FIFA 2010 impressions

Posted by Kevin in Featured, Microsoft, News, Previews, Sony, Windows | 4 comments

By far, every single year, one of the most anticipated titles in Europe (particularly in Ireland) is the yearly outing EA gives to it’s FIFA franchise. Most teams in Europe, from most leagues as well as international teams officially licensed in the game with more and more realistic physics and graphical touches updated for your footballing pleasure.

Yesterday EA released demo code to the masses via XBL and PSN, and we had a go so you don’t have to.

Playable are a bunch of teams from around fortress Europe and, yes, America. But not that team. (My favourites) Bayern Munich join Marseille, Chelsea, Juventus, European champions Barcelona and Chicago Fire. All completely playable, but not entirely fitted out properly for the final product. I say this as a die hard Bayern fan, who was looking forward to perform that much-debated diamond formation with Ribery and new signing Roben… but Roben isn’t there yet, given he’s only part of my beloved Bavarian team about 3 weeks.

So, for the purposes of this, we’ll use FIFA09 as the bar at which this game aspires to, as at this stage, Pro Evolution is taking it’s own path to glory.

As a comparison piece, this game is very clearly based on the FIFA09 engine. Menu systems, including game set-up and team management are exactly the same. Some new graphical touches but it’s all basically the same. New music and a few new colours here and there, but everything is very familiar. Which more often then not, is welcome.

In a game, though, things are radically different. Players move on the pitch with a new kind of swagger, making things in-game a lot smoother and faster. Some will not welcome this as it feels like the game is moving into arcade territory, but once you properly get into the game, you’ll find yourself gleefully interrupting the other team’s sloppy passes and taking pot shots at goal where last season it was not possible. It feels like your team is actually working for you!

For example, making a run past defenders, clearing them all and making that final fast dash to the goal line often meant the keeper of 2009 would dive on top of the ball just as you line up to kick, meaning you miss a golden opportunity. This time, while running, as the keeper comes out to greet you, your player will tap the ball awkwardly at the very last moment, often resulting in a goal just under the goalkeepers arms. Bliss!

FIFA10; a graphical collection of the ugliest sportsmen in the world

Also, when a team makes a sloppy pass, instead of watching the ball slowly dribble past your team, a player (picked or unpicked by you) will make a more realistic effort to catch the ball, even if it requires stretching.

All of this makes for a more competitive match because you can be far more aggressive on the ball then ever before in a FIFA game. Some will say it’s taking queues from PES, but I can imagine the team behind this game taking queues from Sensible Soccer back in the day moreso.

So what’s the catch?

Well, first off is graphically it seems there’s been a lot of compromises made, even on modern systems like the PS3 (that can pump out Killzone and almost photo-realism like GT5) and 360 (Halo, Gears of War). The pitch often looks washed-out and lacks any detail, while players more often then not look like horrific burn victims, especially during “close up” sequences like substitutions and goal celebrations.

Granted, graphics are never a big deal in sports games. It should be all about gameplay, but in a game that touts all these officially licensed players, surely we should be able to recognise the players.

All-in-all I’m quite confident in this title. In some respects it makes leaps over the previous installments, but often it falls short of the fantastic 2009 edition, which seemed to be the pinacle of a series in need of some highs rather then lows. 2009 somehow left the usually-brilliant PES series in the dirty soil of a third division team, but this year it feels like PES stands a fighting chance. Of course, that’s entirely up to Konami, and we won’t be waiting long to see what their reply to EA’s gunfire is.