OS Roundtable: Does FIFA Get Enough Credit?

[harrisonial2992]

I think FIFA gets a fair enough shake from the crowd that matters, the sports gamer. Its probably fair enough to say that the majority of us here at OS are hardcore sports gamers. And we understand that while FIFA is a fantastic sports game it isn't always a 100% accurate representation of the sport it emulates.

Perhaps FIFA could receive more consideration for a Sports game of the year award than it currently does. But an overall game of the year? I don't believe it's anywhere close to that.

[Profit89]

The premise of the article is that people in America don't care about the sport. I think that's false. I'm American and I don't care for NFL... I think it's boring.

There's a lot more passionate soccer fans in America than most think. It's just that the haters have been the loudest and more vocal... until recently.

The World Cup Final in 2010 outdrew the deciding game of the NBA Finals in viewership, and it was two Euro teams (Netherlands vs. Spain). Imagine if it was the US in the Finals.

[Murkurial]

Kelvin Mak comes closest to getting it right.

[i]Phil Varckette said: I think it gets an unfairshake. The game itself is a blast to play, soccer fan or not. I am the furthest thing from a soccer fan, yet I really enjoyed the demo. In fact, I made it a priority to go out and rent it first thing this morning. It made me want to delve deeper into the world of soccer. I admittedly don't know a lot about the sport, the teams or the players...I didn't think I would ever like a soccer game, or soccer, but when a videogame can actually influence you to like a sport. Someone is doing something right.[/b]

That's it in a nutshell, and it's the reason why FIFA gets too much credit. Too much leeway. What is it about soccer that you're not a fan of? And how much of it do you see in FIFA the game? It might explain why those who don't enjoy the real sport, love the game so much.

Frankly, FIFA gets too much credit and too many people looking almost exclusively at the back of the box features like David Rutter's "Trinity of Gameplay Features" rhetoric that really, if you've played the game extensively since launch, don't do much of anything to improve the game.

Seriously, can some of these roundtable writers tell me how often they use precision dribbling (the, stand in one place and turn around in slow motion feature)? Or if they've noticed how players slide around the pitch like they're on an ice rink when their using tactical defending, somehow mirroring the attacking player's every move even if it's Mertesacker v Messi (Mertesacker's ankles should explode on Messi's first move). Or how about the "Impact Engine," which seems to just be a few more flipping, falling, and tackling animations that often results in very comical and glitchy happenings throughout the game.

The first of those three isn't gamebreaking as I simply don't use it. But what it means is that the developers spent time on this more than they spent time on teammate AI (never make clever runs), defensive AI (always back off of your opponent, allowing them to receive a pass in acres of space), foot planting (engine issue surely, but they DID attempt to shoehorn "Impact Engine" into the game). The last two have already resulted in more than a few Benny Hill-esque issues that directly resulted in me getting scored on.

FIFA's got the money to buy the licenses, polish the UI, hire the commentators, and get Hope Solo and Steve Nash to play each other in commercials, but where it matters most, replicating the way the sport often plays out in real life (ya know, something that NBA 2K strives to do every year), PES at least feels like a real game of soccer. Problem is, the way the sport plays out in real life is, to most people, BORING. Nobody would buy FIFA if it were striving to be as much a sim of its respective sport, as NBA 2K is, but here we are on a gaming site where the Madden and 2K threads are filled with (legitimate) gripe threads about where those two games fail to replicate the sport.

Not with FIFA though.

And every mainstream outlet that I read is over the moon about the game. It wins tons of awards (somehow) at every gaming convention. It gets more than enough credit. The real question is, will they stop catering to the casual fan and attempt to do what 2K sports want to do with their games and become a game that's as close to a simulation of the sport as it can? Or will they continue to print money by making sure that the guy who doesn't like soccer at all, somehow finds tons to like about the game, only to be disappointed when they turn on the television to see a 0-0 draw between QPR and Newcastle and wonder why it looks nothing like FIFA (though he'll probably change the channel within the first 15 minutes).

[Soho]

well don't really care about what critics say :P
I got the game and i love it ..thats all what matters

[khaliib]

Depends on what you were brought up on.

Growing up in STL, we played tackle football in the streets, court-ball on vacant lots and shot ball on street parking signs.

The closest thing I got to soccer was kick-ball in grade school.

Although soccer may be big in every other country outside of the US, it's simply not the sport of choice that inner city/suburb kids grow up playing.

It simply will not replace the big 3 here in the US.
Not going to happen no matter what the game look/play like.

It is at least brought up as an comparison against the big 3 sports here in the US, so that is giving it credit.

The other fact is that it is an EA Sports game.

They are first judged on their Football Games as sole developers and due to what's been released thus far and those gamer's unhappiness, their other sports titles automatically falls under gamer's perception of the developer due to that happiness with the US biggest sport.

Also, college sports is a billion dollar business.
The drivers of sports in college are Football then Basketball.

So thousands of college video game players usually are driven towards these two sports, especially during the sports seasons, so to try and release soccer in the midst of these sports is difficult.

[Petey B]

I concur with Bo.

[airjoca]

I'm European, I live and breath football (soccer) since my childhood.

I also love the NBA, and have no interest in baseball, so I can only compare FIFA to 2K.

FIFA is a very complete game feature wise, but its simulation of the sport itself pales in comparision with NBA 2K.

EA are making good strides, but they still haven't commited to turn FIFA into a true SIM game, like 2K is trying with their NBA title.

So sports game of the year for me will be NBA 2K12 by a good margin.

[statum71]

Playing FIFA got me interested in real life soccer. I enjoy the game. Looking forward to getting the new one.