The vuvuzela horn, though, is about right. Or do anything other than stomp up and down and call the ref a trucking banker. Even England fans bust a move, which is ridiculous, because England fans do not dancefloor dance at football matches. They also dance, like, proper dancing, not just jumping up and down doing that boing boing thing. The fans themselves look ridiculous: they sport silly Mohawk haircuts and garish face paint. There’s so much confetti that you start to worry that fans will suffocate. The game cuts to shots of the managers – the first time all of them have been represented in a video game – so often, that you quickly get sick of them and the way they hold their hands up to their faces. You do get the feeling, however, that EA’s team at Vancouver has over-egged the festival of football feel ever so slightly. Maybe missing the odd game or two isn’t such a bad thing after all… Is this, fellow football fans, what we should expect from the World Cup? Face painted fans boogying to some inane, endless beat streamers and who knows what else cluttering our view of the action and, of course, the vuvuzela horn drilling a hole in our brains? FIFA is, after all, an authentic simulation of the beautiful game, warts and all. And, of course, you’re bombarded with all the proper World Cup branding, including that annoying kiddy font and Zakumi, the mascot with attitude. The mind-numbing buzz of countless vuvuzela horns drowns out team sheet announcements. Fans are dancing, because, you know, that’s what fans do at the World Cup. As players walk onto the pitch, more confetti than you’ve ever seen in a video game fills the air. So, what does this mean for the game? Well, it means that it looks and sounds like the World Cup. This is as true for EA Canada with World Cup as it is for the production team behind Sky’s Super Sunday. But the brains behind these different experiences do their utmost to make them as authentic as current technology allows. Let’s be honest, FIFA’s no substitute for the real thing, just like watching a game on telly’s got nothing on watching from the stands. I’m so distressed that I’m considering simulating the game in EA Sports FIFA 2010 World Cup, with mates round and beers and everything, because that’s about as close to the real thing as I’m going to get. I’m not sure of the time zones, but I will probably miss the game. That day, as anyone who’s ever kicked a football knows, is the day England open their World Cup account against the USA. Team flies out to Los Angeles for the behemoth that is the E3 trade show on Saturday June 12. I honestly couldn't have predicted just how much time I'd spend with a ten year old version of a game released every year, but I really enjoyed revisiting it, and was - in a way - sad for how obsessed with speed and goals that Fifa would become.I am distressed. The sound quickly becomes as grating as ever and there's nothing particularly memorable in the tunes selected to provide the South African ambiance. There are cut scenes for the managers, although there's only really the one bent knees (ah that was close) reaction animation. Players are recognisable on the pitch, not just in the cut scenes. Graphically, the game is really starting to get there in this version. Heavy touches, weight to the players, a lucky bobble of the ball, were all things that contributed to the feeling that this was a genuine simulation. Working down the wings and crossing seemed to be profitable, but not with every team I played as, again - realism. There didn't seem to be any obvious tricks, such as overpowered volleys, or spamming the through ball button to regularly score or create chances - so it was in that sense, much more realistic. Even on the easiest setting, it wasn't an easy game to get to grips with. I shifted to playing this from Fifa '18 and despite being recognisable, it's a starkly different game. This game debuted (in this W.C format) the be-the-pro option, renamed as "Captain Your Country", allowing to take an individual player from selection, right up to lifting the trophy. The game, rather unsurprisingly, offers you the chance to replay the tournament from a decade ago and live it out as you would have liked, or even go back to the qualification years and bring a different team to the tournament. I assumed that, as with 2006, I'd probably play this version of FIFA a couple of times before moving on, but instead I have been playing it for months. I had intended that I would just give my 360 games one more little play before boxing them up to sell.