Metacritic Games

2002 FIFA World Cup (Xbox)

The official soccer game of the 2002 Korea/Japan World Cup features new "Air Play" gameplay with intuitive one-button headers, volleys, scissor kicks, juggling and showboating. New player-to-player animations allow for agressive jostling for the ball on the ground and in the air. The Tournament Mode features a seven game series beginning with round-robin play, followed by playoffs leading to the final match with a progressive story line and a rising intensity as you advance. [EA Sports]

Electronic Arts
Sports
Players: 4
E (Everyone)
Developer: EA Sports
Released April 24, 2002

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

79 / 100

Critic Reviews

90 GamePro
The Xbox version of 2002 has the sharpest visuals of the three platforms...It would have been nice to have more teams and customizable modes.
85 GameZone
A good soccer program, featuring excellent animation and sound and solid game play. If there is a drawback it would be the lack of gaming options.
83 Official Xbox Magazine
This game does at times feel a tad slower than Konami's "MLS," but the pace simply suits some gamers better than others. [July 2002, p.78]
83 GameSpy
A top-notch effort from start to finish.
82 IGN
The soccer engine is as solid and refined as ever but this World Cup edition is painfully bereft of features.
81 Xbox Exclusive
The best graphics that I have seen in a soccer game thus far. It really is something to behold.
80 Game Informer
Evil. That aside, you will get sucked into the hype and love almost every minute. [June 2002, p.82]
80 Media and Games Online Network
The player models are so life like you don’t have to wait for the commentary to know who has the ball. Players like Paul Scholes and Freddy Ljungberg have a distinct look to them.
80 GameSpot
No other Xbox soccer game comes close to matching World Cup's gameplay, sound, or even graphics.
78 Team Xbox
A good buy for any sports fan, especially because of the excitement, but be warned that you will probably be tired of it before you could say “USA soccer is about to become a power.”
75 Game Revolution
More depth and modes would lift it to stellar heights.
71 GamingTrend
The game is not that difficult, and the only thing you can really unlock is a few extra teams. The game is a little better if you can play it with someone else, but you will become quickly bored with it.
70 GamerWeb Xbox
Sadly there isn't much there but what there is turns out to be really quite a fun ride.
70 Xbox Nation Magazine
While it may not be the deepest around, FIFA is just plain fun. [Summer 2002, p.92]
67 GameNow
Without the hundreds of teams that the "standard" version sports, either mode can get boring. [June 2002, p.58]
65 TotalGames.net
A lazy PS2 port. Make no mistake this is a perfectly decent piece of software, but when you handed over your cash for the Xbox you probably weren’t expecting to be playing hand-me-downs from a machine significantly less powerful.
60 GamePen
I give mad props to the guys at EA Sports for creating a game that so accurately captures the atmosphere of the World Cup, the only problem is, that’s all they’ve done.