By Daniel Vassallo
for World Cup 98 Online

GAMEPLAY
Now that I've played World Cup 98, I can honestly saythat the gameplay is excellent. Like FIFA 98 you can play in three difficulty modes;Amateur or Professional or World Class. Amateur is for people who have never played a FIFASoccer game in their life. It's very easy where the opponents rarely try to take the ballfrom your feet. The Professional mode in World Cup 98 is far harder than the Professionallevel of FIFA 98. This mode is the best level for regular gamers to play with. I'vemanaged to win the World Cup once with this level, but most of the times I getdisqualified in the Quarter Finals or in the Semi finals. Then there is World Class level.This is the most difficult level. You need to practice a lot before beating someone inthis level. In World Class level, as soon as you get the ball to your feet, your opponentswill run to you and try to tackle yout. You'll have two chances; either to pass, or torun. If you pass, most of the time your opponents will still get the ball while it's onthe way to your team mate. Then if you decide to run, you'll probably get tackled from thefront and you'll find yourself face to face with the turf.

I think that it's a good thing that World Class level is very difficult. At least thisshows that it would take some time before I'll begin winning every game, even if I playwith Iran against Brazil.

Up to now we've seen the field players have been very intelligent, but there are also twogoal keepers in a match. Well, the keepers are one of the major factors that made me buyand like World Cup 98. They're nearly 100% realistic in their saves. It's not like FIFA98, where you can shoot from just in front of him with Roberto Carlos and he'll justcollect the ball. Here, if the shot is very powerful he'll tip it, punch it, or saves itwith his feet.

GRAPHICS
I can't say that the graphics were much improved from thoseof FIFA 98. In fact, this is why some people say that World Cup 98 is just FIFA 98 withless teams, because at first glance the graphics seem the same. Well, the graphics inthemselves didn't improve much, but the graphical detail improved surely. Now every kit isperfectly drawn, and every stadium of France 98 is perfectly rendered, while in ClassicGames, you really feel that you're watching an old match. In the 70's or 80's matches, thecolours of the games are slightly decreased, and in matches of the 50's and 60's, you'llwatch the game in black and white. Then in older games, the colours are even worse thanblack and white. They're nearly brown and white. In this state it's a bit difficult tosee, so fortunately there is an option to change the presentation to modern.

One thing that I didn't like is the polygon rendered stadiums in the stadium select menu,and the rotating world cup in the World Cup final menu. And although Footix in the bottomright is a bit funny, it's graphics could have been much better. But this is only a minorthing.

It's important that for clear graphics and smooth animation, you'll have a 3Dfx GraphicsCard, or at least a Direct3D compatable card with 4MB Ram on board. Don't expect to seeanything clear without one of these.

SOUNDS
In World Cup 98, there is a total of five commentators. Themain commentator in a normal match is John Motson. Then when something exciting happens ina match, Chris Waddle jumps in and says something about the previous action. Unlike FIFA98, John Motson now can say all the players in game, not just about 66% of them. ChrisWaddle is like Andy Gray of FIFA 98. His comments could have been improved because most ofthe time he repeats what John Motson would have just said.

Desmond Lynam doesn't say much, either. He only talks in the beginning of a match. Heoften says something about the stadium they're playing in, or about the country of one ofthe teams. These comments are often interesting. For example he often says when thestadium was built, how many seats are in the stadium, how big the population of the cityis, and so on.

Although Gary Lineker doesn't talk much, I really like his comments. He doesn't talk inthe game, but he only talks in the menu; when you've finished a game, or when you're goingto begin a game. For example, if you've played with France and you've won the first twogames, he would probably say that France already qualified to the next round and we shouldexpect to see some fresh legs in the next match. Then let's say your next match is againstDenmark. He would say something like Denmark needs at least a draw in this match to have apossibility to enter the next round.

The other commentator in World Cup 98 is Kenneth Wolstenholme. He is the only commentatorin Classic Matches. The thing that I don't like is that he says exactly the same thingsthat John Motson says in normal matches, but in his voice. I think it would have beenbetter if he said different things from those that John says.

DETAILS
World Cup 98 is based on FIFA 98's engine, so EA Sports hadmore time to improve the details on this game. For example now at half time, you'll seethe players talking with each other, and when the keeper saves a penalty he celebrates,and so on. There are also a couple of new hair styles and faces and hair colours, butstrangely enough there is no proper black hair!

There is a new option called Handicap. This option is only useful when playing against afriend, and this will level both team's skills so that you and your friend can see who isreally the best. Another good option is the game speed. Increase the game speed tomaximum, if you want an arcade style game.

Another minor but interesting feature is the Trivia Quiz at half time. When you reach halftime, you'll get a multiple choice question about World Cup Classics, and then at fulltime you'll get the answer. The questions are often related to the teams that are playingin that match. It's a pity that sometimes you get repeated questions. There should havebeen a feature so that the questions would start to be repeated after all of them havebeen asked.

MULTIPLAYER
Although still without TCP/IP (internet) option, World Cup 98's modem to modemfeature is slightly improved over that of FIFA 98. World Cup 98 detects your modem fromyour Window's Conrol Panel, exectly as it does with the joystick. And the big bug in FIFA98 where the Dial and Initial strings couldn't be saved, has been fixed in World Cup 98.Of course everyone wants the TCP/IP option, but that will hopefully be available in FIFA99.

CONCLUSION
World Cup 98 is surely the best soccer action game on themarket, and will be, until FIFA 99 is released, probably next Christmas. I recommendeveryone to buy it, especially if you don't have FIFA 98. The game is extremely detailedand is balanced between fun and realism. It's surely worth the money. And to make it evenmore worth it, it's not as expensive as a normal full game, in some countries.