2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil

Game Review by Darren Carle | 18 Jun 2014
Game title: 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil
Publisher: EA Canada (developer) and EA Sports (publisher)
Release date: 17 April
Price: £39.99

Despite an annual update of EA’s long-running footie franchise, there’s always been a place for the special editions that coincide with their real-world counterparts. This is, in no small part, due to the effort put in to relaying the unbridled carnival atmosphere that rolls around every four years. Even dead-eyed, football-phobic game nerds could be forgiven for breaking out the vuvuzelas after 2010’s South Africa outing, such was the polish and attention to capturing every last detail.

2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, to use its full title, pretty much does a bang-up job in this regard. Swooping cameras perform impressive stadium fly-overs, a seemingly endless list of official teams mouth to national anthems and crazily decked-out fans whoop and applaud the whole shebang. Squint and you could be watching BBC coverage, perfectly encapsulating both the adherence to atmosphere and the games’ obvious enticement to getting more than just avid FIFA players to pick up a joypad.

Once that’s achieved there are some equally engrossing game modes, most notably the ‘Online FIFA World Cup’ campaign which lets you play out your own tournament against opponents from across the globe. Despite a couple of obviously mis-matched games, EA’s servers do a pretty good job of keeping a level playing field, ensuring progress, or a lack of, is in your own hands. There’s also little evidence of players working faults in the engine to their own advantage so matches tend to be tense, tactical affairs that adhere to the 2-1 variety.

Of course, like all good sport games, FIFA Brazil is at its best as a local multi-player. The general festival buzz of the sound design, the slick commentary and the colourful visuals are all bolstered with a human adversary in the same room. It also helps admonish some minor sticking points such as pass-delays, some sluggish turning and the occasional nagging sense that you really didn’t aim your shot that way.

Talk of ‘first-touch mechanics’ and ‘increased passing accuracy’ are only likely to be noticed by absolute veterans of the series, if at all. Under the sheen, this is effectively FIFA 2014 with gold and green splashes; no bad thing but not what EA will want to print on the back of the box. If you own the previous instalment, there’s little here beyond theatrics and a temporary boost to online numbers to warrant getting your wallet out. FIFA 2014 Brazil is a game of its time and nothing more. Yet given that timespan is upwards of a month, and a month like few others, it’s more than many games get to enjoy.

Thanks to Betfair for the review copy http://www.easports.com/2014-fifa-world-cup