GameSpot may receive revenue from affiliate and advertising partnerships for sharing this content and from purchases through links.

2010 FIFA World Cup Hands-On

The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be receiving the video game treatment from EA Sports as we found out when we went hands-on with an early build.

24 Comments

As certain as night follows day, it was a sure thing that EA Sports would announce a World Cup game in time for this year's South African tournament. After all, FIFA 10 is now within touching distance of selling 10 million copies, making it one of the most successful games in EA Sports' history. So we pretty much knew what we were in for when we received an invite to a mysterious event in London recently where the division's Peter Moore lifted the lid on 2010 FIFA World Cup. What did surprise us, however, was just how different a proposition it was from the four-month old FIFA 10, with a much more vibrant look that befits the World Cup tournament. We managed to get hands-on time with the game at Stamford Bridge, where Premier League leaders Chelsea ply their trade, and spoke to producer Simon Humber about what to expect.

Better player models and new environmental effects are just two of the improvements in the game.
Better player models and new environmental effects are just two of the improvements in the game.

"We've been working on the game for 12 months to create the most stunning football game ever," said Humber. This has been achieved, he claims, through enhancing the gameplay, improving the visual authenticity, and capturing the carnival atmosphere of the tournament itself. The gameplay improvements are undoubtedly the most important, but it's certainly a tough job for Humber and his team to top what David Rutter achieved in FIFA 10. "We've something new in every area," he claims, listing 100 improvements in passing, shooting, dribbling, and every other basic gameplay feature in the game. Humber is upfront about other FIFA 10's annoyances, such as the goalies who were too eager to rush out and the fact that it was too easy to chip them as a result. Both issues have been addressed in the World Cup game.

Of course, while FIFA 10 is authentic to domestic football, the World Cup is a different beast entirely. We'll have to wait for the actual tournament to see how this year's event is presented on TV, but early marketing shows a bold colour scheme, and the South African weather should give the whole event a bright visual aesthetic. All these elements have been incorporated into the game, which results in a distinct carnival feel to the tournament. The crowds are vastly improved over FIFA 10--each team has its own 3D supporters, on whom the camera focuses during downtime, wearing their own team colours and waving their nation's flags.

All of the razzmatazz is there, too, with fireworks, confetti, and the new LED ad boards adding to the atmosphere. The FIFA broadcast captions have all been licensed, which means that the matches should have the same feeling whether you're playing them on your console or simply watching the real tournament unfold on TV. Also new are the actual managers for all 199 eligible teams who will bark orders at their teams from the sidelines. And if you take your team through the seven games to go from group stages to the finals of the tournament, you can watch them winning the World Cup as we saw when Humber played a video of England lifting the trophy.

You, too, can win the World Cup playing as one of the 199 teams in the game.
You, too, can win the World Cup playing as one of the 199 teams in the game.

One of the most surprising aspects of 2010 FIFA World Cup is just how much the graphics have changed from a technical perspective. The new lighting engine really adds to the realism of the players, with comparison shots of Ashley Cole and, particularly, Peter Crouch revealing the greatest improvement in the new game. The pitch is similarly improved, with richer, more textured grass clearly shown in Wembley comparison shots. With the carnival atmosphere of the competition added to the game, 2010 FIFA World Cup is substantially different from its predecessor in terms of visuals.

As Humber said during his presentation, this is the first time the World Cup tournament will be playable online. Details are sketchy right now, but there will be a persistent multiplayer mode where you will be able to represent your favourite team against the rest of the world. There'll also be an interactive globe in the game with statistics and news pulled in during the buildup, as well as the competition itself, from FIFA.com. We'll have to wait a little longer before finding out more about these features, but with 300 million FIFA 10 online games played and counting, you can be sure that online will be a huge focus for EA Sports in 2010 FIFA World Cup.

2010 FIFA World Cup will be released on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, and PSP on April 30, leading up to the the tournament itself on June 11. Stay tuned for more info on the game as we get it.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com

Join the conversation
There are 24 comments about this story
24 Comments  RefreshSorted By 
GameSpot has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to toxic conduct in comments. Any abusive, racist, sexist, threatening, bullying, vulgar, and otherwise objectionable behavior will result in moderation and/or account termination. Please keep your discussion civil.

Avatar image for princeuncharted
princeuncharted

78

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 4

User Lists: 0

Fifa 10 was favourite sports game!!!!!!!!!!!!! (The ps3 version.) I dont know how this is going be????????

Upvote • 
Avatar image for azrriq_1985
azrriq_1985

26

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 0

cant wait...fifa 10 was great, this would be better...

Upvote • 
Avatar image for vandeacon
vandeacon

157

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 9

User Lists: 0

i have the sinking feeling that i'll be taking a punt on this game, knowing full well that at no point has rutter openly acknowledged "fifa 10's annoyances." their PR machine goes into overdrive, we give them our money, we moan, they say they'll improve, their PR machine goes into overdrive, we give them our money...

Upvote • 
Avatar image for diemythtruth
diemythtruth

25

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

"..and the South African weather should give the whole event a bright visual aesthetic." although it will be winter at the time. just saying ;)

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Derek_3
Derek_3

39

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

if it was like the first world cp with better online im gana be getting this one

Upvote • 
Avatar image for dovonob
dovonob

90

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 0

I've a suggestion, load up FIFA10, go to 'tournament mode', select 'create tournament', select the international teams, save it as 'world cup' and bobs your uncle, you've saved yourself £40. we'll ignore the fact there isn't really that many international teams to select from in Fifa10. How about a download that adds all the missing world cup teams?

Upvote • 
Avatar image for sensei_hEnRY
sensei_hEnRY

6690

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 90

User Lists: 2

improved graphics...i hope it could match PES superb graphics

Upvote • 
Avatar image for verbalizeray
verbalizeray

764

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

The addition of managers isn't something new (well, for a WC VG it is) as we've seen that introduction on Euro 2008 VG (along with manual celebrations). What I'm hoping is they do something similar to FIFA Street 3, where you play online & represent your country (using any team, pts are added/taken away from the overall national leaderboard). It'll be quite cool if say, you play BAP online, depending what rating you get in the match, it either boosts/drags down your Home nation on the (BAP) leaderboard. Obviously, if you were to quit, they'll be consequences for your nation (harsh it may be, but that'll limit players from quitting - unlucky if it were just the internet problem).

Upvote • 
Avatar image for dannyodwyer
dannyodwyer

2179

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 14

User Lists: 2

This is the first time I've been looking forward to a FIFA WC game since the superb WC98. The enviromental effects & manager/croud animations sound great. It's also worth mentioning that 2010WC will have an optional qualification mode. For me, being able to replay the France V Ireland qualifier game should be satisfying :P

Upvote • 
Avatar image for finallyalex
finallyalex

1277

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 0

As with the European Championships games (which is even less feature-rich than the world cup iterations), this will be a full-price release.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for cantyman7
cantyman7

25

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Im sure that the game will be sold cut price besides EA have always been cheaper than Konami's football series. FIFA is always cheaper than PES and drops faster through time as well. Spartan9797 - if EA did that then the game would be excellent but it would take a very long time to make not to mention the cost of all those licenses would be WOW. PES has always made a budget attempt at trying to put everything into their games but thats cos they don't have the licenses so can afford to do so

Upvote • 
Avatar image for mginge51
mginge51

25

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 0

If this isn't like 30 quid i might buy it. And i mean like 20 quid tops. It's hardly a full game.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Spartan9797
Spartan9797

277

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 5

User Lists: 0

i hate how Ea steals our money by making several different versions of the FIFA games (regular, world cup, champions league). I know they will make less money, but can't they just make one game incorporating all events? that would be phenomenal.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for 93soccer
93soccer

4602

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 0

LOL just realized the GS people played this at Stamford Bridge! Boooo!! Chelsea are lame Manchester United is where it's at baby! We gonna win our 4th prem title in a row!

Upvote • 
Avatar image for 93soccer
93soccer

4602

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 0

Woot! Cant wait for this game especially since I didn't pick up FIFA 10, this is a must buy!

Upvote • 
Avatar image for markdshark
markdshark

68

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

they have all the teams ( 199 apparently )

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Niupon
Niupon

46

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

i wonder is they will include all countries afiliated to Fifa.. or will be the smae teams as allways? I'm peruvian and it pissed me off that in fifa 9 and 10 doesnt appear Peru :-/

Upvote • 
Avatar image for wii_sean_wii
wii_sean_wii

103

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 0

as i love fifa10 i might have to think abouut buying this

Upvote • 
Avatar image for andalore
andalore

2644

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 0

I just Cant wait to Go some obscure Eastern Bloc Country and win the world cup for Communism lol, And I Hope they fixed the referee's giving Free kicks to the AI for nothing but playing on when they do basically Flying kicks.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for finallyalex
finallyalex

1277

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 0

The game was on show at Stamford Bridge, in London. The stadium's not in the game, though, alas... only the other way around.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for ComRaven
ComRaven

56

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

I don't think that they are, but EA usually shows their new FIFA stuff to the press at Emirates.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for silverdoe
silverdoe

379

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 243

User Lists: 0

why these stadiums included in a WC game? :|

Upvote • 
Avatar image for ComRaven
ComRaven

56

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Lol, we play at Stamford Bridge!!! Emirates is Arsenal's homeground. And - even from a Chelsea fan - it is a very beautiful stadium!

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Mephistes
Mephistes

25

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

the Emirates is home to Arsenal.

Upvote •