FIFA 10 Review

Written by: Darren Cartledge Posted: 14th October 2009

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FIFA 10 Details:

	Sports
	PC/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360/Nintendo Wii/PSP/Nintendo DS
	EA Sports
	EA Sports

Out Now

1-4

It's hard finding a justifiable reason why gamers should purchase every yearly update, especially when games companies often claim vast improvements in the run up to the game being released, only to leave you disappointed with the lack of changes made. But if there's one yearly game that is definitely worth buying then I'd say its FIFA 10 not because of major wholesale change but because of carefully crafted tweaks that make it probably the most definitive football game ever.

FIFA 10 offers very little new content in the way of game modes in fact nothing in this department is new, but changes have been made. The game manager and adidas live season have been tweaked and the Be a Pro mode has now become Virtual Pro and offers a vastly different playing experience. Virtual Pro still allows you to create a custom player to play in the team of your choice. But now your player can be customised with your Game Face from EA Sport Football World. But its not just minor changes that have been made, the way in which you improve your players attributes has had a major reworking and instead of earning points in matches to spend on the skills of your choice you now have a set of accomplishments to achieve. These accomplishments include things such as scoring a goal from a volley, taking part in a set number of online matches, scoring free kicks and so on. Each accomplishment is placed in a specific category such as ball control and upon completion your player’s abilities in that category are increased. In my opinion this is a far better system that allows you to create a far more rounded player then in previous iterations of the game.

As I already mentioned the games manager mode has also had some tweaks. Firstly the transfer system has been improved. During transfer negotiations you now get an interest bar to gauge how interested all parties involved are, allowing you to judge whether or not to improve your offer instead of having to go through a long and arduous wait as in past versions. Manager mode in FIFA 10 also features an auto assist mode. These aides you during the course of a season by automatically picking your team, formation and tactics depending on the opposition so when you play big teams your best line-up is available and some of your lesser players get a run out against the lower teams you play.

FIFA 10 though isn’t about filling the title up with new content, because if we’re all honest there’s very little they could have improved on in terms of new modes as the series has got this right for sometime now. The areas in which FIFA 10’s biggest improvements come are in the core gameplay mechanics. Matches just feel a whole lot more realistic then in last year’s game, due to a vast number of improvements. The most notable of these improvements comes in the form of being able to take quick free kicks if the opportunity arises. This is an extremely welcome addition and does away with some of the frustration experienced in past versions when you were breaking away towards goal. But that’s not all that’s changed, free kicks and corners have been tweaked. You now get a far better view of the target area whilst controlling the curve of the ball is a lot easier. Despite this though it does seem tougher to score from set pieces mainly due to the fact defenders seem to take up better positions and have no qualms about throwing themselves in front of shots to block them. Crosses and long passes tend to be a lot more accurate, that is if you can pull them off as the amount of pressure put on you by defenders has significantly increased. One of the best improvements for me though is after tackling a player and running on to a loose ball your player no longer tends to kick it away if you mistakenly press the tackle button too many times. This is a very welcome change that does away with one of the most frustrating aspects that plagued last year’s version. Whilst these tweaks all added together help raise the level of realism in FIFA 10 it’s not the main change that contribute to the way the game plays on the whole. This comes in the way the players move around the pitch, miss a tackle and another player will come in and lend a hand, if your forwards are being marked then they will try and move in to space. The ball physics have also significantly been improved, hard hit passes are more likely to bounce off players whilst tough tackles will result in a loose ball and several players will dive in at once in order to claim possession. If there is one annoying addition to FIFA 10 and that is that the ball tends to bounce off the referee a lot as he gets in the way of play, yet as annoying as it is it all helps take the game to a new level of realism not seen in the FIFA series before.

Of course the new level of realism is further enhanced by the games improved visuals. Player models in general look better, although they do tend to look a little lanky. Player likenesses on the other hand are vastly improved with players looking a lot more like the real world counterparts. The biggest improvement in the games visual department however comes in the player animation which is frankly exceptional. Players now move in a much more realistic manner and it’s nice to see odd moves that look clumsy, as players stumble about trying to stay on their feet. Reactions to missed goal opportunities are more dramatic and represent the passion that real life players experience during the course of a match.

Commentary is largely the same as last year. Of course it offers more depth, with background stories for teams, and teams star players. But just like past FIFA games this years instalment still trips up from time to time as it can be left behind the action during fast paced games and from time to time make the wrong call such as calling a corner just as you manage to keep the ball in play.

FIFA 10 also sees the return of varying weather effects. However, these are more than just a visual enhancement and can actually affect play. As an example playing in heavy rain the ball will actually move along the ground faster, whilst in snow you may find you have to put a little more power in your passes in order to reach your intended target. This is just one of the many refinements that make matches in FIFA 10 more competitive, but the biggest change comes in the games AI. Computer controlled defenders seem a lot more aware of danger and players moving around them. They also seem to know when to cover each other and so on and whilst this new awareness may prove frustrating for some it does make for far more challenging games.

Some may find it hard to justify forking out the cash on this year’s FIFA when you consider it essentially is nothing more then a refined version of last year’s game. I would say not to take the game refinements for granted as the playing experience is a dramatic improvement on last year’s game which was pretty damn good to begin with. The result being FIFA 10 now offers the most realistic and intense experience in the franchises history making it a must have for any football fan.