Before FIFA 13: The Evolution Of Football's Biggest Gaming Franchise

1997 - Road To World Cup 98 This marked the first time in the series that FIFA branched out into the World Cup spin-off of titles. With all 173 FIFA-registered national teams, a "Road to World Cup" tournament mode, 16 stadiums, a vast upgrade of the graphics engine, smarter artificial intelligence in the opposing team and 189 playable clubs from all the major European Leagues to choose from, it was the most complete FIFA game to date. One of the more irritating bugs in the series was fixed - that being the offside rule. In previous iterations, when a player was in an offside position doing anything except running, that player was penalised for offside even when the ball was passed backwards. The offside rule was properly implemented this time out, and for the first time in the series, players could adjust the strictness levels of the referee, allowing for harsh and crunching tackles to go undetected for added fun, if you were that way inclined. Blur were notable at the time for their "Song 2" being used as the intro track.

Contributor
Contributor

Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.