The stage is set, the clock’s ticking in, heartbeats have started skipping, it is time for the world to drench up in the biggest competitive sport on the planet – The FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil. But hold on, there are 20 odd days to go, what are you doing about it? I’d say pick up EA Sports’ FIFA World Cup 2014 Brazil edition and break the sweat before the dawn sets. The game picks up right from the season based FIFA 14, borrowing the same mechanics and engine as the former, including the updated IMPACT engine that defines player collisions and on-off ball manoeuvrability in FIFA 14. But that’s not what defines EA Sports’ FIFA World Cup 2014 Brazil in its true colours.
Flamboyantly Brazil: Design and User Interface
Playing EA Sports FIFA World Cup 2014 Brazil makes you live the Brazilian World Cup two times. The welcome screen drapes you in a thousand carnival colours, the Samba drums roll in and the animation and splash art screen gets you in the mood immediately, it’s Brazil to the last drop. I get a little excited with game art and User Interface, and in my opinion, EA’s dream to make a user friendly FIFA UI (First seen in the FUT of FIFA 12) meets the poetic justice from the art end and collaboratively giving you a dream start to your EA Sports FIFA World Cup 2014 Brazil journey. Talk of immersion.
Ways to Win the World Cup: The Modes
There are a couple of modes you should really check out in EA Sports FIFA World Cup 2014 Brazil before heading for the main event, i.e. the FIFA World Cup 2014 Final Playoffs. The World Cup themed ‘Be A Pro’ called ‘Captain Your Country’ returns with all its glory and with some fresh and new dynamics straight off the grid of FIFA 14. Create your virtual self and play for your nation, face injuries, come off the bench and scare the opposition and finally steer your country to the World Cup. I have made it to the Final Playoffs of the FIFA World Cup representing Wales as Aaron Ramsey, because he’s the one along with Gareth Bale that I’m perhaps going to miss the most in this World Cup. Do try out Story of Qualifying if you love “the Zlatan” and want to see him go to the World Cup in style, this mode makes you start right in the beginning of the World Cup Qualifiers and ends with the World Cup Finals. There is no manual save option in EA Sports FIFA World Cup 2014 Brazil, so brace yourself for some stormy seas. Story of The Finals is coming straight from the EASFC Daily Challenges mode of FIFA 14 that will go live along with the World Cup, and you will be asked to turn fates of WC matches based on real incidents.
EA Sports FIFA World Cup 2014 Brazil features an online lobby just like EA Sports FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa, and it pits you to play the World Cup fixtures with random players around the globe, or face competition from your city/zone and beat them to reach the Finals. EA FIFA has one of the most responsive servers in the world, and the effort that they have put in to make the servers run smooth is incredible.
The Whole World’s Watching You: Lineups and Player Profiling
What I really enjoy about the World Cup games from FIFA is that the teams have even the real life injured players on the 30 men roster. I made the left backs work really hard whenever Theo Walcott had the ball at his feet, as he glanced down the wings and paced right through the opposition’s defence, tearing them up with his sheer speed. Or take an unnaturally wide shot with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and place it exactly between the goal post and the keeper’s left arm reaching out to drift it away. Once done, you can celebrate by showing the name at the back of your jersey, especially in an Online Match – it’s a Zlatan moment for sure. Some of the recently promoted and hyped players like Southampton’s rising star and future Stevie G – Adam Lallana, or the Manchester United target Luke Shaw all making it to the Final Roster. EA Sports does it again with its intricate and in-depth statistics. EA Sports made sure that they use real face packs instead of auto generated faces for the World Cup participating teams, even though they don’t matter after the National Anthem is sung out. Player statistics are altered from what it was in FIFA 14 (FYI Olivier Giroud has better Overall than Karim Benzema) and like the previous EURO and World Cup versions, players’ statistics change based on their World Cup track record and training sessions. That’s right, now you can prep up for the upcoming match by focusing on one single aspect and train hard, match the goals to get a temporary boost to that specific attribute. There are many skill games to choose from, and consistently raise your Passing, Heading, Freekick or Ball Holding/Winning capabilities.
What’s more? EA Sports FIFA World Cup 2014 Brazil brings the National Managers into the theatrics too. Real life looking Scholari and Deschamps scream and rejoice from the sidelines as you take damage or send the opposition home with a driven free kick.
A ‘Real’ Dream: Physics, Gameplay and Overall Theatrics
The tackles look real, the goals and passes are shrinking EA FIFA’s gap with the finesse based Konami Pro Evolution Soccer series and the celebrations take the joy of scoring a goal in FIFA World Cup to the grand level. Unless you are playing in the Amateur or Semi-Pro level, FIFA World Cup can really punish you for a quick pass or a not-so-controlled cross. If you miss a sitter, make sure you fall back because the opposition counters like this is it, in fact, it is right? It’s the World Cup! The corner kick gives you the opportunity to use a quick tactic in the set piece, like crowding the keeper or going for the near/far post. The goalkeeper in FIFA World Cup 2014 is better than its predecessors, taking decisions independently and bolstering the defense when the centre backs are having a rough day.
You can sense the World Cup gala around, and EA has taken this bold step to scope down on the spectators in the galleries, showing their emotions about the Cup. Although it is quite a marvellous feature, the robotic expressions and the same old CGI from the pre-existing FIFAs somewhat take away that gala moment from you. The main concern that I have with the recent FIFA games is the intro animation in which players walk out to the park, and in FIFA World Cup 2014, with poignant faces our players enter the biggest gala on earth. While the players recite the national anthem, two players from each team bend their heads towards each other like they’re invisibly Siamese twins. I think the ambition was there; just a lack of detailing marred what could have been undoubtedly the best football experience this year. When the chopper cam shows you the outside of a packed Brazilian stadium, you will find wooden mannequins hurling towards the gate like a foosball row.
EA Sports FIFA World Cup 2014 Brazil is easily a brilliant sports game, and it has a different flair than the previous World Cup and EURO editions. The steep market rate of 3,500 Indian Rupees is still not justified, since the game was conceived and developed for the previous gen. But if you love football, or soccer for that matter, give yourself the 20 best days before the FIFA World Cup, and endure stiff competition from AI as well as human players to clinch the title that has your name all over it. This is World Cup at its very best.
