EA Sports has released a demo for the latest and greatest in the world of virtual soccer. Their “most complete entry” yet, EA hopes to hold on to the relatively comfortable lead they’ve had on Konami’s Pro Evolution counterpart. Control, artificial intelligence, and animations have all been improved upon from last year’s title. The result is an even more true-to-life release of futbol that rewards both veterans and rookies alike.
So, what’s new? The most noticeable difference is on the pitch itself. A number of gameplay changes have been made that radically alter how veterans will go about playing. This year, EA Sports focused more on the angles of attack used to contain an opponent before moving in to tackle the ball away. Gone are the days of hyper aggressive defending and ‘head-cut-off’ strategies when attacking the ball. Instead, you’ll learn to work more off the ball and prevent an offensive push from building. If you were to sum the new system up in one word, it would be this: patience. Patience in learning how to properly defend, how to tackle, and even how to deal with this dramatic gameplay change.
It’s difficult to get used to breaking the habit of FIFA11’s auto-tackle feature, but it’s worth it. The best way I can describe FIFA12’s approach is this: you’re required to mirror the offensive players’ movements with the ball and time your tackle for the most opportune moment. Cutting off a pass angle, pushing a defender to the sideline, calling for help to pinch the attack—the choice of how to accomplish the task is up to you. It’s wonderfully rewarding when done, but painfully frustrating to learn. FIFA vets will have a hard time adjusting if they have never used this strategy before.
Keep yourself between the ball and the defender. Fifa12 makes this fundamental rule simpler.
Another shot of positioning and jockeying for the ball
So, that having been said, what about when you’re on the other side of the ball to counter this system? A Precision Dribbling feature was added to properly account for how a defender approaches you. In FIFA12, your player is much more likely to be able to withstand a challenge by shielding the ball. FIFA11 had a nasty habit of allowing a defender to poke the ball away even after positioning yourself in what you thought was a safe angle. This no longer happens (HUZZAH!) in FIFA12—your player not only adjusts their body, but the ball at their feet as well. Step overs, pushing with the outside of your foot, and cuts are now employed to make your attacks even deadlier. The easiest way to test the system is standing still and pressing the shield button—you’ll quickly notice how dynamic the system is in perceiving how a threat approaches. Possession-based players will love this new feature—it’s incredibly powerful and intuitive (not to mention absolutely true to form).
The most visually appealing change comes in the form of the new Impact Engine. Similar to Fight Night’s physics-based knockout system, FIFA now has hundreds of variations of players being swept off their feet depending on how they were struck by the defender. It does a wonderful job of capturing the erratic nature of slide tackles in both a realistic and cinematic way. Collisions on the pitch no longer result in frustrating canned flops, but instead multiple scenarios that reward smart defending and exploitation of the trajectory of the ball pre and post tackle. Can’t catch the player as he’s dribbling past you? Knock him off the ball enough, tug his jersey (seriously) or change his pace as he passes to allow your second positioned defender to tackle the ball away. FIFA12 has suddenly become quite the thinking man’s game.
Perhaps the most subtle addition, the Pro Player Intelligence system, will allow the computer to both recognize and challenge strategic advantages on the field based on player skill sets. CPU interaction will play to strengths and weaknesses resulting in very dynamic changes to attacking setups, lead passes, headers, shots, etc. Quite honestly, you probably won’t notice the difference here—I didn’t. This feature has more to do with the coding behavior of the CPU players that result in the way they play the game rather than an apparent and obvious change. FIFA’s gameplay producer Santiago Jaramillo has a wonderful video of how a player’s vision affects how the game is played here.
All in all, FIFA12 certainly steps up the previous offering even further and continues to bring the game closer to reality. The ball movement and pace of play are very fluid, the new defending system is great, and the impact engine addresses a longstanding problem for the FIFA franchise. EA Sports seem to create “wow” moments during game play—particularly for those that have played and appreciate the game in real life each release, and this year is no different.
Soccer’s technical side is on display in FIFA12, and is available for purchase September 27 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Windows.
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