Spy report: EA Sports’ FIFA World Cup 2010

Without Rooney, England is doomed.

Yes, it’s about time that I write about FIFA World Cup 2010, which I played at some snazzy EA event about a week ago. Jimin and I played half a game—I was Côte d’Ivoire and Jimin was South Korea—and I totally bashed his brains in, 2-0 at half-time. After the EA guy asked me if I was more used to Pro Evolution Soccer-style controls, and I was, he’s like, “Oh, then switch the control style to Style B.” Then Les Éléphants were running wild!

So the game, which comes out for pretty much every system under the sun (including the PS3 and Xbox 360), plays a lot like FIFA 10. You probably already knew that. The thing about this particular game, though, is that it’s entirely focused on international soccer. You won’t find Real Madrid, Chelsea, or Juventus here, only Spain, England, and Italy, and 193 other teams. Teams you’ve never heard of, either, like all those Pacific Island teams. If Micronesia wins the World Cup, I’ll eat my hat. (I don’t wear hats.)

The game tries to replicate the experience and atmosphere of the World Cup, right down to the vuvuzela. That’s right: those damn horns from the Conferderations Cup are back (but you can turn them off if you want. I actually like the horns, it helps give the tournament a bit of local flavor. Actually, it sorta makes each game sound like La Liga—they’re blowing horns all the time in Spain for some reason.

I was also led to believe that the World Cup game is more popular with the “average” person than FIFA game. Non-soccer fans are more easily able to get into the idea of country vs. country than Arsenal vs. Tottenham.

I don’t know, we only played the game for one half, but if you’re familiar with any of the FIFA games then you’d feel right at home.

Let’s be honest: the EA Sports game everyone is looking forward to is EA Sports MMA.

Oh, and fair warning: CrunchGear will essentially turn into a World Cup blog as we get closer to South Africa.

The game comes out on April 27.

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