FIFA 12 Review - cursive's Blog

cursive's Blog

FIFA 12 Review

Posted on January 13, 2012 at 09:02 PM.

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Let me start out by saying that EA Sports FIFA is not a game I play yearly, but something I have been purchasing every 4 years when the World Cup Edition releases. So when reviewing FIFA 12 I find myself a year back in the Franchise and in need to know what I missed. FIFA 11 brought us new Career Modes as well as a New Passing and 360� Dribbling Systems. This year they have improved on user ball control with Precision Dribbling, added a New Impact Engine for Realistic Collisions, and our favorite feature Tactical Defending.

The Breakdown:

I want to start by going over the new Tactical Defending in FIFA 12, since you will get a crash course as soon as you start the game for the first time. You will notice right away that FIFA 12 is going for a more Intelligent Defensive approach instead of letting a player go full speed hoping for a successful slide tackle. With the addition of a Defensive Assist button, like the one in Madden, a Defender will now stay in position between the Ball Handler and the Goal. This lets you time your Slide Tackle as well as look to intercept passes. Played out in a full game, this evens out each team�s time of possession and puts a big emphasis on breakaway plays. We found ourselves trying to intercept passes more often than going for the slide tackles, which can now leave you trailing an opponent while he heads to your net. We also like the ability to grab your opponent and slow him down, instead of just jockeying for the ball and hope to overpower them. Being able to slow down an opponent until you defense gets reset is key when not ready for an attack.

Precision Dribbling on the other hand is something you will feel on the offensive side of the ball. When trying to cut between or create room from defenders you will feel tighter control of your player. In previous years we would have felt the need to run around defenders, this year has us trying to cut back and forth in effort to slip by a defender. I have felt at times I have been able to Juke a defender one way making enough space to get a shot on goal, by simply being able to take a few steps one way and change direction on a dime. This has definitely been a huge addition to the offensive side of the ball, and setting a defender up to use his momentum to carry him out of a play will pay of more than not. With the control the new Precision Dribbling gives you and the great passing animations in FIFA 12, I have set up some great looking assist on goals.

Touching back on momentum and player interaction brings us to the last addition to FIFA 12, the New Impact Engine. What we like about the new collisions system is the affect it has on players� recovery time. When a player goes for a strong slide tackle, both players will go tumbling and you will see them struggle to get back to their feet. We also noticed that timing, momentum, and what part of players� body that collides affect each collision. This is very apparent when there is an injury on the field, and the outcome is exactly what you saw from the play. With more and more sports titles trying to add realism to their games, this is one page from FIFA that every other game could take notes from.

Final Note:

After playing through dozens of games to get us up to speed, we found it pretty easy to get adjusted to the new features. FIFA 12 went over so well with us we wonder how they can keep improving so much year to year, and up to this point they keep proving us wrong. While we didn�t touch on any of the additions to the Career Modes or Online Play we can say that FIFA 12 has scored just as well there as they did on the field. So even if you a not a huge fan of Soccer or Futbol, we truly feel like this is a game anyone can pickup and enjoy.