Football’s coming home…
On the heels of winning 25 international gaming awards with FIFA 09, the top-selling football franchise from EA Sports is surpassed with FIFA 10. On the pitch, critical gameplay fundamentals have been enhanced to ensure that FIFA 10 mirrors real-world football, providing more sophisticated ball control, and physical interaction. On attack, players now analyse space more effectively, curve their runs in an attempt to stay onside, create passing lanes naturally, and drive for more variety in attacking options. On defence, new concepts like position priority enable defenders to multitask so dangerous spaces left open by teammates out of position are covered. Plus, slide tackle targeting, press marking, and better urgency clearance logic provide new options that make defending a tactical skill in FIFA 10.
It’s been a tough year for me as a football fan. My team was relegated and although the club is at the top of the Championship (at the time of this review going live) the club remains sold to an incompetent buffoon, but hopefully it will be sold soon and all will be good.
FIFA 10 itself is the best football game on the planet. It has overtaken Pro Evo for the crown, which I never thought possible. It seems like EA is finally taking the FIFA license seriously and they have made some stellar improvements with this year’s game that makes it a must-have game for any footy fan.
The game has the typical practise arena before you start a match and it’s still as good as it was. If only all games had a loading mini-game like this! This year seems to be the perfect year for every EA Sports license. FIFA 10 feels even more refined than last year, which I didn’t think was even do-able…but somehow, they have managed to make it easier to play, but also more realistic at the same time. It’s not an easy thing to accomplish by any means.
The game actually feels more like 2 as the manager mode feels like a full game in itself. There is a Live Season 2.0 mode this year, but it does require you to pay to receive updates for your league. The good news though is that you can replay matches that have happened and change the result, but once you are done…you cannot undo your score. It’s a shame you have to pay for this, but for those who like a bit of extra-realism…knock yourself out. For those who want to boost your players’ stats, you also have to pay for it if you don’t want to work for it. It’s basically cheating and I hoped that I saw the last of this kind of thing; it’s perhaps my biggest complaint for the game.
Small details like weather conditions look amazing, even the grass looks great in HD. Character models are finally looking like their real-life counterparts and don’t have that anaemic skin tone that was quite creepy in FIFA RTFWC. There is no real visual difference between the PS3 and 360 versions.
You can even see the creases in the kit that the players are wearing, the presentation has gone up a considerable notch and it’s about time. Simple things like passing are more accurate and responsive, while it’s easier to dribble and shoot. It’s just damn fun to play…so long as you enjoy football. If you don’t, you will probably find it hard to enjoy FIFA 10. It’s the collection of all the good things from the series with the bad things kept to a minimum.
The Verdict
FIFA 10 follows every other EA Sports game this year as being the best in the series to date. It seems EA finally know how to make a decent follow-up. But how can they improve upon this formula for next year? Time will tell…
Sounds great the community has been crying out for a realistic passing engine, hand balls and saving goals locally for ages now, very pleased that all have made it in. Need to get MM sorted for this to be the success it can be but for now a good start
Hello ! Love your blog.