Paul's Excellent (PSone) Adventures

Rejecting the fancy shmancy graphical sheen and technical whizz-bang of newer games consoles, Paul has followed the example of the amish and looked to the past for his technological fix. In a regular column, we'll be following his progress as he checks out decade-old cutting edge on the PSone. FIFA 2002



Imagine you walk into a small café during your lunch hour and, because you’re a sweet – toothed individual, take a chocolate cake to the counter along with a crisp fiver. The enthusiastic young man behind the counter tells you that your money is no good here, and that instead you are to engage in tribal dance with him for a few minutes, at which point he’ll be happy to let go of his chocolate cake.
The transfer system in FIFA 2002 is a bit like this – charming and pleasant, but makes absolutely no sense from a business point of view. You see, instead of the usual bid – reply – negotiation method which has become standard practice for all football games, not just management sims, FIFA in the early 21st century chose to operate a system which gave you far more freedom of movement. So long as your team has the readies to match the (exceptionally reasonable, as a rule) asking price for your desired player, the transfer is instantaneous and hassle – free, with Zinedine Zidane seeing no reason not to join Kilmarnock provided they can stump up the 15,000 credits (or roughly two of Killie’s mid – range midfielders)
Interestingly though, this is the same for selling players – other clubs never show any interest in your players; this isn’t necessary. Instead, whenever you find yourself landed with an over – priced flop, you simply select the team you want to sell him too and it’s done. This isn’t only true of the team you play as – every team is as malleable as this, a whole transfer market which stops and goes as you tell it, allowing you not only to manufacture the best team in the world, but the best league or continent too.
You may be thinking this all sounds a bit pants, but you’re damned wrong. Unlike today, games during the PSone era knew what they were supposed to do, and did it. LMA Manager had the realistic (if you can call it that) transfer market; FIFA removed all that obtrusive nonsense and gave you maximum bang for minimum buck.
This commendable dedication to doing what it does well continues throughout the front – end of the game, as it famously would in future iterations of the series. The soundtrack, though woefully threadbare by today’s standards, had some real standout tracks, most notably “19-2000” by Gorillaz, which I still hold to be the best title song for a FIFA game, ever (Kings Of who?).
Other future FIFA hallmarks seem to have made their debut around the turn of the century, too. The wealth and depth of teams and nations involved in this outing is enough to labour any statistician’s breathing (Anyone for the Israeli Premier League?), and even manages to put today’s portable FIFAs, not to mention a certain Pro Evolution Soccer, to shame. Scottish football fans outside of the Old Firm won’t find any joy in FIFA 2007 for the Xbox 360, but their teams are all present and correct in this primitive kick - about.
Have the gall to kick off a football match, though, and those familiar bugbears come a-flooding back, multiplied by an entirely unnecessary power – up function for shots, crosses and passes. Though this has passed into standard fare for football games today, what you are presented with in FIFA 2002 is a function which is rough and far from complete. Passes of any description take an age to charge up, which means to get any power into a lob, you first need to ensure you have a few metres of defender – free space. What’s more, link – up play of any kind is made completely obsolete by the incredibly weak passes produced by the button taps which have become second nature to a generation of football fans who have never had it so good. Trying to set up a one – two, are you? Don’t be so God damn stupid. This is FIFA on the PSone.
Add to this major pain in the backside any complaints you have about FIFA today. Treacle – like pitches, you say? Players today react like Sonic the Hedgehog in comparison to this sorry lot. What’s that? Nonsensical shooting physics? In 2002, players in FIFA were likely to fire balls into the crowd, tap them out into touch, and blast them into the air - essentially, anywhere but the back of the net.
Still, FIFA 2002’s saving grace is the simple fact that it’s cute. What would have you biting you cheek or mashing your fists in childish frustration today is easy to laugh off in a game produced 7 years ago. When Henry messes up a shot which looked destined for the honey pot, it probably won’t cause you to scream expletives at the screen. Instead you’ll turn to a loved one, guffaw and say something to the tune of “Look, honey – we thought this was cutting edge once!” The fact that you paid less than the cost of a Happy Meal for the privilege can’t hurt, either.
What’s more, play the game on its own terms and it yields a playable, if basic, tactical game of football. Put in the effort with the ridiculous power bars and you’ll find yourself occasionally creating beautiful through ball maneuvers, even if these are outweighed by scores of frustrating miscalculations. Mash triangle (that’s right, because why just hold in R1 to sprint when you can give you thumbs RSI at the same time? Honestly, did we never think at the time that the feeling of speed could be re-created in a more sensible – and safer – way?) for long enough and you begin to see a strategy to the use of pace.
The sad truth, however, is that FIFA 2002’s real party trick is making you see the good in EA Sports more recent outings.