2010 Fifa World Cup South Africa (PS3) > Reviews (3)

With every World Cup there is a World Cup game and South Africa is no different. There's usually not much difference from that year earlier FIFA instalment, but enough minor changes to encourage people to buy it - me being one of them, for just under £40.

The start up of the game is typical of EA, very professional and stylish looking with well laid out menus and graphics. The actual game itself following this blueprint.

The first noticeable difference when you kick-off for the first time is the improvement of the grass. Doesn't sound important, but I've always thought the grass in FIFA looks more like a big green carpet than perfectly manicured grass. It now looks a lot more like real grass with various marks spread all over it.

Surrounding the grass are superbly detailed stadiums, included are all the World Cup venues including Durban and Soccer City, as well as the home grounds for the major national teams when you're not playing in the World Cup, such as Wembley, Bernabeu, etc.

The players are also superbly detailed (the big names anyway), looking very much like their real life selves. Players such as Wayne Rooney, Xavi, Torres all look amazing, but once you go one of the smaller nations the resemblance is poor and difficult to make out who is who. Although you can't really blame them for not going through every team and perfecting every player, there are 199 teams after all.

Other changes to match day, out with the gameplay changes are the inclusion of manager reactions throughout the match. Again, only the big name managers from the major nations are included. These are quite good at first, but soon become annoying and just waste time, they can be turned off for offline play, but you're stuck with them when playing online.

Now onto the gameplay. There haven't been too many big changes. The game still plays pretty much the same as FIFA 10, but slightly more realistic. The way the players pass and shoot looks more natural, as do the much more acrobatic goalkeepers. The three main differences would have to be - there seems to be more movement from off-the-ball players, allowing putting together much better passing sequences. The second difference is the shooting. It now appears to be much easier to score, with long range efforts achievable, but not easy by any means. The third main change would have to be the superior crossing. Crosses can now be whipped into the danger area, where your striker is usually waiting to head home. This is good, because it allows you to mix things up a little bit more. For those of you who haven't played FIFA 10 the overall gameplay experience is excellent. The player physics and the way the game flows is extremely realistic.

Once you've finished getting to grips with the minor changes in the practice arena and in kick-off mode, you can dive into one of the proper game modes. The usual suspects are there:

Captain your country - take control of one player and try to guide the team to world cup glory.

World Cup - start from the qualifying stages and try to guide your team into the finals and then all the way to lifting the world cup.

I like this since you start in the qualifiers and therefore have the chance to go any of the 199 teams, rather than just the teams who qualified for the finals.

Online World Cup - excellent addition to the game. You firstly choose which nation you want to represent (Scotland for me) and then start from the group stage of the World Cup using whichever team you want. In this game mode I prefer to go one of the smaller nations, the battle to scrape as many points together as you can is quite exciting.

Also, the lower rated team you go the more points you gain for the country you're representing. There is a ladder showing how many points and cups each nation as won.

Online Head-to-Head - choose your team and plays against people from around the world. This is where I spend most of my time when playing the game, largely down to the new ranking system which works as a league table.

You start off in Division 10 and then have 10 games to earn 16 points, which will get your promoted. You earn ranking points for getting promoted or for remaining in the same league. Getting relegated doesn't get you any points; it might even lose you some (fortunately I haven't been relegated yet so I'm not certain).

There is also a cup tournament at the end of each season which provides you with the chance to gain more ranking points.

Other less important game modes include training and penalty shoot-out.

Overall I would recommend this to everyone who was a fan of FIFA 10 and is looking forward to the World Cup. There are plenty of minor changes which make it worth buying and the new ranking system and online World Cup is excellent. It is a pretty solid game, with excellent graphics and excellent gameplay - you can even listen to the national anthems of all the teams and the background music increases the atmosphere of the game.