The world in your living room

FIFA 2002\nRating: E for Everyone\nFor: Playstation 2, Gamecube\nBy: EA Sports\nIt's the world's most popular sport, and the "FIFA" soccer games are one of the world's most popular series of video games ever created. But although EA Sports outdid themselves with this incarnation, "FIFA 2002," it's not a worthy buy unless you are a die-hard, pipe-wielding, riot-starting soccer fan.\nThe game is incredible in its presentation, offering more than 500 teams and 16 world leagues with actual players. Yes, all your favorites such as the U.S. veteran but now benched Cobi Jones, and Mr. Posh Spice himself David Beckham are here receiving red cards and taking penalty kicks. The game does not feature the actual World Cup Tournament, an obvious ploy to release another "FIFA" game in the summer, but does include league seasons and tournaments as well as the "Road to the World Cup." \nThe leagues range from the mediocrity of American soccer, the MLS, to the British Premiere League of Football teams like Arsenal and Manchester United. The biggest complaint is with the inaccurate team ratings. Each team has five categories of statistics and each category can range from zero "stars" to five of them. The inaccuracy is because so many teams receive all five stars in some categories, but are in no way as good as other teams. A five-star team in the Italian League is rated the same as the Italian National Team, and this can't be right. The rating system should have been out of 100 because there are so many teams to choose from.\nAnother gripe deals with the difficulty settings. There's Amateur, Professional and World Class. With the default setting on Amateur, you'll come away winning 7-0 constantly, but jump up a level to Pro and you might not get seven shots on goal in two games. The computer goes from taking only a couple of shots on goal a game to taking them every 10 seconds, and the goalie that was so great before doesn't save anything. \nOther than these two gripes, the game is pretty good. The passing scheme is much better and more realistic because you no longer pass directly to a player, but to a spot on the field so the receiver can get it on the run. The game is accurate to its real counterpart, but this will turn off some people who are not the craziest soccer fans. If you like running back and forth on a field to end up with the high score of a 1-1 tie, then this game is for you. \n

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