So, it was revealed last week that EA’s FIFA World Cup 2014 will be hitting the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on April 17. Unfortunately, the Next-Gen crowd will miss out.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t even own a next-gen console yet (#StudentProblems), and I’m bummed for you guys. But before you completely dismiss FIFA World Cup, despite it being current-gen, read this column and hear me out.

The Presentation for FIFA World Cup is top-notch

This is something I’ve admired about these special FIFA games since I had the 2006 World Cup game on the PlayStation 2. The game's presentation is always beefed up ... I remember in '06, the zoom in stadium animations were fantastic, almost movie-like from a PS2 perspective.

EA always bring their A-game when it comes to making these special tournament-based iterations feel, well, special. How about that? They really do enhance the quality, even if it’s only for the short term.

Recent Tournament FIFA’s have brought in new modes

This is another thing that could be very interesting. In recent Tournament FIFA games, they’ve brought in new and exciting one-off modes to liven games up. And there HAS to be something new in this game considering it’s a £40/$60 release.

If you’ve forgotten, in the Euro 2012 DLC in FIFA 12, they had the pretty enjoyable “Expedition Mode.” You would travel around Europe, beating countries and taking their players to make your team better, building a dream team of European talent as you go. (Seriously, Spain’s midfield with Rooney, Van Persie and Ibrahimovic upfront? Man…)

FIFA’s South Africa World Cup game had “Captain Your Country,” which was one of the first football games where you controlled an individual player as you led your national side as Captain, to World Cup glory. It was essentially Be A Pro mode.

I’m very confident FIFA has something new planned for this, so give it a chance.

You can use obscure national teams!

If there’s one plus to these FIFA Tournament games that doesn’t get enough credit, is the HUGE national databases that EA give the games. Add in the ability to play with any of the 200-plus national teams that entered the qualifying stages, as well as the option to recreate or rewrite history, you've got yourself a solid game.

Speaking from experience, having this option is awesome. I’m originally Jamaican myself, and our national side is not featured in normal yearly FIFA games, so it’s always nice to have that option. If someone from Tahiti wants to play as them, then dammit, give them the option to play as Tahiti!

Different commentators

FIFA’s commentary has taken a bit of a nose dive in recent years, ever since Andy Gray got the chop for his embarrassing Sky Sports sacking. The current combination of Martin Tyler and Alan Smith tends to bore me, and Alan McInally’s live scoring updates seem to be more of a distraction than anything else (which to be fair, is only in career).

In the tournament games, the commentary team of Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend tend to take over, and I think they have provide a better chemistry and style for a football game.

If you ever see the comparison between the NBA games for instance, with NBA 2K14’s Kevin Harlan, Clark Kellogg and Steve Kerr, and compare it to NBA Live’s really boring Van Gundy, the difference is night and day. It can really enhance, or degrade, the quality of a sports game’s interactive experience.


These are just a few reasons why you should be looking forward to the FIFA World Cup games. Let me know how you feel about them in the comments below, or on Twitter at @Harrison101HD.