Review of 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Game
Are you looking to buy the new FIFA World Cup Brazil game? EA has launched a new game to bank on the World Cup fever among football fans.
Read the article to know its review.
The mega event, World Cup is back and to match the tournament, this time EA has launched a new title- 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil. FIFA games have always been very popular in India and there are some big time FIFA fans in the country. Way back in 1994, I went to the World Cup tournament held in Southern California and let me tell you, people go crazy in the stadium. The World Cup fever is such that players even get killed in some countries for their failures. It is so big and thus, EA launched a new game to bank on this excitement of the moment.
The FIFA 14 released in 2013 saw a huge success in the country. The improved technology, precision movement & ball handling made the game more involving and easy to play but there were some complaints as well. Fans wanted the game to be more realistic and faster. The new & improved FIFA Brazil tries to address these issues and follows very closely on the heels of previous FIFA 14. It is released on Xbox 360 & PlayStation 3. I played this game on Xbox 360 and since I love sports games, I enjoyed this one too but I am must say that there is not much difference from the last version. Continue reading the article to know its review.
About the game
If you have played FIFA, you already know that the game play was less realistic and convincing before. The gap is getting narrower with every new version. The 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil gives you very detailed views of 203 national teams to lead along the road to Rio, 20 new stadiums and cheering crowd. Camera tricks make you feel as if you are watching a real broadcast of the football game. The crowd scenes, shots showing fans go crazy in the pubs back home & elsewhere in world, banners and flags are all new. There are accurate versions of national coaches who cheer or freak out as the match progresses. All this depicts how much this event actually means to people worldwide. Let's face it- the ITV's coverage of the actual football is annoying and to make the game realistic & accurate, the commentary grates in the game as well. Then, of course you get all the official stadiums & national anthems.Game modes
The game modes are entirely different from standard FIFA. They allow you to replay actual matches and rewrite the history. Let's take a look at each of them.
Captain Your Country - In this mode, you need to select a player from any nation's team and train him. You can also create a player by yourself. Your rival players will be selected by computer.
Work up your player from the try-out sheet to ultimately wearing the captain's arm band. You need to outperform the rival team to reach the next level and become captain.
Road to Rio de Janeiro - Here, you have to take part in ten mini game seasons and earn enough points so that you get promoted to the next stadium. Guide your team from stadium to stadium. If the points earned are less, the team gets demoted, i.e. sent to previous stadium. This is similar to the season-long offerings in the previous FIFA 14 title.
Story of Qualifying - You have to play different matches & meet the goals set for you to qualify for the 2014 World Cup. For example, you can play as San Marino & gain a draw against Poland or replay the United States versus Costa Rica match in the snow to win it by five goals.
Road to the World Cup - Here, the goals are to organize training sessions and pick the best team for qualifiers. The players work to prepare the teams to be qualified for Brazil.
Story of the Finals - This mode allows the teams to replay the events that occur this summer in Brazil 2014. Thus, this mode will be available only after the tournament begins.
If you ask me, I found Road to the World Cup and Story of Qualifying to be the most involving modes. Preparing your team for four years (from scratch), you see them develop, overcome injuries and pull off upsets which was all great fun.New challenges
What I liked
Introduction of over the back headers - The headers make the overall game play more exciting. The game is more difficult & realistic now.
World Cup format - The actual format is being used wherein there is good depth in the tournament modes and there are full squads of national teams. The attacks by opposition, injuries & suspensions all look lively. Just like your favourite team in World Cup, you will see your virtual team gain a progressive momentum of its own.
EA Sports Talk Radio - The re-imagined commentary was my favourite part. The EA Sports Talk Radio feature gives you an option to hear either Ian Darke & Andy Goldstein or Roger Bennett & Michael Davies. Both the pairs have their unique takes on the matches. What I didn't like
Too much similarity with FIFA 13- There is nothing new in the game play and if you already own the recent FIFA 13, you may not want to buy the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil.
Poor navigation & menus - The navigation & menus are really poor and it took me a lot of time to work out how to train my team. The menu UI needs immediate attention of the designers.Price
The new FIFA Brazil is priced at Rs. 3,499 and can be played on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.Verdict
There is a limitation with sports games- the rules can't be changed and only the physics are made more realistic with every version. The same applies to FIFA Brazil. As I have already mentioned, the game feels much like the predecessor, except the running and dribbling which are slower but requires tactical moves this time. You would require some practice to nail it. The presentation is appealing & improved but some glitch does exist in the ball movement and the way the players run, bounce or dribble the football, it appears a bit messy.
If you are a football addict, you may want to buy FIFA Brazil but I would recommend not buying it if you already have FIFA 14 as it offers only some new animation features on the FIFA 14 Xbox One title- that's it. Also, I wonder what the shelf life of FIFA Brazil is. After the real world tournament and once the FIFA 15 comes, will the title simply go away? Why EA didn't launch the game on the next-gen consoles is another big question. The gaming experience was fun but I wonder what EA was trying to accomplish here.
My ratings
Game play: 7 / 10
Visuals: 8 / 10
Sound: 9 / 10
Overall: 8 / 10
Read Best Android apps to follow FIFA 2014 from your smartphone
