According to many, FIFA 10 was the best soccer game ever made. Quite a bold statement but it again shows how focused EA is on the franchise. 2010 FIFA World Cup can easily be seen as FIFA 10 with a World Cup list and in some way it is. However, with all the additions and improvements you'll rather be playing a game that's closer to FIFA 11 than FIFA 10 (and a half).

First off we can applaud the terrific World Cup atmosphere the game has. The confetti is all around, the fans go out of their mind and support their teams harder than ever while the infamous vuvuzelas are present loud and clear. In short: you're immediately in the World Cup mood , even if it's still some weeks before it starts.

The biggest improvements are of course found on the virtual grass, especially with the keeper AI. The well-known stift over the keeper, which in FIFA 10 was more rule than exception, has been made a lot more difficult. The keepers react a lot faster, think before coming out of their goal and pluck the ball out of the air a lot easier.

Also a lot of work has been put in the animations which makes the game play a lot more fluent and truthfully. High balls are easier to control and can even be taken along on the shoulder while referees know when to keep the game going or not after a faul was made.

Where EA did miss the ball is the new penalty system. Taking one in 2010 FIFA World Cup has become an unnecessary complex matter that requires some getting used to. You need to keep an eye on three different bars, choose a side with the analog stick and determine the height with the shoulder buttons. While in FIFA 10 is was just pressing square and choosing a side, they made it quite complicated here.

The game modes are of course based around the World Cup. You can play the tournament and the qualifiers, represent your own country online and have it rise on the leaderboards, or play a World Cup variation of Be A Hero where you need to go from an unknown player to becoming a base player of the national team. The added scenario mode (Story of Qualifying) is a nice addition and here you can replay certain situations with the idea being that you need to reach a certain objective. Often this means turning a losing situation into a victory within a short period of time to ensure qualification. During the World Cup EA can expand this mode also with new scenarios based on recent games, ideal to virtually undo lesser results of certain countries.