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Message: [QUOTE="Clippy, post: 559575, member: 8560"] [JUSTIFY]Since the game is purely meant to be a celebration of the World Cup there's only one 'real' mode here - one guess as to what it is. Before you sink your teeth into it, however, I suggest checking out the training mode. It not only allows you to get to grips with basic controls but also practice some advanced moves and set pieces. Unfortunately, the game doesn't tell you which buttons do what or how to perform a real show-stopper. You'll have to figure it out either by trial and error or by reading the manual. Once you think you're done with practice mode you can play a one-off friendly game, a straight penalty shootout or just get to the main event already. [/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" alt="free kick.jpg"]212722[/ATTACH] [I]Learning the secret to scoring an absolute screamer is going to take some time.[/I][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY] There's one unlockable mode once you're done with the World Cup and it's a nice novelty. You can play some World Cup finals of old dating all the way back to 1930. When you go back in time far enough the color scheme changes to black and white to reflect the broadcast standards of the time. Games that were played before the sport was televised are represented by a sepia tone instead. It's neat to be able to play a slice of history though the mode unfortunately drops the ball a little bit by applying 1998 rules to the matches instead of recreating period-accurate state of the sport. [/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" alt="1954.jpg"]212723[/ATTACH] [I]There will be justice for the 1954 Mighty Magyars.[/I][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY] Presentation is a strength of the game. At a time most football games struggled to emulate the feeling of witnessing and actual match EA went out of their way to hire professional BBC commentators who do an admirable job calling plays, naming players as well as providing some general commentary such as pre- and post-match summary of your team's standing in the group stage for instance. They even have a bank of quips for unusual situations like a really high scoreline or a particularly embarrassing (own) goal conceded. When you're not busy listening to the two gents you can hear the crowd enthusiastically chant the name of your country and do the usual football crowd things like beating drums or completely losing their collective minds when you score. Graphics are similarly impressive. Both the the stadiums and players are nicely modeled in full 3D, as they have been for two or three entries in the series. What separates WC98 from the previous games is that the devs made sure to up the ante when it comes to animation. Every overhead kick, stepover, feint, flick and what have you boasts smooth animation you can admire time and time again by using the instant replay feature that allows you to save your finest moments and show them to your friends. [/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" alt="valderrama.jpg"]212724[/ATTACH] [I]Even when zooming out this far El Pibe Valderrama remains as recognizable as he's ever been.[/I][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY] There are also a lot of flourishes and attention to detail present. Each match is introduced with a little FMV showcasing the stadium. FMVs also bookend certain phases of the tournament. Players have cute little animations as they pick up the ball for a throw-in or a corner kick. Goal celebrations are worth a mention here since whoever was responsible for them clearly wanted to flex a little and boy do they look good for the time. I think my favorite animation is when you score a goal and the camera zooms in on the keeper only for the man to kick it aside in frustration. Still entertaining all these years later. Is any of this necessary? No. Does it get old at some point? Maybe. Good news if it does - all of it is skippable. One final touch worth mentioning is the presence of real life brands strewn about on the sidelines. This was a time when seeing a real company logo in a video game was actually somewhat exciting. Of course, these logos do absolutely nothing to elevate the gameplay but they make the experience feel just a little bit more real. [/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" alt="half time trivia.jpg"]212725[/ATTACH] [I]It was a different time, before cynicism made everyone bitter about our corporate overlords. Also, do you know the answer to the trivia question?*[/I][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY] All in all, it's a great footy game that does pretty much everything right and stands well above most if not all of its peers. Is there anything to complain about? Sure. The game's presentation comes up short by 2026 standards for obvious reasons. There's only so much one can expect out of a game designed to run on a 133MHz Pentium coupled with 16MB of RAM and a generic SVGA graphics card. If there's one real complaint to be had it's that the amount of teams is limited. The built-in editor allows you to edit players but as far as teams go you're stuck with the 40 that the game offers. If you dream of, say, shocking the world with San Marino then you'll have to play FIFA: Road to World Cup 98 which came out a few months earlier. It's a great game in its own right but it doesn't reach quite the same level WC98 does. If you want to (re)live the 1998 World Cup in video game form there's no better way to do so than playing this game so if that's something that interests you then go out there and do it. [/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" alt="trophy.jpg"]212726[/ATTACH] [I]As Gary Lineker (who, coincidentally, does some voice work in this game) once said - Football is a simple game: 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win.[/I][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY][/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" alt="footix wave 2.jpg"]212727[/ATTACH] [I]See you in the next one. Buh-bye.[/I][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY] *The answer is 1994. in 1958 Brazil beat Sweden 5-2 and in 1986 Argentina beat West Germany 3-2.[/JUSTIFY] [/QUOTE]

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