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GameCube | Sports | FIFA Soccer 2002

Boxart for FIFA Soccer 2002
FIFA Soccer 2002 12 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 4.0
  • SOUND: 4.5
  • CONTROL: 3.5
  • FUN FACTOR 3.5
  • AVG USER SCORE 4.5
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 4.1

Review: FIFA Soccer 2002

Review by THED-PADDESTROYER | 11/21/2001 | 10:45:39 AM PST

Time to play a little roundball on the ?Cube. FIFA 2002 takes the field with a new passing system and all the real soccer action you?ve come to expect from the series.

EA Sports puts soccer on the GameCube map with FIFA 2002. The result? World Cup?level graphics and realism have to struggle to make up for controls that keep getting yellow cards.

While the graphics won?t make you go out and punch old people to get a GameCube, they look every bit as good as the PlayStation 2 version. In fact, they?re pretty much identical. Grainier and foggier than you?d expect on GameCube, the visuals still rank above the competition. FIFA also features commentary by a couple of British soccer guys, but you may want to turn their prattle off and listen to the on-the-pitch sounds of real soccer.

FIFA suffers a bit from an oddly designed GameCube controller, which makes the new passing system harder to handle. Using the new passing system, it?s hard to tell when you?re passing to an off-screen player and when you?re sending the ball flying out of bounds. Basically, this year?s FIFA gets rid of the series? famous heat-seeking passes in favor of more challenging teamwork.

The saddest thing about the GameCube version of FIFA 2002 is that it had to come out this year. Given a little more time with Nintendo?s infant hardware, EA Sports could have worked its trademark magic to get more GameCube goodness in the game. As it is, it seems like a direct PlayStation 2 port with somewhat clunky GameCube controls. A World Cup contender, perhaps, but it comes up short of the winning goal.