FIFA 11 – Review

The Football season is back and kicking. Does FIFA hold up against the competition? or is it one goal too short? Find out in this review.

EA are back again presenting an another FIFA 11 title, putting it up again against its rivals Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer. Pro Evolution Soccer has seem to be more dominant over the past few years until EA released FIFA 10 which put them back on track.  This year FIFA is back again, and is back on form.

 

This time around there are many updates, there are a few odd structural alterations also, new features and tweaks but also EA have sorted the fundamental: Its passing engine has been finally rewritten. The passing is much more accurate and takes away the stale “ping-pong” passing effect that the previous FIFA titles have managed to pull off, it feels much more realistic and more fluent causing Wayne Rooney the urge to throw a fit. Passing is now become a much more a skill than it was in the previous and does take a while getting use to how accurate it is, the AI will react how they would react in a real game of football and aim to move in front of your pass’s and pick of where you going to pass. It has vastly improved.

The presentation of FIFA looks much more impressive, even though not much has changed since FIFA 10’s visual this time around they do seem to be polished.  If you are a man who enjoys to watch your amazing goals with the replay function,you will be happy to know they are much smoother. EA have also added a highlight function that is like the replay system where you can watch back the highlights from the match. You can choose if you want to save them or skip them.

Personality Plus has given the different player models a bold appearance, making them look flattering.  The user celebrations that are triggered after scoring a goal, they seem much more visually impressive which is odd to be noted for but they are also very creative again, here’s an example. If you have a friend or just fancy teaming up with the AI just run over to that player, and he will hop onto your back with his hand in the air, or expect a nice bundle if that doesn’t go through. 

 

Defenders no longer have the urge to rush out kamikaze-style towards to the middle of the pitch when a breaking attacker is on his attack, full backs are now much more likely to now overlap.  You can pull/grapple realistically when players are on the move with the ball, this can cause a risk of conceding a free kick, fancy back-heels are far less likely to be able to be pulled off. You can now however chest the ball down in your chosen direction.  Midfielders are much more urged to move into the box when a cross is taken place. Deflections and Ricochets also seem more realistic. Chip shots have also been upgraded to a much more harder state, goal keepers don’t have to much to worry about now.

When EA mentioned about making the players more realistic to how they play in real life, EA weren’t messing around. They have prioritised the task of making AI-controlled players take on the real life attribute and well Its success in this is less obvious although, playing as Tottenham who I support, it was noticeable that Aaron Lennon could outrun pretty much any left back, and Gareth Bale constantly could manage to pull of a blinding goal, which is accurate enough, Crouch always managing to get on a header, and making it go wide. It’s a shame to admit it since I support them, but good job on EA making it realistic and life like as possible.

Manager Mode is back and this time around is far superior that its predecessor FIFA 10 which managed to ruin the aspect. Manager Mode appears to fixed and fully functional now,  You now are also given 3 different options on Manager Mode, You can be the Player, Manager or Player-Manager . Be A Pro is also featured again where you can either choose to play as your player or the whole squad. You can also now choose to be a goal keeper. The Career mode lasts an amazing 15 seasons, not forgetting the cup matches, and the ones you can also create.

The Be A Pro mode is as long as ever, it seems that EA really focused on making the length of it even longer. You can now also play as the keeper in Be A Pro mode which is different and for the first time it has been possible to be a goal keeper in a football title. It is interesting and different but it will take you a long time to get use to being a Goal Keeper. The camera angel isn’t perfect and really does cause you to strain on where you are looking . Luckily if you are getting bored in goal, feel free to click the back button (select button on the PS3) to speed up the gameplay.  The real downside to the Be A Pro mode is that EA doesn’t allow you to transfer your existing Be A Pro from FIFA 2010, its a real shame and really does take away the concept of starting a Be A Pro again if you already had one on the previous.

This time around with t
he Online Modes, we are now presented with a gimmicky 11 players against another 11 players online, congratulations to FIFA 11 being the first game to manage to pull it off, It works well.  Head-to-Head matches are back, play as a part of a team, set up a league with your friends, or just go online and hit the lobbies against random opposition. The online has improved and ranking in the tournament modes are definitely something people will like to show off. FIFA 11 has kept the well made online from FIFA 10 but these minor enhancements have managed to make the online better.  During the online gameplay I experienced no lag and it was running smooth as a “Smoot Criminal”.

If your into customisation, then you will be happy to know it is enormous. You can strip you own face onto a player and customise him to your heart’s content, you can design your own strip and so on. You can now also add you own song for when your team enters the pitch, chants can also be imported and assigned to a specific moment in the game.

Overall –  GOAL! – A Must Buy

FIFA 11 has really stepped up since its predecessor gameplay wise and slightly on the visuals. It just goes to show what a bit of polish can do here and there. The online functions are still strong and will be lasting through out the season and till the next FIFA title. It’s not hard admitting that the FIFA 11 title is better than FIFA 10, but their isn’t to many changes to excited about, although there weren’t many that were needed.  Be A Goal keeper is fun for a while and it’s a nice featured to have added. Enhanced physical interactions makes the game feel more realistic and life like, with the upgraded passing it does feel much more like a complete package. For any Football fans, this is worth picking up no doubt.