Historically, I’m not a fan of sports games. This is weird, because I actually love sports. It’s just one of those things I would generally prefer to do in real life than in a video game. With that said, hockey and soccer are two of my favourite video game sports, which is also weird, because I don’t like those sports in real life.
I guess before I make this any more confusing, I picked up FIFA World Cup 2010 for the iPod Touch when it was on sale for $0.99 (85% off!). While I can recognize the game’s faults, it’s really fun to play and was a steal at $0.99.
Right off the bat, you’ll notice that this game is not light on content. You have the ability to play one-off matches, play through the World Cup, do a shootout, create a player, training and multiplayer via wifi or Bluetooth. A number of countries are featured in the game as well as names of real players and real stadiums. In spite of the series simulation roots and ties to realism, the game defaults to “Amateur” difficulty, which allows for a more arcade-like experience. As someone who isn’t really into the sport, being able to play it more like an arcade game was more up my alley. While this difficulty lead to the computer doing really stupid things at times, such as running 30 yards in the wrong way before making a sudden 180, this was where I had the most fun. For those wanting a more realistic experience, turn up the difficulty.
While the iPhone has some amazing looking games, this is not one of them. The game is clearly a heavily scaled-down version of it’s console counterparts, which really hurts the game’s look. The aim for realism leads to a game that at times looks really blocky. At it’s worst, it looks like the graphics are Nintendo 64 quality.
Controls are very simple. There’s a floating directional pad and two main buttons on the right-hand side that change whether you’re on offense or defense. A “skill” button will also appear on screen during appropriate times for fancy moves.
Where this game truly shines though is in the gameplay. It’s so fun and satisfying to make that critical slide tackle or centre the pass just right for your teammate to kick into the goal. It’s simple enough for a guy like me to play, who mainly runs forward and kicks the ball at the net when I’m close enough, but you can play it with more thought in mind and still have fun with it. Thankfully, the clock by default is also heavily sped up, which allows you to finish a “90-minute” game in less than 10.
This app may go on sale again before the World Cup is over, so I would hold out on that before buying. At $0.99, this was a great pick-up for me. For soccer enthusiasts who know the sport better than I do or have played other iPhone soccer games in the past, I’m not sure if this is for you, only because I don’t know what the soccer competition is like on the platform.
Playing on an iPad
Scaling this game up on the iPad comes with one distinct advantage and disadvantage. Playing full-screen on an iPad negates the fact that players are too small on the main camera angle. The downside is that the on-screen buttons cannot be adjusted. What this means is, the shoot button is located close to the centre of the screen, which can be difficult to reach with your thumb. It’s up to you which you would prefer.
In Third Person 