Every year come October you can guarantee 2 things… Shops will start putting out all their Christmas stock, including some of them breaking out all the Christmas CD’s that end up driving everyone insane, and the latest war of attrition between Fifa and Pro Evolution Soccer will start up again, reviving the age old debate of which is better… In this review, I will talk about the usual (graphics, sound, game modes etc.) and I will wax lyrical about my likes/dislikes… So where to begin…. Let’s start with the graphics
You get the sense of feeling that you are looking at Fifa 2010 as there doesn’t seem to be much of a difference, so although it looks all nice and shiny, there haven’t been any REAL innovations graphically for the last couple of years. This doesn’t mean it doesn’t look good because boy it does, and it gives you what you know and expect from an EA sports game. You can instantly recognise a lot of your favourites, like Rooney, Drogba & Ronaldo. My dad even thought he was watching a live game on TV he thought they looked that realistic which is high praise indeed from someone who has no interest in gaming so it just goes to show that EA have the graphics bang on but I wish there was something…. more… but I can’t quite put my finger on what.
Again like the graphics the sound could well have been lifted straight from Fifa 2010 but having said that, there isn’t really much they can improve on so I’ll let them off on this occasion. You have the usual commentary team of Andy Gray & Martin Tyler (which is probably what made my dad think it was on TV…) and they do a good job of keeping up with the action but they do sometimes start rambling on about stories, and when you have an attempt on goal during the story, they don’t even acknowledge it. but that’s a minor issue and not game breaking. There is a new feature this year though, and that is the ability to customise the music and chants you hear. This enables you to make changes to what music your team comes out onto the pitch to, and if you have music stored on your hard drive, you can use these (I would be tempted for a laugh, to get my team coming out to the song “Gay Bar”) and you can customise the chants too. I’ve not had a chance to delve too deep into this but it is a nice little feature.
The gameplay has changed from Fifa 2010, in terms of the new “Personality plus” system which basically displays a players unique emotions on the field and some great and unique shooting, dribbling and passing skills. This feature works only for the stars players of course, because they couldn’t have done that for thousands of anonymous players. Ronaldo/Messi have great ball control, Scholes will be good at long passes etc. It makes things like passing/shooting/tackling much more interesting as you suddenly think “Hang on, xxxx isn’t that good shooting from distance in real life, so I’ll try to pass it”. Also, the AI now joins in, during celebrations which make things a bit more realistic. Simple things like that please me! The following video is from the Fifa team, showing you what personality plus is all about.
In terms of modes, you have the standard choices (Exhibition, tournament etc.) but EA have really pushed the bar this year as for the first time in a next gen Fifa/PES game, you can be a goalkeeper. You can practice doing this in the arena mode and it doesn’t seem that bad, but take it into a 15 season career… Be prepared for a shock. It’s really not easy and takes some real time and effort to start to become good. Also be prepared (depending on the difficulty) to not do a lot during the games as the AI seems to battle it out in midfield for the most part. One positive thing is with the inclusion of goalkeepers, you can now do a full 11 v 11 online team play which can lead to some pretty high scores if you have someone in goal that is rubbish…. Be a pro: Seasons from Fifa 2010 has returned but it has been merged with Manager mode where you can partake in a 15 year career mode, as a player, manager, or player manager (you can even become player manager by becoming a club legend as a player) and is pretty similar to last year’s manager mode albeit with different menu’s. Ultimate Team makes a return for its 3rd appearance and this time… It’s Free. Yes... Free. This is virtually the same as last year’s offering (all the menus are the same and in the same order) however, this time you can play a friend and his ultimate team, against yours so let the bragging begin!
As for achievements available, you can get around 160 for a few hours’ work of just playing the game normally (Score from inside the box with a player with the Poacher Speciality, that kind of thing) but a few of the achievements can take a lot of grinding and to get the final 100 points, you need to play for 50 hours… So the achievements are do-able as they seem very similar apart from a few, from last year’s effort.
There are a few things that really bug me about this game: My surname (Cowie) isn’t available as a commentary name for my virtual pro, yet there is a player for Watford (Don Cowie) and they say Cowie when he gets the ball so I know the name is on there, so why can’t I use it….? The AI team-mates if you are doing a virtual pro career as a player are awful. They attempt to take on every player, with a skill move and 8 times out of 10 they will lose the ball. They don’t always pass, even if you are in the clear, and end up losing the ball so that’s a BIG let-down for me. Also along the career mode (if you are just a player) if you get promoted, your AI team will remain the same so as an example if you got Exeter City into the Premiership from League 2, the AI will never buy any new players so you are playing Premiership teams with league 2 players. This was the same in Fifa 2010 and I’m surprised that this has not been addressed.
Overall, I feel this is Fifa 2010 with an expansion pack on it, with nothing major that is new (with the goalkeepers being the one main exception) and the flaws that I have mentioned, for me, spoil things for me, and although it is a good game, it has the potential to be better than what it is.
I am going to award Fifa 2011 a Score of 7 / 10
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