We had a chance to spend some time with FIFA 12 at E3 yesterday, and were thoroughly impressed with the new features that the game was showing. I’m horrible at FIFA games, unless I set the difficulty to “Easy”, because they’ve become increasingly complicated to control for someone with a score-happy trigger finger like me. It’s not the amount of buttons, but rather the combination of stick movements and the ability to carry out the plays that I’ve planned in my head.
With FIFA 12 the series has addressed those issues specifically, and introduced an entire new experience in Football Club that will extend the play experience beyond what’s on the disk.
First, the improved controls make playing the game a little more tactical, but also a little easier to execute the plays. Precision Dribbling allows for better control of the ball when making quick movements. So, instead of kicking the ball several feet in front of you while dribbling, it now stays closer to the athlete’s foot for better management and a tighter turning radius. It’s all done with the analog sticks, too, so button pressing doesn’t inhibit it. Tactical Defending, another addition, lets the player coerce the defended opponent to make mistakes. The EA rep referred to it as “shepherding” the opponent, and after trying it I can agree. I found it much easier to cause the opponent to go the way I wanted them to, leading to several explosive plays taking plays and improved scoring chances. It took away a lot of the “waiting game”, removing an unfair advantage that the offense usually has.
The Impact Engine, real-time physics tackling, is a third major feature that EA Sports are incorporating into the game. With the improvement, every collision is calculated in real time, and no canned animations take place when players collide and fall. In fact, real-time collisions can even stop many animation cycles — players running or jumping, for instance — mid-way through completion with no clipping of bodies. VERY cool, and super realistic. Each time I tackled another player, he realistically fell, flipped, and was left on the pitch while I stole the ball and ran by.
My play time with the game found it to be extremely improved over the last two iterations. It’s much more accessible, and the controls seem to have been made better without losing what FIFA purists love about the series.
The real showcase for FIFA this year, gameplay improvements aside, is the Football Club. This online social network for FIFA players tabulates every detail of their play, handing out experience points and rankings. It tracks progress, friends, and gives awards for completing specific challenges. The hub brings in real-time events that are occurring in the soccer world, leading to further up-to-the-minute situations. It even allows for fans to pledge “allegiance” to their favorite soccer teams, collecting wins, losses, and experience points that award bonuses to players as the club advances up the ladder. It’s a communal experience that the developers hope will let bring their undying hooliganism into the virtual space. And, while we only saw it in demo form, we are definitely looking forward to seeing it in action.
FIFA 12 arrives this Fall, launching immediately with the Football Club.
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