[Review] 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil

[[MC]Ronin[MC]]

 

Premiere Date: April 15, 2014
Developer: EA Canada
Series: FIFA World Cup video games
Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Modes: Single player game, Multiplayer game
Publishers: Electronics Arts, EA Sports

It doesn’t take long to appreciate what perfect partners the modern FIFA games and the World Cup are. EA Sports has always managed to capture the sense of occasion of a big event, and while in its annual releases its flashy presentation can at times feel excessive - albeit an accurate approximation of contemporary TV coverage - here it only adds to the grandeur and ceremony of a global sporting event. Though there are tweaks to FIFA’s core mechanics, it’s the presentation that makes 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil
 a souvenir piece worth bringing home.
You’ll see tickertape celebrations, flashy idents and low camera swoops over authentically rendered stadia before games, while goals and key events during matches prompt cutaway shots to gaudily garbed fans in the stands, or celebrating among thronging crowds watching on giant screens across the world. Its vibrant presentation carries over into the oversaturated colours - during evening matches the pitch is bathed in a vivid orange glow, while encounters earlier in the day see the brightness slider nudged upwards. Fittingly, for a tournament taking place in a country with a temperate climate, it feels that much warmer.

Even in the menus, daubed in splashes of tropical colour, it manages to capture the electric atmosphere of a tournament that’s capable of attracting the attention of even casual observers. As the competition begins, plenty who claim not to care about international football will find themselves inexorably drawn into its orbit. In many ways that fits with the target audience - the players who may not be invested enough in the sport at a domestic level to buy the annual editions of FIFA, but wish to enhance the experience of watching the tournament, to replay matches that have just finished to get a different outcome, for the empowering sensation of having rewritten history. It’s this audience EA Sports needs to cater to most, and as such there are problems with its approach here.
 

That’s because FIFA has evolved a great deal since 2010’s World Cup tie-in, and anyone expecting to jump in after four years away will face a bit of a culture shock. Though few would argue that it hasn’t made considerable strides in most areas, the more authentic physics and animation make for a less immediately intuitive and responsive game of football. It does feel a little quicker than FIFA 14, if only in the speed of transitions between receiving the ball and advancing with it, while shots seem to travel at greater velocity - but for better and worse, those who’ve played this season’s game will instantly be in familiar territory.

Fundamentally, it remains the same game, though it benefits from a number of adjustments. Penalty taking has been simplified - a sop to novices, no doubt, though a sensible change – while ’keepers have more options to distract opponents during their run-up. You can now adjust set-piece tactics to put more pressure on the goalie, or guide runners to the near post for flick-ons, though the results are inconsistent.

Elsewhere, it offers a rather exaggerated riposte to fan complaints. Headers are no longer overpowered, if only because crosses are so frequently intercepted, often by defenders leaping over the back of your strikers with absolute impunity. Lofted through-balls now require pinpoint accuracy – you’ll underhit them more often than not, though at full power they’ll sail harmlessly through to the keeper. Causing a minor problem to solve a major one is a strange tactic, but too good to no good still represents an improvement of sorts.
 

Rather than focusing exclusively on the tournament itself, you’re now able to guide a team through qualification. Whichever mode you choose, you’ll get to take part in training drills to boost your players’ stats. Some of these mirror the pre-match challenges most FIFA players will be accustomed to, but others are new. Their appeal is fleeting, however - after a while you’ll be itching to simply savour the pageantry of the big games - though they’re essential in the Captain Your Country mode. While the scoring system here is still bound to an arcane set of rules, it’s a rush to race your team-mates to the coveted armband, those incremental upgrades meaning more when you’re an individual chasing glory.

Another welcome inclusion is EA Talk Radio, which gives you a choice of two presenting duos who’ll chat about the tournament and the sport in general while you’re navigating the menus. It’s like idly listening to a football-themed podcast, and helps cement that feeling of excitement, that you’re taking part in an event everyone is talking about.

As a game with a naturally brief shelf life - let’s face it, you’re not going to find many online opponents come August - 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil could easily have been a rush job, hurried out of the door to capitalise on the anticipation for this summer’s festival of football. Yet while lingering mechanical problems remain, this is a surprisingly accomplished tie-in. Its fuse may burn shorter than most, but between June and July its flame will be dazzling.
 

Verdict
2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil might feel like a step back to anyone coming from the next-gen versions of FIFA 14, but for those who haven’t yet upgraded, it represents an improvement on the annual release. Meanwhile, fans looking to cheer their team on this summer will get a kick out of the sizzling carnival atmosphere it generates.