2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil

With its superb atmosphere and genuinely innovative inclusions, this is perhaps the best World Cup tie-in of recent times.

It might not to be on your new PS4, but Brazil 2014 is still quite a surprisingly polished spin-off. [June 2014, p72]

Bright samba-colors, an enthused audience and Van Persie holding up the cup; along with the patched up gameplay it makes 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil the ideal platform for every WC-dream.

The perfect complement to this summer's antics, and the finest footy effort on last-gen machines. [July 2014, p.64]

If you've played FIFA 14, there might not be a reason to get this game too, but if you haven't played the series in a while, it is good opportunity. Also, if you're looking for a World Cup game, you won't find anything better or more complete.

An amazing way to digitally live the most important event in football, but maybe not the best choice for an all-around football videogamer.

2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil doesn't necessarily reinvent the wheel. It does, however, bring new refinements on the pitch from the already excellent FIFA 14, and layers on a Brazilian vibe and mode structure that's unique from the yearly FIFA releases.

2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil doesn't have the depth of an annual release, lacking the online modes that have made recent FIFA games so enormously popular and featuring slightly simplified gameplay.

Simplifying the controls doesn’t change the fact that another player is going to be better than you, but it does help to step beginners up from one football experience level to the next. It could be that having played with deeper controls gave me awareness of my opponent’s range and ability, but even with two buttons I was able to string together a few plays and feel better about my skills in the following matches.

World Cup Brazil has its advantages, but it's stuck in an awkward position. It's not the best representation of all the tournament encompasses, and in some ways it's not even better than FIFA 14.

It's best to consider 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil as a less serious, more accessible accompaniment to the main FIFA series. Focused more on giving you a good time than on advancing the quest for realism in sports games, this is a football game that's perfect for fans who are looking for a way to pass the hours between World Cup matches this summer.

For the most part, 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil plays just like FIFA 14.

A nice, though quite unnecessary, virtual World Cup experience. Might have been better as DLC.

While lingering mechanical problems remain, this is a surprisingly accomplished tie-in.

Newcomers are more likely to enjoy 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil than just diehard fans of FIFA series because of its more accessible gameplay and its lack of innovation.

FIFA World Cup can be interesting if you haven't played FIFA 14: otherwise is just a very expensive update.

There is a greater sense of physicality present. [Issue#148, p.106]

The limitations of 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil are significant when compared with the latest FIFA developments. Reduced in game modes and created for a world tournament, it stands as a valid product for mid-season.

It might only be worthwhile for a couple of months, but 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil is a solid, fun and good football game to fill in the downtime between World Cup matches.

FIFA World Cup 2014 has enough for both newcomers and veterans alike, but the appeal is embedded so deeply in the World Cup playoffs that that appeal won't last past the actual soccer season. It features great gameplay and a fair amount of modes at a discounted price, and the overall presentation makes other sport franchises look childish at best. Nonetheless, the strength of FIFA World Cup Brazil is in its cashing in on the World Cup itself rather than in the sport, resulting in a good start and a bad finish.

2014 FIFA World Cup is a reliable on-field game, and its depiction of soccer is as superb as that of FIFA 14, but it's only valuable to the sport's biggest World Cup fans. It behaves more like a one-off version of the sport, one that's not particularly worthwhile with another main entry in the series just months away.

If you've spent a lengthy amount of time with FIFA 14 on the PS4, 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil's visual quality and gameplay fluidity can take some getting used to, but this is still an enjoyable package if you've caught World Cup fever.

It's hard to understand why EA wants to make FIFA more casual, more accessible, as the series is a record seller every year. It's also quite hard to get why FIFA World Cup: Brazil 2014 is sold as an entire game whilst it's more like a big DLC. Of course, all the official content make the game interesting as long as you take it for what it is: a fancy football game far from the demanding gameplay of FIFA 14.

While its presentation is bogged down with messy menus and woeful atmospherics, packing in all 203 eligible teams and simply letting the tournament happen provides a platform for the magic to be recreated over and over again.

As it is, Sepp Blatter's EA Sports FIFA Coca-Cola Budweiser World Cup 2014 Brazil is partly a game many of its audience will already own, and partly a very, very well made promotional souvenir - one that will aid your enjoyment of this summer's festivities hugely, but that doesn't quite justify its price tag.

Still a fine game of football, but starting to show its age. [Issue#244, p.56]

Neither gameplay nor game modes will make you return to this game after World Cup in Brazil ends. [06/2014, p.67]

Bunch of fresh animations doesn’t merit a buy. The Brazilian setting is well done but the game is still way too overpriced. [Issue#242]

Still, it’s decent fun whilst it lasts.

As a soccer fan I am disillusioned: One of the world’s leading publishers is not able to reproduce real World Cup feeling.

There aren't many reasons to buy 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, because you might just as well get FIFA 2014. The big difference is, that FIFA 2014 has loads content that this version doesn't. It's not a bad soccer game by any means. There's just no reason for its existence.