FIFA World Cup Soccer 2010

"2010 FIFA World Cup is one of the best sporting simulations I've ever played.  Andrew Fitch, 1UP.com
"Better than FIFA 10. World Cup manages to strike a balance between the substance of simulation and elaborate frenzies to appreciate with friends.  Tom Pakinkis, ComputerAndVideoGames.com

IGN.com 8 of 10
With every World Cup comes another EA Sports-made soccer title. For South African World Cup that means the release of 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, a game that, despite its unattractive name, does a good job of presenting some of the same great soccer action seen in FIFA 10 with just the right amount of mechanical and aesthetic innovations to make it feel like a title that can stand on its own two feet. Of course, it doesn't hurt that it not only features the world's most popular sporting event, but it also delivers the excitement better than any other sports game in history...It benefits from having the same engine running under its hood as IGN's Sports Game of the Year for 2009, FIFA 10. The soccer is fluid, the graphics are sharp and players are able to perform great feats of athleticism without ever looking unrealistic or overly arcade. One of the biggest and most substantive improvements has to do with infusing the World Cup into everything you do in the game. Everything from the main menu to picking teams for a friendly incorporates elements of this year's tournament in South Africa...You pick a team to represent, then a separate team to play with each match. If you pick Germany, you're going to get a smaller amount of points than if you chose a team like United Arab Emirates. Your point total is added in with others who selected the same original squad to form a set of world rankings. Of course, you can also play in a standard head-to-head match, which performed quite well in my playtests...There's no question that 2010 FIFA World Cup is a very impressive game of soccer at its core. It has many of the frills that you'd expect from a World Cup presentation, even if a few of them are more annoying than not. The advent of things like Two Button controls for all of our mothers and fathers to play with is cool for the casual players, but the lack of customization for hardcore soccer fans is a real disappointment. If you enjoyed FIFA 10, I'd say that this one is certainly worth a look. If you don't think the soccer will blow your mind, just wait until you win the World Cup. It's something truly special. - Nate Ahearn

1Up.com 9 of 10
Sure, hardcore soccer fans can't wait to take obscure teams like Accrington Stanley from the depths of the lower-tier English leagues to the glory of the billion-pound Premiership in FIFA 10. But for more casual observers of the sport who don't know Colchester United from Ipswich Town, it's all about the World Cup -- that's the gateway drug to becoming a serious fan...I didn't pay attention to soccer at all until the 1994 World Cup, but I've been hooked ever since. It wasn't just the action on the pitch that made me fall in love, though -- it was the intense atmosphere. I'd seen baseball rivalries, like Red Sox vs. Yankees and Giants vs. Dodgers, in American sports, but teams like Italy, Brazil, and Germany and their rabid supporters showed me passion and emotion that American sports just don't match. And it's that sort of fever pitch that separates 2010 FIFA World Cup from any previous EA FIFA entry -- and really any other sports game in history...The atmosphere isn't limited to what's in the stands, though -- it's quite literally in the air. On the Sports Anomaly, we've joked about the Pro Evolution Soccer series' supposed "heavy air" -- allegedly tuned to deliver more authentic ball physics. Developer EA Canada, on the other hand, promised "lighter air" in high-altitude places like Peru, Bolivia, and Mexico City in 2010 World Cup -- and it turns out that this wasn't just hot air. By the end of a game in La Paz -- the world's highest capital city at nearly 12,000 feet -- my guys were suffering from exhaustion and couldn't even muster simple runs past midfield. There's a reason mighty Argentina, even with the magical Lionel Messi, lost 6-1 at Bolivia in South American qualifying: It's tough to win in places that make Denver seem like sea level by comparison!...2010 FIFA World Cup is one of the best sporting simulations I've ever played -- particularly for passionate fans of international soccer. But it's also clear that the franchise has reached a kind of sporting Uncanny Valley: It tries to be so authentic that when something's off, it's horribly, noticeably off. For the first time in a soccer game, though, you can take every team eligible for the 2010 World Cup to the finals -- and if that means I have to put up with North Korean fans chanting in Spanish, well, it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. - Andrew Fitch