10 Demos BETTER Than The Actual Game
8. FIFA World Cup 2002
One of the most useful, yet undersung, services provided by game demos are helping customers decide what not to buy. Case in point - FIFA World Cup 2002.
It's amazing to see FIFA's current dominance over digital football considering how abysmally poor it was at the turn of the century. The years between 2000 and 2005 saw EA's routinely get played off the pitch by Konami's Pro Evolution series, with FIFA World Cup 2002 exemplifying why.
A hastily conceived cash-grab designed to squeeze an extra few dollars from the fans, WC (how appropriate those initials are) 2002 allowed gamers to play through the tournament with a team of their choice, or play a match against friends.
And that was it.
EA were essentially charging gamers to play a tournament mode they had very deliberately omitted from FIFA 2002, fleecing their fans more thoroughly than a scalper selling Champions League final tickets on match day.
The demo - a kickabout between Brazil and Mexico - showed that EA had put in the most minimal effort imaginable getting the game in working order and, given that it contained literally half of the game's two modes, represented much better value for money than the full release.