2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Review

A step back for next-gen adopters, perhaps, but it's an attractive package for football fans filled with great atmosphere.




It doesn’t take long to appreciate what perfect partners the modern FIFA games and the World Cup are. EA Sports has always managed to capture the sense of occasion of a big event, and while in its annual releases its flashy presentation can at times feel excessive - albeit an accurate approximation of contemporary TV coverage - here it only adds to the grandeur and ceremony of a global sporting event. Though there are tweaks to FIFA’s core mechanics, it’s the presentation that makes 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil a souvenir piece worth bringing home.

You’ll see tickertape celebrations, flashy idents and low camera swoops over authentically rendered stadia before games, while goals and key events during matches prompt cutaway shots to gaudily garbed fans in the stands, or celebrating among thronging crowds watching on giant screens across the world. Its vibrant presentation carries over into the oversaturated colours - during evening matches the pitch is bathed in a vivid orange glow, while encounters earlier in the day see the brightness slider nudged upwards. Fittingly, for a tournament taking place in a country with a temperate climate, it feels that much warmer.

Even in the menus, daubed in splashes of tropical colour, it manages to capture the electric atmosphere of a tournament that’s capable of attracting the attention of even casual observers. As the competition begins, plenty who claim not to care about international football will find themselves inexorably drawn into its orbit. In many ways that fits with the target audience - the players who may not be invested enough in the sport at a domestic level to buy the annual editions of FIFA, but wish to enhance the experience of watching the tournament, to replay matches that have just finished to get a different outcome, for the empowering sensation of having rewritten history. It’s this audience EA Sports needs to cater to most, and as such there are problems with its approach here.

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Wii U™ GamePad

The Wii U™ GamePad controller removes the traditional barriers between you, your games, and your TV by creating a second window into the video game world. It incorporates a 6.2-inch, 16:9 aspect ratio LCD touch screen, as well as traditional button controls and two analog sticks.

The GamePad also includes motion control, a front-facing camera, a microphone, stereo speakers, rumble features, a sensor bar, a stylus, and support for Near Field Communication (NFC). It is powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery and weighs approximately 1.1 pounds.

One Wii U GamePad is included with every console.






Different ways to play









Make Wii U the centerpiece of your home entertainment setup with these applications, accessible the day you bring your system home.

http://www.nintendo.com/images/wiiu/buil...res_01.png

Each time you turn on your Wii U console, you'll be greeted by Mii characters from around the world, and the Wii U community's most talked about games in the WaraWara Plaza.

Software on the Wii from Day One!


Connect online with the Wii U community using your Mii.


Browse the Internet from the comfort of your couch.


Enjoy video chat with friends and family from far away—right on your TV.


Your one-stop shop for downloadable games and entertainment.


Find, watch, and engage with TV shows, movies, and sports.


Create Mii characters of you, your family and friends

More features


Access the HOME Button any time

The HOME Button on your Wii U GamePad gives you immediate access to game manuals, Miiverse, and Internet Browser at any time—without having to exit your game.


Play online with friends

Register friends from anywhere in the world either by exchanging your Nintendo Network ID, sending a friend request to someone you recently played online, or submitting a friend request through Miiverse. Within your Friend List you can see if your registered friends are online, and what game they are playing.

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