I have to admit, I am an ISS fan, and haven’t been impressed with a FIFA title in years. I couldn’t stand FIFA on the N64. The AI and control were atrocious. The control, graphics, and gameplay in my opinion were always superior in the Konami ISS titles. Lately some of my friends were telling me that the PS2 versions of the FIFA series were pretty good. Since there are no other soccer games coming to the GameCube this year, I decided to take a chance and pick it up. After just a few minutes with FIFA 2002 I can honestly say I am happily surprised.

The game seems to have come a long way since my brief encounter with it at Spaceworld. FIFA Soccer 2002 feels completely like an EA Sports title. The menus, the setup, and some of the controls have a lot of similarities to Madden. The EA sports brand definitely has a specific aura to it.

There’s about a billion different teams to choose from. If you’re a big soccer freak, and want to play with some obscure team from a country that no one’s heard of, chances are, “it’s in the game”. There’s also a wide variety of in-game options, where you can play a friendly match or even go through the qualification for the World Cup.

The controls take a little while to adjust to, and it’s easy to make mistakes when you start playing. After a few minutes, you’ll be able to perform some pretty cool lob passes, and shots. I do have a few gripes with the controls. On defense the X button is the light tackle, and the Y button is the turbo. If you’re trying to chase down a player by pressing Y, and hitting X at the same time, it gets a little difficult. I actually have moved my hand out to the outside so I can perform it efficiently. Also due to the fact that X is also the shooting button, it’s easy to steal the ball and then shoot by accident. The C-stick is used for one-two passes, but it’s not as intuitive as it is in NBA Courtside. Practice may help this situation.

Visually, FIFA 2002 is very well done. The player animations are fantastic. Slide tackles, headers, one touches, it’s all good. Not just running, passing, and shooting, but the other outside animations are also an added bonus. For example, if you’re trying to save the ball from going out-of-bounds, and the ball gets out, your player will fall to his knees and grab his head in disappointment.

The color commentary is well done, and varied…yet sounds a little tinny. This could be due to compression. That is my only complaint about the audio. The crowd and player effects are well done and adjust well to what happens on the field. The music is absolutely incredible. EA has packed a lot of excellent euro-type techno in this little disc. Any game that has BT and Gorillaz in it is fine in my book.

I’ve played one player quite a bit, and am currently in the process of taking England to the World Cup. Playing against other people can also be a really good time. With a few complaints about control, FIFA is a great soccer title. It’s not a hardcore soccer sim, but more of a combination of arcade and simulation styles. If you’re dying to get some soccer love on your GameCube, FIFA should satisfy most.