Does EA's Soccer effort scream GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL?
I only got to play this title for a few moments, but for what I played I really enjoyed. I've been a big fan of Konami's ISS series for a while, and am hungry for a GC Soccer title. Since Konami hasn't said anything about ISS for GameCube I need an alternative. There's going to be two Soccer titles hitting GameCube in the next couple of months, and this is the one I was really looking forward too. Even though it's not finished...it's looking to be a winner.
We only played a 2-3 minute half but it was really easy to pick up and play. A passes, but you can also use the C stick. Placing passes was very precise. The person I played against felt that pain, even though I couldn't score a goal. Control is a crucial part of soccer games, and EA has seemingly gotten it down with FIFA 2002 and the GameCube controller.
The game suffered from a little slow down, and the ball seemed to flicker a bit as well. Yet, I have to take into concideration that this game is still early in development. Otherwise, the player animations were clean and nicely done.
I couldn't hear any play-by-play, but knowing EA, there's going to be some. I'm hoping they use the same people they have in the PC FIFA Titles.
In a nutshell, FIFA 2002 seems to have some serious potential. If you are looking for a more realistic soccer experience on the GameCube, FIFA 2002 may be what you are looking for.