World Cup '98 - NTNDO64.com

Developer: Software Creations Publisher: EA Sports

Released: May 19, 1998 Rated: E 6/10

EA Sports vastly improved their efforts in a short few months between the release of FIFA Soccer 64, a rushed mess of a game from the early months of 1997, to November’s Road to World Cup ‘98. A fluid, content-rich title that got its necessary length of time in the oven and a clean coat of paint. Even on the N64, where EA would soon start to make concessions on the amount of effort they would give compared to CD-based versions, Road to World Cup ‘98 is a worthwhile soccer/football title.

Sadly, most of what makes World Cup ‘98 a sound piece of software is best summed up by discussing its predecessor. World Cup ‘98 is, of course, a slightly updated special release at the halfway mark between yearly FIFA releases for the special occasion that is the titular global tournament. This does mean that as far as content is concerned, only the World Cup itself is relevant, which can make things seem a little bare-bones at only 40 teams — the field of 32 that qualified for the tournament, plus another eight also-rans that can be swapped into the tournament or used in friendly matches. If you’re a fan, though, the trade-off for the presentation and the grandeur of the World Cup is apparently worth it.

I don’t know if a matchup this lopsided can be considered all that “friendly.”

This does bring up, however, something that I personally find odd about this game and the subsequent entries in 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014, before World Cup celebrations were changed into content packs in their respective FIFA/FC releases: why was EA repeatedly allowed a pass to release a game like this, built largely on that same year’s existing FIFA engine, and charge full price for it? I only bring this up because, as an outsider to the world of soccer, but a fan of hockey and the N64, I can’t help but draw parallels to the infamous Olympic Hockey ‘98 controversy where IGN and others criticized Midway, and rightfully so, for essentially reskinning Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey ‘98 for sale as a Nagano Winter Olympics tie-in.

Admittedly, World Cup ‘98 is not a complete carbon copy. It does have a new game mode in the “World Cup Classics” historical scenarios. It features a slightly different commentary team in its introductions, with Gary Lineker joining Des Lynam and therefore some overall new commentary, while Classics also features special retro commentary by Kenneth Wolstenhome. And based on what I’ve seen from folks more qualified to compare the two, the AI and overall strategy options are improved somewhat.

The look of utter defeat that comes over players when giving up a goal is surprisingly accurate no matter how dramatic it may seem.

I know I may be answering my own question in the previous paragraph by listing what World Cup does differently, but what I really find strange is that all of this World Cup presentation comes at the expense of a ton of other content that Road to World Cup did have. This includes not just 40 but 172 national teams, as well as 189 club teams from 11 different leagues across the globe, covering a pool of over 4500 players. And while it may not have the World Cup itself, Road to World Cup ‘98 featured an eponymous tournament that is incredibly robust in its own right. It just seems like a lot to give up just to pay up for two full-price sports releases in the same year for something that could have been included the first time around. In a vacuum, World Cup ‘98 is great because it delivers exactly what it says it does, and even does so to the tune of “Tubthumping” by Chumbawumba, but if you just don’t “get” soccer in that way, this does kinda seem like a scam.