Spain vs Italy – a huge match. Streamers cascade from the sky, passing across the bright midday sun. The players walk out side-by-side, tension building as they pass the World Cup, sitting proudly on its pedestal. Fans with their faces painted, shout, scream and dance in the crowd. The managers pace nervously, feeling the ever-increasing atmosphere build.
EA have definitely captured the feel of a World Cup, updating the standard look and sound of the game, creating something new and exciting – at least for the moment anyway. The menus are bright and colourful with oranges and reds adorning everything. There’s even a little World Cup mascot that appears on the loading screen to give you random World Cup facts. Once you get to the actual game it looks more like Madden than FIFA; with crowd details, face paint, hats, flags etc. Even showing the managers walking around and talking to the players, both things that Madden has done for years, and the FIFA games have been needing.
Kickoff. Both teams start tentatively, working the ball back and forward, nothing opening up, much to the disappointment of the rampant fans.
Space appears in the Spanish defence and Gilardino breaks through, controlling the ball with his outstretched boot before unleashing a shot into the bottom corner and the expectant hand of Casillas. Close shave for the champions.
So far it feels just like FIFA with a major face-lift. And that’s not a bad thing at all, really. The changes are nice and smart, maybe even an improvement on the rigid menus of FIFA 10. The change of commentary is nice, as I’m sure everyone is sick of Andy Gray by now. They’ve replaced him with another Andy, ITV and Republic of Ireland’s Andy Townsend. From the games I’ve played he sounded very good, maybe trying a little too hard in some places, making his voice sound a little put-on.
A chance for Spain as Xavi plays Torres through, but he slices the shot leaving Buffon to touch it by the post for a corner. Disappointing from the Liverpool striker, there.
Corner is cleared by Cannavaro and that’s it for the first half. A rather slow start from both teams with only two chances between them.
The half-time menu is much the same, but the pause menu has been improved by simply making it much more functional; displaying the two flags at the top of the screen, with the scores, stadium and weather placed around the standard menu in the middle. It may not sound like much but it looks much better. The formation screens are largely the same as well, with only two real changes that I can see: key players have stars beside their name, presumably to show how influential they are, and you have to press start to finish making changes, saving you from accidentally pressing B too many times and forcing you and your friend to back up – simple, yet required.
Italy are pressing deep in this second half, obviously the talk from Marcelo Lippi has worked. Good cross in from the right cleared by Ramos, picked up by Iniesta who plays it through to David Villa.
Villa uses his pace and shoots through the middle of the park, knocking it wide to Torres, who sprints down the line before playing an inch perfect pass to Villa, completing the one-two, and slotting home the perfect shot past Buffoon. GOAL! The champions are ahead.
Again, shooting feels the same as the main game, which is no real surprise. The camera angle that follows the player after they score is more dynamic though, which again is a nice addition and makes the much talked about but not very useful celebrations more fun to use.
Lippi is taking off Gilardino and bringing on Iaquinta. This is a desperate situation for the manager, Italy simply cannot afford to lose this match. The corner is taken and Iaquinta goes for the diving header. Cleared off the line by Puyol! This is what the fans have been wanting.
With the new managers comes new substitution animations, showing Lippi talking and gesticulating to Iaquinta. I have to admit, it’s a very nice touch, one that if not overused will be a welcome variation to the standard fare.
Italy are throwing everybody forward, and with only one minute of time left on the board, they have to. The attack is quashed by the stalwart Spanish defence and again they break, can they seal the victory in the dying minutes?
Torres and Villa hook up yet again, with a one-two playing the Liverpool striker through on goal. He goes for the chip and OH! Buffon gets a hand to it and sends it by the post. That was an amazing save that may, just may, keep Italy in the game.
This is only the second time in my experience with the demo that I’ve found an opportunity to chip and both have been saved. Something that has surprisingly made me very happy as it is far too easy to score from a chip in FIFA 10. Fingers crossed that this is an improved feature for the game – and hopefully a few other little problems will have been ironed out too.
And that’s it. The final whistle goes. Spain hang on to get a huge victory over one of their biggest challengers. What a way to start the campaign.
As sceptical as I was about the game, I am impressed. I’m still not sure if it will be worthy of its price tag, but the additions and design improvements are definitely enticing. Plus there is tons of international teams, not just the ones that qualified for South Africa, and a few other game modes besides the standard World Cup to keep you playing.
It’s just a shame you haven’t got the mighty Scotland in the demo, I’ll have to wait until the 30th to take them to World Cup glory.
