2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Review: Catch the Fever

While you can bring home the World Cup with “2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil,” few improvements and several nagging issues left behind from “FIFA 14” make quite possibly the last current generation soccer game from Electronic Arts a more lukewarm effort.

EA made no attempts to fix the blunders of poor tackling and the imprecision behind precision passing. The running side by side tackle of “FIFA 14” is a huge issue in “2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil.” Even the speediest of defenders, the likes of Leighton Baines, cannot push the weakest winger off the ball when running side by side. “2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil’s” new pin point passing system still has kinks to work out. The player’s passes are towards where the player is and not where he has moved to. The tica-taca passing style is still unachievable.

The game is not a complete bust when it comes to new gameplay features however. EA has finally added the long awaited corner kick tactics along with the new over-the-back headers. Tactics such as crowd the goalkeeper and run for the near post make corners more interesting than just crossing the ball into the box. The new heading system takes jumping and heading ability into greater account. The giants like Andy Carroll and Peter Crouch are no longer beaten in the air by players the size of Messi.

One of the coolest additions to this installment of the soccer video game is the fan interaction. The reaction of fans can be seen at the stadium as well as around the world. Flashes of fans watching on the big screen in Buenos Aires or Berlin show the enthusiasm when their team is winning and the agony of losing. The coaches jump around on the side lines and shout orders and celebrate. The fan animation can still be worked on though- the fans are in team colors, but still lack the human detail. The pompous stadium activity with fireworks and confetti make the game a realistic showing of what soccer fans anticipate at the World Cup this summer.

In terms of depth and detail, “2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil” delivers. It offers the biggest availability of teams, with 203 World Cup nations and over 7000 players. The Road to the World Cup game mode gives the ability to take any team and give them a shot to make it to the world stage. Captain your Country allows you to take control of a player or create your own and work your way up to lead your team to The Cup. You can also take over any scenario and rewrite history in Story of Qualifying. Over 60 memorable matches, such as the Snow game in Denver, can be replayed to give the player a taste of history. The traditional World Cup game mode is there too, so players can take control of any of the teams in this year’s Cup and lead them to glory.

The two unique online game modes, Road to Rio de Janeiro and Story of Finals are an enticing online experience. Road to Rio is similar to the online version on FIFA 14 season. Each stadium is a league and you have to accumulate enough points to move on to the new stadium until you reach Rio. Story of Finals is an evolving game mode. Players have the ability to recreate a result or scenario an hour after it goes final in Brazil as well as well as some of the memorable finals in history.

The commentary of Ian Darke and Andy Goldstein or the Men in Blazers Michael Davis and Roger Bennett are a pleasure to listen to. They talk about stars like Mesut Ozil having the most assists since 2009 and their selection of the World Cup team of history make navigating the game part of the game fly by. With 50 hours of recorded audio that are dependent on the outcomes of games, you will be listening carefully all the way through with a one of a kind experience for every nation.

“2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil” is a nice memorabilia gift for any soccer fan even if it lacks in a few areas. It will have fans of soccer playing for hours before the tournament starts this summer. But once the World Cup is over, so is the magic of the game. EA should view this game as a stepping stone for next year’s installment of the FIFA franchise as it has some fun additions, but as a game in itself, “2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil” is just a summer blow over.