Pros: Perfect Graphics, Player Behaviours are improved, Realistic Offsides and Booking
Cons: Lacks Virtual Intelligence, Harder than elder releases
The Bottom Line: Perfect in Multiplayer. Graphics are top class. Player behaviours are well implemented. May be some more virtual intelligence would be good.
EA sports released the latest game of FIFA series; FIFA 2002.
Up to many people this is the best football game on the market.
In this version there are many new features that were improved.
But in my opinion as the company is Canada based they have to learn about the rules
and game play features of real football. I have played it in PC and don't have any idea about Playstation features.
But it can not be different and most of them are also valid for it.
Generally the aim was to improve the graphical features.
The player faces become more similar to them. (Famous players are much more worked on)
But they have a bit plastic brightness. The fans in the stadium become energetic.
They swing flags of both teams. But compared to NHL 2001 it is still weak. Also you can not use your own photo as a player face.
Weather conditions are well implemented. (Rainy, sunny days) Creation as I will mention later was improved too.
Starting the game there are four options. Play Now, Game Modes, Options, Inside EA Sports.
Play Now directly goes to friendly match. The default teams are Arsenal and Man Utd. You can change this and set other teams as default.
Options opens options menu. Here you can change match options, stadium options, difficulty, details keyboard configuration etc.
Game Modes are the available modes of play. The upper region are the matches and seasons. You can enter this modes by clicking on them.
Friendly goes to a single match that will be played between two teams that you can select. FIFA World Cup Qualification is played by a team from AFC, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL or UEFA. You can select only one team and the aim is to qualify for the World Cup.
After qualification you can not go to the World Cup possibly as EA is going to release a game like it was in 1998 (Road to World Cup) If you choose France (as they are the last winners) you are asked to play either Friendlies or enter the qualification.
If you choose friendlies your aim will be to hold the first place in the world ranking at the end of friendlies. (Note that there are more matches compared to qualification) Otherwise you will enter the qualification as other teams do.
Multiplayer goes to the selection of type of connection.
In season you can play all the matches that a team will play. You also play the cup matches(including European calendar) if the team has succeded in the previous season.
Tournaments are a variety of cups or user created leagues. At first there are a few open tournaments. Finishing first in a tournament (Not user created) opens another one. You can view your achievements on the Rewards part (Below Creation Center)
Also you will unlock a cup by qualifying to the world cup.
Below tournaments Creation Center comes. Here you will see Players, Teams and League/Cup. In Players you can create new player or edit existing players. When editing you only need to select the player you want to modify and change his info, appearance and attributes.
You can edit Name, Surname, Nationality, Age, Position, Number, Prefered Foot, Height, Weight(In Eur measures kg, meter), Face, Hair, Boot Color and his attributes.
After editing when you press back button (Bottom right) you will be asked to whether save and exit or exit without saving.
Creating a team you first have to decide your team name and kit. Then you'll choose your players. While editing a team you can not transfer players but only do kit edit.
In Leagues/Cups part you can not edit existing ones but user created ones. In creating you decide the format of the tournament. Knock out, League or League/Knock out.
Decide the number of teams and month to begin. Then if there are any groups select how many they are. Select match vs each other, team number advancing from groups knock out leg number and final leg number.
Then select the teams. You can not change the format while editing but can change the teams.
In team management you can transfer between teams. Teams have a certain amount of money in the bank. You can sell players to make money. Top teams have more.
Rewards shows photos of players each player corresponds to a cup (When you finish first in a cup a new photo of a famous player is opened)
Load loads a tournament. Save is limited as there is no game in progress. But you can save the current configuration.
Game is still played with one player changing with the "Pass" button.
You can control all players but one at a single instance. You move, run, shoot and do all action with that player.
Compared to elder releases it is harder to control a player and this gives realism to game.
(On the sides you must take real care to keep the ball in especially when you are running)
You can change the keyboard configuration in this release. In options menu "Control Options" window enables this (Note you must save this configuration or you'll lose it when you close.)
Again you can adjust the speed of shots, passes and crosses by holding the button.
One of the difference that many players may be in trouble is that the crosses are not targeted to the goal.
This means you have to turn your foot to the aiming target or you'll throw the ball out. This is same for shooting.
Also you must not exceed the limit of shooting. Even if you are going to shoot a clear goal if your shoot bar becomes a jedi sword,
the ball will go too high and wide. The real adjustment is to catch the red dot at the last of the bar. When you make shot like this you will probably score or the keeper will punch the ball. (After this you might have your forwards to finish the rest.)
As I mentioned above the time you press on a button is important. When you press it a bar appears at the bottom of the screen. As you keep pressing the bar is fulled and when you release the button it makes the action with the relative power you have decided.
The optimum for shooting is the red dot. This differs in passing and crossing. You should also be targeting the player that you want to pass the ball to. (Opponents virtual intelligence is good and may move between your active player and aimed player.)
Pass button changes the player (a ring under him appears) in defense. Shoot button presses the opponent to take the ball. If you mistime he will still do this.
A very important point is that the new rules about Red and Yellow cards is valid in the game. When you tackle a man behind your man is Yellow carded. Doing this to a man faced with your goalkeeper will cause your man to be sent off.
Sliding tackles are not the best way to get the ball (Even it is so in football). Use it to go between passing players. Again tackling a goalkeeper causes players to be sent off.
The very new feature is "Player Run". When you have the ball and press Q (default button) players will have a trail behind them in direction they started their runs. You can use this to pass to the run way of the players.
The actions that were made with CTRL and ALT buttons were disabled. Instead you can use E (default button). This makes some tricky play to pass the man marking yours.
Also their job in freekicks (ballspin) are made with C and Z (default button)
The press made in defence by CTRL button is cancelled too.
1-2 pass is a new feature. Space (default button) is the activator of this action. This is used in offence.
Your man passes to another and keeps running when the second man gets the ball he directly passes to your first man to help him loose his marker.(Second man is used a wall)
W (default button) is still used to sprint. In offence you still have to press it several times to keep him fast. But in defence you may keep it pressed and have your man run.
Also in both cases there is a power bar on the left bottom of the screen. This shows how long your player may sprint. When it becomes red his head will go forth meaning "I'm tired". He may still keep running but can not sprint.
After a while this bar is again fulled. (Fatigue increases when a player is used too much)
Shoot, pass and lob buttons have a capability to do different actions when pressed double. This is in use when you are attacking or when the ball is no ones'.
2x Shoot makes Volley shot or bicycle kick. (You can not score half dozen goals with bicycle kick like it was in 2001, indeed it is really hard to score.)
2x lob Lobs the ball immediately.
2x Pass passes immediately when the ball comes to your foot.
At this point I will tell about the game play. The game has three difficulty levels: Amateur, Professional, World Class
The difficulty of the levels does not effect your ability but your opponent becomes better. They may score from long range and their defensive abilities are increased.
In amateur mode you may pass near the players close but in Pro or World Class modes you have to be apart from them. (This is not very realistic that even weak players can stop a very good one.)
The worst part of the game is that as you don't have a press function you have to do it manually. Getting the ball from some teams playing a content game may be hard.
Also the opponents will probably send the ball to the corners of your penalty area. This is done several times causing you to get bored. That is one of the reasons that the game should be played Multiplayer.
Also their general ways of scoring are corners and long range shots. This is exaggerated. A good player may easily score from your midfield.
The success lies in quick passing and good timing in defense. Your passes may not find your man. When passing also try to get your man closer to the ball.
The tricky movement should be well timed or it will not work.
You should also take care of defense. Don't move all your men to the player holding the ball. He might pass the ball quickly to the corners. Try to get the ball when you are sure about it.
Short players may not head the balls well. Don't force to send it clear but wait the opponent to drop the ball right in front of you. Sometimes both players may go up for the same ball. But if you lose he may be left alone facing your goalkeeper.
You can control your goalkeeper in defense with Q (default button for Keeper Charge). Probably when your keeper is faced with opponent forward you can keep pressing this button and he will move towards the ball.
Also when the keeper has the ball pressing Q (default button) releases the ball and your keeper may join the game. But if he loses the ball he may not have the time to go back to the goal before someone scores, especially better players.
Shooting has changed also. In elder releases the goal had specific places for the ball to go in. In this one the goal has many areas. You can try many number of shots. Goalkeepers may punch the ball both in and out of the field causing a corner or clear shoot for your forwards.
(I suggest you press Q button before shooting so that when the ball is reflected many players can have it)
Formations and strategy are important too. Playing with Sweeper may be useful. However you'll choose the best fitting game style by time. This is so important that even if you control one of the best teams you may be easily beaten or can not score any.
Also there is a bug about some game styles. A player labeled CF may be on the left wing but LCM may be the striker. You can adjust it after the game starts. I hope there will be an update about this issue.
The teams are labeled with bars. Do not think they have equal or have same calibre players. In my opinion a team having players around 75-80 rating fulfills the bars. This is probably 85-90 in Real Madrid.
Playing game with your friends is real fun. They don't have specific moves. They may not block all the players. They may not score from midfield. You can also install Match Up program which enables players play with each other.
As I have played it on LAN I don't know what speed of connection is needed to play it over internet. But you need a gamepad, joystick etc. or at least two PC's to play it with your friends.
Some Talented Players of The Game
Barthez GK Man UTD
Kahn GK FC Bayern
R. Carlos DEF R Madrid
Hierro DEF R Madrid
Maldini DEF AC Milan
E. Davids MID Juventus
Figo MID Real Madrid
Jeremies MID FC Bayern
Zidane MID Real Madrid
Schevcenko AT AC Milan
Totti AT Roma
Saviola AT Barcelona
Minimum system requirements
80 MB Hard Disk space
32 MB RAM (64 for WÝndows 2000)
DirectX 7.0a
Mouse
Keyboard
Notes on Sound and Video Cards
a.) Problems with the Intel i740 Chipset
Users with an Intel i740 chipset may experience a dithered pattern overlaying the game in the front-end. Gameplay should remain fully playable.
b.) Problems with the ATI Rage Pro Chipset
For Windows 98 users:
The recommended drivers for the ATI Rage Pro chipset are the latest reference drivers found on http://www.ati.com/. We recommend Version 4.12.2632.
For Windows 2000 users:
Ensure that DirectX 8.0 is installed. It can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?ReleaseID=27742. Once installed, right-click on the FIFA 2002 shortcut on the desk top, select Properties, and add "3D=dx8z" to the end of the "Target" property.
c.) Problems with the S3 Savage4 Chipset
Users with an S3 Savage4 chipset may experience minor graphical issues in the front-end. Gameplay should remain fully playable.
d.) Problems with the KYRO Chipsets
In 640x480 the Pause menu overlay will appear to be missing part of the background. To fix this issue, set the resolution to 800x600 or higher. This will not affect game play in any way.
e.) Video Cards NOT supported by FIFA 2002
3Dfx Voodoo 1
3Dfx Voodoo Rush
Hercules Thriller 3D
Diamond Stealth II
Number Nine Revolution IV
ATI Rage II
Chromatic Mpact 2
S3 Virge
S3 Virge VX
S3 Virge DX/GX
S3 Trio 3D
Notes on Windows
FIFA 2002 supports Windows 95b, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows ME and Windows XP.
*NOTE - To install the game properly on Windows 2000/Windows XP, you will need administrator access to your machine. Consult your Windows 2000/Windows XP documentation for more information.
Known problems with Windows 2000/Windows XP:
During testing, some video cards experienced problems due to driver incompatibility issues. Check your 3D card manufacturer's web site to obtain updated Windows 2000 or Windows XP drivers.
Data verification date
The player and team data used in FIFA 2002 was verified for accuracy as of August 15th, 2001. Any transfers or roster changes that occurred after this date may not be reflected in the game.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
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