Great, a new soccer game. It's just FIFA World Cup 98, a copy of FIFA 98 but with new menus, music and some other things, but the essential game is almost the same. Graphics in FIFA World Cup 98 are awesome like in the earlier FIFA: Road to the World Cup. I only gave 24 cause I think EA will do much better in the future so I will keep the perfect score away for now. 3DFX shows all it glory in WC98. The high resolution of the graphics makes me dizzy. When I played this game I thought I was playing real soccer, try it with the ball camera perspective and you will get my point. The sports games only miss a bit in the atmosphere, the crowd just doesn't exist, you only see some graphics but no motion so it makes the crowd always the same. Maybe I'm asking too much but they can do it, work on this programmers!. I only played the game in 3DFX, didn't test the d3d or the normal mode but in 3dfx the game is very, very good. The best in soccer games. The game runs smooth with no tickles or anything else, but I think that the game is slow in the gameplay, not a graphics or smoothness problem.
Sound is good, better then in FIFA RWC. The crowd is more active, more chants. The game loses some interest when you don't have the play by play. Since the play by play is too large it was ripped out but a play by play addon is out there. Get it cause it's needed to have a good sound atmosphere. The music in the menus is great, better then in FIFA RWC.
A note to EA: Please, next time put all the National Songs with better quality and in full cause we can only hear part of it and that's no good!.
The game is easy to play but you have various difficulties. Just chose the best that fits your skills and start learning how to play in the professional difficulty. It's easy to control the player but the gameplay in FIFA is not the best for soccer. You cannot control the player like in Actua Soccer (c) Gremlin for example, you have pre-defined moves in FIFA and you have none in Actua soccer. That's why it makes Actua Soccer (c) Gremlin the best game in soccer gameplay. The shots, the passes, the crosses are the same thing. They are all pre-defined. The gameplay is good but it could be better, reading this maybe makes you think the gameplay isn't very good but nope, the gameplay is good, just could be better.
Fun factor is the same that you got in FIFA: RWC. I played this game till the end and I won the world cup with Portugal.
Easy to install but it would be good to have an installer. There's a Razor fix out there but I got till the end of the game without crashing, so I don't know why we need a fix.
I didn't play this game in multiplayer but you have network and modem support. I played the old FIFA by modem and I just loved it! I think the game gains more fun factor when you play with a friend by modem. The game is smooth like you were playing it alone so if you have a chance play it against someone over the a network or modem.
EA made some changes in the game but it wasn't as much as I'd read in some magazines articles. When I read those articles I thought the game was different but playing it is the same in general of course. There are some minor changes. This is a great game and I was impressed that EA included some teams that didn't reach the World Cup, so here's a "hurray!!" for EA. Go get this at your local shop cause you need the full cd to get all the features in this great soccer game. Enjoy this great game and cheer on your National team in the World Cup!