My copy of the highly anticipated FIFA 12 is finally in my hands! (Cheers)
Prior to the game's release, there have been talks of how EA Sports have planned to give a complete overhaul of the franchise this year. This was more or less expected actually, as FIFA 11 was disappointingly more of an expansion pack to its predecessor than an improved game by itself. These are what I felt about the changes:
1. One of the most greatly discussed changes in FIFA 12 is Tactical Defending. Players should have known what they are in for when they start the game off with a tutorial on defending. The past iterations have been using Legacy Defending. To start off, let's differentiate between these two defensive styles.
Legacy Defending -- A button press will cause an AI player to hone in on the player in possession of the ball. Classic Fifa defending style.
Tactical Defending -- Pressing the Tackle button in this new system will not result in you going for a conservative tackle. Instead, it positions you to contain your opponents. This means gamers still have to do the tackle themselves, meaning timing and tactics are crucial.
To be honest, tactical defending is much closer to real-life defending, where players have to decide and know how to position themselves for a tackle or an important interception.
So after trying Tactical Defending for quite a while, it took me a flurry of red cards, matches strewn with defensive errors, and a losing spree to finally get used to this new system. Now I can interchange between both legacy and tactical defending. Yay.
2. Player Impact Engine is the new physics engine used in this game. It is built to deliver real-world physicality throughout the game. It also directly affects injuries sustained by players during a match. This makes contact and interactions between players more realistic, but I felt that the impact engine could have been too sensitive. A light tackle on your opponent will see him stumbling or falling too easily from the challenge. I think being a new system implimented in the game, the impact engine is not too bad, just that it has greater room for improvement.
3. Understandably, the AI of the players have greatly improved. Compared to previous editions, even playing semi-pro on this version does not guarantee the gamers to win by a landslide. ( But then and again, this could have been attributed to my poor skills. However, being an AWESOME guy, I prefer to push the blame on the enhanced Pro Player Intelligence.)
4. For the first time ever, two broadcast teams will be featured – Martin Tyler and Alan Smith and Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend. Fans can customize audio to their preferred commentators for any matches. However, the commentary seems to be off sync from the on-field action at times.
5. My favourite part of the game, Career Mode has been greatly improved with the calendar, news story displays and news feeds, which aim to make information such as upcoming events, transfers, and rumours more accessible. Transfer markets in Manager Mode and Player-Manager Mode are closer to real-life situations, with rival clubs targetting your best players and last-minute transfers. Unfortunately, Player Career mode seems to get too stagnant for me, as gamers only play matches like a real-life player and there is little interaction with other aspects of the club.
Overall, FIFA 12 is a great step forward in making the football experience more surreal for gamers. Possibly one of the best games to have this summer! :D
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