter amateur, passing out of touch or even right at an opponent.

Now, the unforgiving new pass system might get away with it, if it weren't for the completely disparate difficulty levels. The amateur level is too easy, and will have you scoring literally at will. But then try to step up to the mid-level, and the game gets very cheap very fast. The passes that take finesse and luck for you to pull off the CPU pulls off immediately and seemingly without thought. Every one of THEIR passes is pinpoint and perfectly timed, while you are lucky to keep possession (I guarantee you will lose the possession % battle every time, 70/30 or 60/40.) This means when you get the ball, it's a mad dash resulting from you the player jamming on the triangle (speed) button in a cheap attempt to get to the goal before the cheap AI slide tackles you from behind. And have fun laughing in pain as the defensive AI seemingly is aware of your moves before you execute them. I can't count the number of times a defender has managed to successfully trap a long ball, turn, and complete a pinpoint pass to his mate, all within microseconds of a sliding challenge from me. It's almost not worth playing defense when the opponents are this bionic and psychic, with consistently split-second reflexes.

This gameplay is absolutely ZERO fun. Gameplay goes a little like this:
Watch the CPU complete pass after pass, retaining possession in a Pele-esque manner, until you finally stop them with 1 out of 10 well-placed standing tackles. You then see their side bearing down on you, realizing your team gives up the ball quicker than a Hong Kong trinket machine, so you start tapping furiously at the triangle button, only to get to the box and get taken down, usually without so much as a call. Rinse and repeat.

So the bottom line is, in changing the flow, the developers merely erred to the side of anarchy rather to the side of conservative staleness. It still results in precious little fun, especially in the 1-player games.

As an owner of a few Fifa Games, I would definitely have to say this is the best I've played. Though I bought it about a year ago I can play it daily and be easily entertained. Most will argue that this is a [take off]game, too hard, not worth the money, but I'm surprised as it is such a new game, that the price is as low as it is. The kicking 'meter' was a new invention and idea for this game. In other soccer games you touch a button and the ball launches from the foot of the player. With Fifa's newest game, its a little tricky: There's a meter which you choose how fast the ball travels, and how far.
Fifa's usual stuff is also included. Several leagues, and great players. The only letdown is that it has the Fifa World Cup Qualification instead of the Cup itself. No doubt, its still a great game.
Its worth every cent.

FIFA 2002 is probably the best game I have ever played. The Playstation 2 format is awe inspiring! It is almost like being in a real stadium. If you have Playstation, you simply must buy this game.

This game is horrible for a number of reasons. It seems that the developers learned about soccer playing fussball on their lunch break. The commentaries are 80% directly from FIFA 2001. The graphics and gameplay is likewise. Their new passing and shooting system makes no sense--you will always pass forward, hoping there is a player there to get it and if you come one on one with the keeper you have to hold the power button long enough for the keeper to pick the ball off your player. I won all the championships with an average possession of only 30 percent. Playing on the highest difficulty setting, I won the games with a weak team on the first try against one of the hardest opponents. The computer oppenent had 5 red cards. As a matter of fact, I have not played a game without any red cards yet--red cards punishing AI. Most of the red cards are caused by the goalkeeper!!! What is EA thinking? Furthermore, the developers have no concept of advantage play. Most of the goals scored were penalty shots. It's not fun winning 5-1 when the five goals are scored by penalties. AI will attack you as soon as you enter the penalty area and then their player will get a red card on the normal setting for ref. strictness--if you lower the strictness level, the opposing team will keep taking out your players in the penalty area. It's a catch 22. Free kicks stink--similar to the development of this game, no good effort can be made regardless of your skills. As far as the leagues go, EA did not do any research. Who gives a damn about Norwegian, Danish, and Israeli leagues? On the other hand, the Dutch league (a consistent supplier of teams to the Champions Cup finals) and all of the Southern American leagues are not there!!! I am not saying take out the lesser known leagues, but do some research and put the good ones in as well. As a matter of fact, there are only 14 leagues that allow you to play full season, not the advertised 16. Want to see your favorite players on a national team-good luck! Some teams are completely made up of numbers--no player names on the entire team, and I am not talking about Turkmenistan. They took out the best out of FIFA 2001 and added features and teams that make no sense (you can change the facial hair of you players but not play with you favorite teams). The rankings of teams seem to be completely orbitrary--if its not Italy, Brazil, or Spain, the team has one notch for every ability. I would not spend a dollar on the game if I could play it in advance. It seems that EA produced this game overnight, without putting any efforts into it. If they had a grain of honesty, they would have included the world cup in FIFA 2002. I was very opptimistic when I purchased the game, and a day later, I could not be more disappointed. EA should be ashamed of this indecency. I just wish somebody else would purchase rights from FIFA, somebody who actually knows a little bit about soccer.

When I first found out FIFA 2002 was coming out I already knew that there was going to be a World Cup qualifier since the World Cup was going to be this year. But i did not know that there was going to be a separate World Cup game because FIFA 98 had qualifying and the world Cup 98 in France. Also it doesn't have the names of all the players. Like for El Salvador it says N. 5 and other teams. Maybe in the back of the manual instead of announcing a different game they should say World Cup 2002. I'm very disappointed

Fifa 2002 what a great game, there is many great teams and really cool players. I like the team Mexico because this team is not only great but really good. I enjoy scoring many goals and beating the other teams. I can slide tackle people and gat red or yellow cards, even though I get either one of those cards it is still fun tackling players you don't like.

I'VE BEEN HOOKED ON FIFA'S SERIES SINCE FIFA 97, AND IT'S GETTING BETTER EVER YEAR, ALL THE TEAMS, ALL THE PLAYERS AND BETTER YET ALL THE NATIONALS TEAMS, I LOVE SWEATING THE SHIRT TRYING TO QUALIFIED MY COUNTRY TO THE WORLD CUP, THIS IS A MUST HAVE FOR ALL THE FOOTBALLERS!!!