7.6 /10 1 Votes
Engine Impact Engine Developer EA Canada Genre Sports game | 7.5/10 IGN Initial release date 15 April 2014 Publisher EA Sports Platforms PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date(s) NA: April 15, 2014
EU: April 17, 2014
AU: April 17, 2014
BR: April 24, 2014
JP: April 24, 2014 Mode(s) Single-player, Multiplayer Series FIFA World Cup video games Similar FIFA World Cup video games, EA Sports games, Sports games | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil is the official video game for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, published by EA Sports for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was released on April 15, 2014 in North America, April 17 in Europe and Australia, and April 24 in Brazil and Japan, as was the case with the 2010 edition.
Contents
Gameplay
Gameplay improvements from FIFA 14 include dribbling, an increased accuracy in passing and first-touch mechanics.
The game's campaign mode, Road to Rio de Janeiro, allows players to play through qualification and the actual FIFA World Cup. For only the third time in the history of World Cup video games the entire qualification series will be playable. The 2010 version only presented the UEFA and CONMEBOL groups in their true to life form. Another mode, Road to Rio de Janeiro, will allow players to compete in an online tournament across the 12 venues of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. It is similar in format to Seasons in FIFA 14 and Expedition mode from UEFA Euro 2012.
Captain Your Country, Online FIFA World Cup, Story of Qualifying, and Story of the Finals modes (the latter two integrated with EA Sports Football Club) from the 2010 edition returned to the 2014 edition.
For the first time in the FIFA series, coaches as well as spectators, either in the stadium or through FIFA Fan Fest and generic viewing events worldwide, are included to improve the immersive feeling. Coaches and spectators will react to happenings on the pitch, from scoring a goal to getting a card and winning the World Cup. The then FIFA president Sepp Blatter even appears to present the World Cup trophy to the winning team.
Teams and venues
The game contains all of the 203 national teams that took part in the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification process. The national teams of Bhutan, Brunei, Guam, Mauritania, Mauritius and South Sudan, all of which did not participate in World Cup qualifying, despite being FIFA members, do not feature in the game. Most teams have licensed kits as well as kits worn during the World Cup for select teams, while others get generic unlicensed kits which resemble their official kits.
The game includes all 12 venues used at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, as well as stadiums from each qualifying region and a range of generic stadiums.
Soundtrack
The official song of the World Cup, "We Are One (Ole Ola)" by Pitbull, Jennifer Lopez and Claudia Leitte, was included in the game's opening cutscene, as well as "The World Is Ours" by The X Factor USA contestant David Correy (Coca-Cola's theme song for the World Cup).
Additionally, the game features EA Sports Talk Radio, where players can choose one of two channels, each featuring a pair of pundits commenting on user-controlled teams' progress and answering e-mails, texts and tweets. Andy Goldstein of TalkSPORT and Ian Darke of ESPN host one channel, while the Men in Blazers (Michael Davies and Roger Bennett - both of ESPN at the time but now with NBC Sports) host the other channel.
The game includes 34 tracks from artists all over the world including Australia, Canada, Israel, Mexico, the United States and Brazil.
Criticism
Due to the unavailability of the game on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, there has been criticism surrounding the development of the game. There are no plans to bring the game to these consoles due to "prohibitively low next-gen adoption rates" in certain markets, most notably Brazil, the World Cup hosts.