2010 Fifa World Cup: South Africa
PS3/Xbox 360 (tested on PS3) - EA Sports
2010 Fifa World Cup: South Africa may, for some, seem to be an unnecessary purchase, released as it is smack bang between last years Fifa 10 and this years Fifa 11. However, if you are thinking of taking the leap, then there are enough features to make it potentially very worthwhile.
One of the main additions to gameplay, in terms of accessibility, is the new 'two-button' control method. This allows you to greatly reduce the number of buttons required to play at a competitively high level. It uses the left thumbstick, as normal, to control your players' movement. The 'cross' button is used for all passing types, when in posession of the ball, allowing you to use one button for ground, air and through passes. The position of the player you are aiming for and the strength of the pass you put through to him, will affect the style of pass. 'Circle' is used for shoot when you have the ball and sliding tackles when the opposition has it . When not in possession, the 'cross' button is used for a standing tackle.
The game also has 'Become a Captain' mode, which offers the same method of gameplay as in 'Be a Pro' in the recent Fifa releases. The aim is to take control of your customised player and, as the title implies, become captain of your chosen country. In this mode, the 'two-button' mode can be used with the regular feature of using the 'cross' button to call for the ball from a team mate. In addition, the 'circle' button can be used to tell your team mates to apply pressure when without possession and to shoot when you do have it.
Other game modes include the Practice Arena, where you can practice set-pieces, play 1v1 and play practice matches with varing numers of players on each team. There is also The Story Of Qualifying, in which you can change history by taking on various in-game challenges teams faced, but failed with, in the World Cup qualifying rounds. Online game include competing in The World Cup competitions, as well as playing individual games against opponents from all around the world.
A regular feature of the Euro and World Cup Fifa releases is that you can practice or play penalty shootouts directly from the main menu. The control scheme for penalties has been overhauled and can be tricky to get a hang of. However, there are very good training videos and practice modes.
To defend penalties requires the use of both thumbsticks. The left is used to move the position of your keeper and the right is used to choose the direction of his dive. To take a penalty you must watch the moving pin in the composure bar (in the bottom right of the screen) and press shoot when it is as close to the middle as you can (the speed of this changes depending on your difficulty settings). Once you have pressed shoot, you need to decide how long you are going to hold it down, to power up your shot. The longer you hold it the harder the shot. Finally, to direct the ball, you use the left thumbstick.
With Fifa World Cup: South Africa there are lots of involving game modes to keep you interested over the summer and get you into the spirit of the World Cup, until the Fifa 11 release in the autumn. Hopefully, we will see the 'two-button' mode continue to feature in future Fifa releases, offering as it does a more intuitive and accessible method of gameplay for either new players or those who would prefer to use less controls and still compete at a high level.
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