Recently confirmed as a launch title for the PlayStation Vita, it would be fair to say FIFA Football has a fair bit of pressure on its virtual shoulders. Not only are EA hoping it is well received, Sony are too. With that in mind, we snapped up the chance to get hands-on with an early version of the game, and put it through its paces. If you’ve not seen them be sure to check out our recent FIFA Football posts.

FIFA Football Impressions

As soon as you pick up the PlayStation Vita and start up a match, you can’t help but be impressed by the visuals. Character models, textures and animations, all represent a massive leap over any of the FIFA’s released on the PSP. In fact, in visual terms, it’s almost like playing a recent FIFA title on the PlayStation 3, that’s how good it looks. It’s even more impressive when you take into the consideration that the game is still in development, and it isn’t tapping into the Vita’s full potential.

Graphical oomph aside, FIFA Football plays a remarkably familiar version of the beautiful game, which brings with it a few positives and negatives. The gameplay feels like an amalgamation of the home console versions of FIFA released over the last few years. This, of course, means that an enjoyable game of football is certainly possible, but you’re more than likely to come across a few familiar issues too. The most notable of all was the now infamous “ping-pong” passing. Using the conventional control scheme (more on the “other” method later), a few quick taps of the pass button usually means the ball will go straight to your player, without any error whatsoever.

Anyone expecting a direct port of FIFA 12 on the Vita will be left disappointed. Whilst the development team tried their best to get the Vita version to that level, due the fact that both games were being created at the same time, it was nigh on impossible task. This means that headline features such as tactical defending, precision dribbling and the impact engine are not present in FIFA Football. It’s a shame, but EA have stated that they are looking to get the next Vita version on par with its home console counterparts.

Being on the Vita, FIFA Football does have its fair share of system specific features though. Intriguingly, the game makes use of both the touch screen and rear touch pad on Sony’s soon-to-be released handheld. As you’d expect, to pass the ball you simply touch the area of the screen where you want it go, and you’re done. To perform a lofted pass, you just touch the screen for a few seconds longer. There is some slight error present in this method of passing, more than the conventional scheme anyway, but the whole process is just too awkward. Constantly taking your right hand off the Vita, having your finger ready above the screen and then touching it to pass isn’t really ideal. Football is game that’s all about making quick decisions and being aware of the movement around you, using the touch screen to pass actually hinders both key aspects. When you touch the screen to pass, not only is your view of the pitch impaired, but your ability to make the next quick gameplay decision suffers as well.

The touch screen can also be used to defend and take set-pieces, with the former working in a similar way to the passing. Unfortunately, although it’s just a simple case of touching the player you want to defend with, exactly the same points that hinder the passing apply here too. The touch screen set-pieces work quite well though, probably because you have a bit more time to think about what you’re doing. When faced with a free-kick or corner, you simply swipe an imaginary line (straight or curved) on the touch screen, and the ball follows it. Your intended trajectory might not be adhered to 100%, but it’s more or less the same.

Of all the gameplay mechanics that make use of the Vita, without a doubt, shooting is the most interesting. Whilst holding the handheld you have to imagine the rear touch pad is the goal, and whatever part of it you tap or touch is where the ball will eventually go. Shot power and height are decided by how long you touch the pad for, and an on-screen coloured indicator tells how you’ve done. For example, green means your shot is the ideal power and height, whereas red means you’ve touched the pad for a little longer than necessary. It’s a feature that is sure to divide opinion amongst gamers, some will get it and some won’t. During the few games we had, interestingly enough, the rear touch pad method of shooting was preferred. Whilst it does take a few attempts to (literally) get to grips with, once you do, the satisfaction gained from scoring is immense.

In the lead up to its release, much will be made of FIFA Football’s Vita specific features, but if you’re a serious FIFA player, the majority of them are unlikely to improve your play in any truly significant way. That’s not to say they don’t have their place within the game. In fact, if you’re more of a casual FIFA player, just looking for a quick game on the go, the touch controls might click you with that little bit more.

On the whole, even though it’s a step or two behind its home console counterparts, based on our early hands-on time, FIFA Football has the potential to be a quality handheld representation of the beautiful game. The core gameplay is there, and if the announced content lives up to the usual standards, then both EA and Sony are onto a winner with FIFA Football when it hits the Vita on launch.

Big thanks to Asim from NGB for the write up.

FIFA 12: The Art of Refinement

5 years is a lifetime in the video game industry, but in that amount of time EA have managed to push the bar of soccer gaming and set new benchmarks.  FIFA 07 was the basis of things to come, but in reality FIFA 09 was the title that changed the game capturing the attention, appreciation, and admiration of the masses. The last two years have seen the FIFA Team receive such a vast range of awards that even Lionel Messi would be envious and their metacritic score seems to be in line with his overall rating in-game.

Over the last week or so we have been sampling this years’ offering in the form of Preview Code (95% complete), spending time with the game and delving deep into its 6,000 game modes. In a nutshell FIFA 12 > FIFA 11, and that rounds up our FSB Preview….. If only people would be satisfied with that simple an answer! This was the year of the “Holy Trinity” that would revolutionise the series and bring the competition to its knees. It’s immediately evident that the gameplay in FIFA 12 is much more cultured than that of its predecessors. All aspects of the game have been refined from player movement, to ball physics and reactivity.

The introduction of the Player Impact Engine was seen as salvation for those who required a realistic visual experience. This offers the player a much wider range of player collisions and eradicates the issue of repetitiveness with regards to physicality and collision animations. However, our first experience with it during beta phase a few months ago was not a favourable one. This time, it seems EA have tweaked it and done a very good job too. In a sense it has been dampened down, but saying that the players now react in much less theatrical fashion. Having addressed the issue of off-the-ball collisions (between players not on the ball/involved with play), the collision system is now a compliment to the game and not a nuisance as it was in previous builds. Tying in with the Player Impact Engine is the True Injuries system that is now possible as each knock and collision is taken into account as well as the part of the body that was affected. This will prove to be a welcome addition particularly for those who love Career Mode as it will provide true-to-life injury situations and frequency.

Defending is an aspect of football that games have been unable to capture with much conviction. FIFA games of the past have forced the player to rely on the “Pressing” feature and the occasional well timed standing or sliding tackle. The implementation of Tactical Defending changes that drastically and levels the playing field in a significant way. Protecting your goal is now a complex task, one that requires concentration and anticipation of what your opponent’s next move will be. The onus and in a way the advantage is now with the attacking team, but rest assured that it doesn’t handicap the defending aspect of FIFA 12. Instead it rewards those who take the time to refine their defending skills particularly as Tactical Defending is turned on in Online ranked matches but you can switch to Legacy (Old School) defending in Unranked or local matches. Nevertheless, one possible issue that may arise from this new implementation is the lack of pace with defenders when jockeying.

What does it feel like to dribble with MESSI in FIFA 12 you ask? The simple answer is it depends whether you are dribbling at pace or in confined spaces. When dribbling with pace, things are pretty much the same as FIFA 11, however the Precision Dribbling is what has really augmented the ability of the user to hold up the ball and make those deft turns and shuffles to lose a defender. An example being playing a long ball to Suarez who is being hounded down by two defenders, hold up the ball, turn to place him in position to play a pass and wait for support. This offers the player much more time on the ball and combined with the new limitations of Tactical Defending in not allowing better defenders to always step in and win possession, build up play is now a more frequent occurrence in contrast to days of the past when play was usually much more direct.

Another big feature from the back of the box is the Pro Player Intelligence that has “infused CPU players with self-awareness and aptitude”. The overall message being that teams and players are now more akin to their real life counterparts in intelligence and ability. This should be reflected on screen. When playing against the AI, there are subtle differences in the approaches that various opponents take in their attacking play. Furthermore, this is also seen in individual performances where a Xabi Alonso will utilise his Vision and passing ability more often than not. Conversely, the frequency at which these events happen is not as regular as one would hope for. In addition, going back to the Xabi Alonso example, this intelligence is affected in-game when a human is playing by limits to vision based on camera angle etc. You’re not going to spot a 60 yard darting run from your left-back if he isn’t on-screen (Tele Camera) and you typically don’t refer to the map that often, but if you are playing in the Be A Pro camera angle then you may spot the pass. How this feature will influence the game for Manual players out there we aren’t entirely sure, but time will tell. All-in-all a welcome addition but not a Gamechanger.

The visuals in FIFA 12 have clearly benefitted from an added sheen or gloss this season. Lock you PS3 display to 1080p and player detail is sharp, faces look brilliant and even in Tele Camera the details remain. As it currently stands the visuals in FIFA are excellent. I might have reservations about player models and in particular the limb length and fit of shorts and shirts on player models, but that’s just a personal opinion and nit-picking. The graphics junkies out there will give FIFA 12 their seal of approval, of that I have no doubt. Furthermore, this season sees the addition of new match presentation that includes cut scenes of the two teams playing and walking onto the pitch etc. Very welcome additions for those who love the whole match day realism/atmosphere.

One feature that really stands out is the dynamic commentary of the new duo, Martin Tyler and Alan Smith. Adding intuitive commentary and play-by-play analysis that really fits in well with occurrences during the match, I’m pleasing to say, I liked you Andy Gray but good riddance. An improvement that may just fly under the radar this year are additions to on-the-pitch noises. A plethora of sounds from around the pitch have been added, my favourite being when you smash home a goal and the ball hits the behind-the-goal microphone. That’s attention to detail.

Goalkeepers, the pitfall of football games for years. FIFA has managed to address this problem position very well over the last few years with yearly improvements. This year the keepers seem more aggressive, with better responsiveness and reactions. The just seem to be hell-bent on protecting their goal at all costs. Don’t be surprised if you see some excellent reaction saves from Reina or Buffon spread himself as a player bears down on goal in a one-on-one situation. What is instantly obvious is the aggressiveness and almost desperation in the keepers’ actions. One Gold Star for Rutter and Co from me.

But hold on there a moment, that the biggest improvement in Gameplay has to be in the changes made to Shooting. Finally we have Daisy Cutters. Shooting feels refined in all its varieties (Power shots, finesse shots or volleys), and the trajectory and movements of the ball much more true to life. People are going to love hitting long range efforts with known sharp shooters. Passing is fundamental to any football game, so how does it feel in FIFA 12. If I’m honest, pretty much the same as FIFA 11 with a little added zip in certain situations and when using certain players (Alonso’s & Xavi’s).

I say forget the big talk, in reality what shines in FIFA 12 is NOT the “Holy Trinity” but rather the smaller less significant refinements to the simpler aspects of the beautiful game. Not to be too harsh, but as it currently stands the “Holy Trinity” additions are welcome and compliment a great game, but the refinements in other gameplay aspects are what truly stand out from a personal point of view. Expect our FSB review to be more in depth but we hope this light preview will address many of the FIFA community’s curiosity until demo and final game release.

Have a watch and then let us know what you think.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Whilst myself and Tom were fixated on Career Mode elsewhere, NextgenGamingBlog team members Asim and Mark headed straight for the PC rigs and spent the majority of their time with EA’s latest PC offering. The question is, did the PC experts like it more or less than the previously superior console version of FIFA?

Find out here: NGB Preview FIFA 12 PC

Content is flowing from NGB at an incredible rate right now so make sure you pay the guys a visit and follow them on Twitter.

Six weeks ago we sat down and spoke to the Career Mode development team and they asked us to rate the FIFA 11 managerial experience out of ten. The general consensus was that Career Mode last year was probably a 3/10 and the team in Vancouver agreed. But FIFA 12 is on the way now, riding on the crest of a revolutionary wave so how does the latest Career Mode offering stack up against last years managerial benchmark?

The Interface

The Career Mode layout hasn’t changed a great deal in FIFA 12, but to be honest there wasn’t any need for drastic overhaul anyway. What has happened though is an incredible amount of polishing, fine tuning and the addition of some really intelligent design choices.

The first being the in-game calendar which now embeds at the top of the homepage when you ‘advance’ through the mode. It’s a simple change but it keeps the mode feeling cohesive and maintains visibility of the big football stories evolving around you. The calendar icons which indicate upcoming friendly, league, cup and European matches are properly colour coded too, which means there’s no magnifying glass needed to decipher the minute badges seen in FIFA 11.

The speed at which Career Mode advances is certainly better too, although when the transfer window is open, it definitely slows up to accommodate for the extra information. Besides loading times the main thing which disrupts the flow of Career Mode is the constant stream of emails. The good news is that you can now deal with multiple transfer negotiations in one email, rather than receiving an individual email per player. What I think the game needs to do though, is prioritise emails better and only interrupt Career Mode advancing if an email requires genuinely urgent attention. It just feels a little bit stop, start, stop, start for me at the moment and there can be lack of fluidity between game weeks.

The media pane has also seen some welcome changes giving you the ability to view news stories in full now, without having to open a separate window. The information contained within the media stories is good and the transfers, offers and rumours we saw throughout the play test were all plausible, without being ridiculous.

The most important thing though is that the Career Mode homepage now feels and acts like a command centre for everything you accomplish as a manger. Whereas before it was just an index which would send you spiralling through unnecessary sub menus and grey drudgery. As I said at the start, there’s been no drastic overhaul to the interface but the aesthetic changes that have been made make Career Mode a genuinely pleasant place to experience your managerial journey.

Transfer Negotiations

Without doubt the best thing about any managerial simulation is the buying and selling of players. Nothing compares to the feeling of making a huge marquee signing for your club and there will be plenty of opportunity for this to happen in Career Mode, I assure you.

One feature I know everyone wanted was the ability to loan any player regardless of their contract status and thankfully it’s now in the game. You no longer have to rely on the game to offer up a decent selection of young loan talent as you can now in theory make a loan move for anyone, should their circumstances fit. As a test we tried to loan Xavi from Barcelona and were immediately slapped down and with our tail between our legs we swiftly moved on to other targets.

The other ‘most wanted’ transfer feature however, player plus cash deals, did not make the cut this time round. We spoke to the developers about this at length and whilst they do have a system which will make player plus cash deals work, they weren’t happy at all with the results being displayed by the CPU. Quite simply the AI to support, the valuation, whether a club want a player offered for exchange and the ensuing contract negotiations, just isn’t there yet. Player plus cash deals are a lot more complex than we realised and I’m happy the team are spending extra time to get it right, rather than adding it to Career Mode half finished.

A major plus point with transfers though is that the CPU will now make offers for players not transfer listed by you consistently. And when they do want one of your star players they can be ferocious in their attempts to sign them. I rejected four increased offers from Juventus for Dimitar Berbatov before eventually agreeing to sell him for 22 million. The bidding started at just 12.5 million, so it was very clear to me that Juventus had identified their primary target and were prepared to get their man at any cost, which was really satisfying to see.

For transfer negotiations to go to the next level I’d like to see some more contractual options around performance based incentives, now common place in today’s game and I’d also like the ability to set an asking price for a player if a bid comes in lower than my expectations. In my opinion there’s still an awful lot of work to do to flesh out Transfer Negotiations fully. The features that have been added this year do their jobs well, but the experience of buying and selling isn’t quite as inspiring as it could be.

Scouting and Youth Academy

After a period of absence longer than anyone expected, scouting is finally back in Career Mode and the implementation is top drawer. Firstly, it’s key to point out that the scouting system is for unknown youth players only and not players already present in the FIFA 12 database. It’s about unearthing a hidden gem and not finding out whether Xavi has a pass accuracy rating of 84 or 85.

To begin your scouting adventure you’ll need to hire one and you’ll be presented with four scouts initially, ranging in ability. The better the scout, the more money they cost, so lower league clubs will need to get by with lesser rated scouts to begin with. Personally, I think every club should start with at least one scout as default rather than having to sign one, but that’s a minor gripe. You can have a maximum of three scouts at your club and these can be chopped and changed as Career Mode progresses.

It will take a few days for your scout to join your club (just like a player transfer) but once signed you then need to decide on a region to send them to. The interface for doing this is excellent and it’s very similar to the team selection in FIFA World Cup 2010, clearly a favourite of Simon Humber’s. After selecting a region you then choose the type of player to search for, their position and so on. It will then take your scout a few weeks to set up a scouting network in that region before players begin to be suggested on a monthly basis.

The scout reports are presented really well too and you’ll be shown a potential OVR rating range (45-84) that the scout thinks a player could potentially reach. The more months you scout a player for, the tighter that range becomes, but if you wait too long rival clubs will step in and sign players should they be revealed as future superstars.

I’m torn about whether scouting should be used for players that already exist in FIFA 12’s database, as well as unknown youth because scouting the very top stars is an obvious waste of time. We already know Messi is a great player and that Sneijder can pick a pass.  But for gauging the potential ability of younger players already in FIFA 12, I really think this scouting model could be applicable and I hope it expands in future Career Modes.

Of course once you’ve signed a youth player they will be added to your Youth Academy, and from there you can track their development and when the time is right, give them some game time. Not every player will reach their full potential and you will invariably sign some duds, but after the scout has made his recommendations it’s down to you as the manager to cultivate raw potential with the aim of creating the next world superstar.

Team Management

There is one massive issue with Team Management in FIFA 12, which I’m afraid I just cannot get past. It isn’t solely a Career Mode issue either, because it annoys me in each and every FIFA 12 game mode available. The usability of the squad and formation management systems in FIFA is just, terrible. Changing a player’s base position requires a degree in Astro Physics, and that’s only if you can handle the sheer volume of button presses it takes to get in and out of the sub menus.

This isn’t just a FIFA 12 problem though because the Team Management menus are shared EA SPORTS technology, which is why it’s so bloody difficult to get rid of them. We hate them, the developers hate them, but until next year at the earliest we are well and truly stuck with them.

However, there is a new addition which makes the arduous squad management much easier to digest. The Alternate Selection system. Now, when you scroll down to your right back (for example) and press ‘triangle’ the player will highlight. You then use the d-pad to scroll left and right and the game will suggest replacement players for that position in order of suitability. It works brilliantly, firstly to reduce the volume of button presses and secondly the players it suggests are spot on. It’s a wonderful example of how simple innovation can work wonders and I can’t praise this inventive change highly enough.

As I said at the start this isn’t a Career Mode or even a FIFA 12 problem but when you’re in a mode which is trying to serve up a realistic management experience, you just can’t have something so restrictive in an area so fundamental. A new Team Management system needs to be priority number one, for FIFA 13.

Transfer Deadline Day

This one has been on the community wish list for a while now and its one of the new Career Mode features I’m most excited about for when release day comes round. Transfer deadline day is now a fully fledged mode of its own, attempting to bring the real world drama of the final hours of trading to life in Career Mode and boy does it succeed.

Transfer deadline day is broken down in to eight hourly slots which allow you to conduct multiple rounds of transfer negotiations. The communication back from clubs is prompt and deals can go through extremely quickly, if terms are agreed at the first time of asking. But when the drama really ramps up is when you struggle to agree terms and the hours begin to tick dangerously past. I’ll be honest, I caved and offered more money than I should have to force a deal for Ashley Young, but in the heat of deadline day drama you need to act on instinct.

In the top right of the screen, counters keep track of the number of deadline deals which have been completed and the total amount of money spent. Which when combined with the rapidly updating media pane provides excellent visibility of the transfers happening elsewhere in Career Mode. Most importantly it gives you the feeling that you’re personal agenda is only a small part of something much, much bigger.

In FIFA 11’s Career Mode the transfer deadline day passes with a whimper and poorly constructed news article. In FIFA 12 it passes with an adrenaline filled, mad dash, to get that one crucial signing in the bag for your title challenge. As a sensible manager you’d have all your signings tied up well before any last ditch drama. But to be honest, I’m tempted to leave all my transfer dealings until deadline day in FIFA 12, just for the rush. Without doubt a AAA addition to Career Mode.

Squad Report

Another new addition to Career Mode is the Squad Report system which allows you to track and compare player growth and statistics throughout the season. The design and layout of the Squad Report is really well constructed and it works brilliantly to provide a top level, managerial overview of your entire squad.

The screen is split in two (as always) with the left panel showing a list of your squad members and the right hand side showing player’s stats in full. Player growth is tracked very simply by green or red pluses and minuses, so you can see at a glance where a player is improving. You can view player form and morale (which are both back) within the Squad Report but crucially they have been added to Team Management as well.

The Squad Report screens also track player statistics across the competitions you take part in. One thing which always used to annoy me was that the game would never show you how many yellow cards a player was away from a suspension in different competitions. So as a manager you never knew whether to rest a player to protect them for a crucial match, the following week. Thankfully the Squad Report now has this information along with other many other useful player statistics.

My one criticism is that the Squad Report is so brilliant and so helpful, why isn’t it plugging in to every facet of Career Mode and Squad Management? It’s a more efficient way to view and compare player stats and most importantly its displayed full screen. And because it isn’t weaved in to the fabric of Career Mode deeply enough, the Squad Report feels a little bit tacked on at the moment, almost separate. Its influence should be consistent in all squad based decision making for me as it’s simply too good an implementation for this opportunity to pass by.

Player Stories

As well as looking after transfer policy and getting results on the pitch, you’ll also need to handle the games biggest egos in Career Mode. Player Stories can pop up at any time and are based on a number of different scenarios including, morale, retirement, form, wanting to play, new signings and many more. It is then down to you as the manager to deal with the situation appropriately and live with the consequences.

The best example I saw of Player Stories at work, actually happened during the Career Mode play test six weeks ago and the scenario involved big spending Man City. Who with their financial muscle targeted ‘best player in the world’ Lionel Messi. After much negotiation they eventually managed to get their man for £80 million and 250K per week wages. I know most people were annoyed by ‘player affinity’ preventing massive transfers between big clubs last year and this deal proves it’s now possible.

After Messi had made his much anticipated Man City debut, a Player Story appeared from David Silva stating his unhappiness at the new acquisition as he didn’t feel he’d get enough game time whilst superstar Messi was in the team. Personally I though that was a fantastic reaction to the transfer story, however it then got even better. After Silva’s moan the Man City board stepped in saying that they would leave it up to the manager to decide whether to sell Silva but would support any move to keep him against his will, in a word, awesome.

That’s just one example of course and already you can see that Player Stories are reacting really well to Career Mode events. My only worry is that over multiple seasons the stories the game portrays may begin to repeat themselves and the wow factor that the Messi/Silva saga provided could be lost. Only time will tell I guess but if the scenarios stay varied then Player stories could be a real tale of success in FIFA 12’s Career Mode.

Commentary

As I’m sure you all know by now, Martin Tyler and Alan Smith will be taking the English commentary reins in FIFA 12 and having listened to them in action, I think people will be surprised at the impact Alan Smith in particular has on the game. But aside from the general gameplay commentary there is also a lot of specific dialogue focussed entirely on Career Mode.

When your first match of the season comes round the commentators discuss your clubs ambitions for the season, where you’re squad may be lacking and in some cases even the clubs history. This adds so much to the immersion of the mode and the fact that EA have dedicated so much recording time to Career Mode, shows their intent to improve this aspect of the mode going forward.

Another brilliant addition is the use of multiple commentary teams for league and cup competitions. David Rutter informed us that you’ll have Tyler/Smith for Career Mode league games and then Tyldesley/Townsed for cup matches. If you desperately hate one of the duos then you can pick and choose yourself, but I can’t see why you’d want to? Variety being the spice of life and all that.

The success of the specific Career Mode commentary is going to come down to how in depth it actually is. As soon as you start hearing the same lines over and over the spell is broken and whilst repetition is inevitable in a game like FIFA, it can and should be minimised.

Bugs/Glitches

It’s worth noting, before I plough in to my verdict that we did encounter some bugs during our time with Career Mode. Which to be honest when you’re playing alpha code is to be expected. The vast majority of things we flagged up were met with the response “already fixed” which was pleasing to hear but I just want you guys to be aware of the full picture.

Verdict

I’ll be honest with you. This is not going to be the all singing, all dancing Career Mode that everyone ‘dreams’ of having to compliment FIFA’s gameplay. There are just too many big things still missing to call the mode anywhere near complete or perfect. This feeling is also enforced by some of the aging tech still being utilised by Career Mode, like the Team Management interface. This in my eyes has no place in a modern day football game and should be cast aside at the earliest opportunity.

It’s also worth mentioning that whilst all the above features sound great, the success of Career Mode this year is ultimately going to come down to the modes stability and reliability, long term. If we start getting widespread game save corruptions, players disappearing and regular crashes, much of the excellent work done in the features department will be irrelevant. Career Mode is as much at the mercy of bugs and glitches as it is to the actual innovation by the development team.

Having said that, for the first time in about three years I’m actually seeing genuine progression in Career Mode and when you see things you fed back to the devs six weeks ago, now in the game and flourishing, it makes it all of this worth while. Career mode seems to have a defined vision now and you get a real sense that the team in Vancouver know how to achieve it.

If FIFA 11’s Career Mode was a 3/10, this year’s is probably a strong 6/10 maybe even 7/10, if we get the stability we crave. That’s a pretty huge leap in one development cycle and for the first time, in years I actually believe that under Simon Humber’s stewardship, Career mode can continue to develop and improve year on year.

Career Mode is good this year and it will be the most playable and enjoyable Career Mode we’ve seen this generation. The ‘great’ however, may take just a little longer.

No pressure Simon…

FIFA 12 Producer Tour Paris:

With the second producer tour, we get another piece of the FIFA 12 puzzle. The puzzle marked ‘Career Mode & Online Modes’. Unfortunately, EA decided not to talk about Online modes in Paris and focus solely on Career Mode. That’s because they want something new to talk about at Gamescom, which I can perfectly understand. And let’s be honest, Career Mode is the heart of the FIFA 12 single player experience, so it’s certainly ‘heavy’ enough to talk about for a few weeks as more and more details emerge.

First things first, if you’re expecting a whole new Career Mode interface, stop. The interface is more of an update and looks 90% the same as FIFA 11. That’s not a bad thing per se, because that 10% change has given it a really nice lift and it’s primarily the homepage that’s had some new touches. With top/latest transfer deals constantly on your right, you feel that the world around you is finally doing something. (Which David Rutter was going for) The ‘news’ around the world is more structured and more varied; the press now have an important role to play. Also, the e-mail system has got a new look and is much more efficient. As far as looks go, that’s about it. Player searching is still the same; contract negotiations didn’t look any different to me as well as all the other features that were present in FIFA 11.

But that’s only looks; we want some real game changers and there are a few. With the new Youth Academy system, EA SPORTS is finally back on the right track with FIFA 12. It’s a two-fold feature. Firstly, scouts are back and you can send them to different regions in the hope they’ll spot some talented youngsters. As David Rutter mentions in the interview, you’re scouts need to go to the same region a couple times to get accurate information. So the first time they get back, the information will be vague. It’s also dependent on how long you send them to a region for, sound familiar? That’s because it’s the exact same thing as in FIFA 08. However, you can now send up to three scouts instead of just one. It’s still on the low side for top clubs, but it’s a step forward I guess. I do fear that scouting will be pretty straightforward (like in FIFA 08), with really no skill involved. You don’t have my final word on this, but I wouldn’t expect groundbreaking things involving scouts.

What might be ground breaking are the Youth Squads. But again, I couldn’t really test it. I started a Career Mode with Chelsea and when I went to the Youth Squad, there were no players (probably because I didn’t get past the pre-season friendlies). Hopefully, Dave and Tom, can provide more information on this subject. But if it’s anything like the Youth Squads in Pro Evolution Soccer, I’m all up for it.

The second ‘big’ feature in Career Mode is ‘Transfer deadline day’. Which now is a whole game in itself with the day progressing hour by hour, giving you time to get that last deal in the bag. Alongside this, it was great to see you can now ‘stall’ a decision on whether to sign or reject a player. But players might lose interest if you stall for too long. It actually happened in my Chelsea game….

The Lukaku-Cole Story

I tried to sign Lukaku, but didn’t really look at Chelsea’s transfer budget, so I probably bid way too much. The day after my Lukaku bid, Real Madrid contacted me for Ashley Cole and they offered me 22 million dollars. I didn’t want to accept, but didn’t want to refuse either, so I decided to stall the transfer. The day after that, Anderlecht accepted my bid and let me talk to the beast that is Lukaku. After a day or two, he accepted my contract. But then I saw a problem. I’d really overbid, in fact I couldn’t afford Lukaku at all. So I decided to stall that deal as well. I went back to the transfer negotiations panel (that’s really well done, by the way) and reopened the Ashley Cole case and I accepted Real Madrid’s offer but sadly it was too late. In the press a big article with the headline: ‘Lukaku stays at Anderlecht’ appeared quoting the player, “I still feel I can progress at Anderlecht.” So the stalling tactic ruined this deal for me, and I lost Ashley Cole to Real Madrid… Great managing, right?

The transfer deadline day is heavily tied with the ‘player stories’, which Rutter made quite a big fuss around. Basically it’s the press understanding your decisions as a manager and judging them. He gave a Mark Van Bommel example, who had just come back from an injury. The press didn’t think he was ready to play, but Rutter played him anyway. Milan won the game 3-0 and the press posted an article about the excellent judgement at Rutter’s decision. See what the game did there? It tried, again, to give you the feeling that the world is turning. I don’t know how many situations the press ‘gets’, so it might get a little linear after a while but Rutter did talk about situations involving player happiness, injury, morale and retirement.

And then we go on to the little details. David Rutter said he had a list full of improvements in his pocket and he couldn’t remember all of them but I did notice a few. The season previews and the board’s objectives are a little more elaborate now with the commentators talking about these objectives in the beginning of the season. You can now save squads, so if you have a B-squad for cup matches, you can now instantly change your team. Swapping players in Team Management is also easier now with a new quick swap feature (triangle for PS3, Y for 360). Also, you can now substitute more than 3 players in friendlies. Not career mode related but Rutter announced that Live Season will be entirely free this year. EA Sports Football Clubs is not limited to ‘Live Season’ teams. You can pick every team that is available in FIFA which sounds great.

So, that’s Career Mode. I was a bit disappointed that manager mode didn’t get a complete overhaul. But I came to realize that if you get rid of the bugs from FIFA 11 and add the new features, you’ll have a pretty cool mode. But that’s something you can only tell after playing a couple seasons. Player progression is supposedly fixed, but I can’t neither confirm nor deny that of course. Have to mention that the game isn’t finished yet, but don’t expect new ‘big’ features coming in. Some nice little tweaks, maybe. Rutter mentioned that they’re investigating the possibility to arrange you own friendlies, so that proves that there’s still some room left for alterations.

Nicolas Van Hoorde

FSB would like to say a huge thank you to Nicolas for sending us his impressions, you can see more of FIFABlog.be on Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

Impact Engine

Before heading to Guildford the Impact Engine was without doubt the most talked about new gameplay feature for FIFA 12, as it virtually defined the studios new vision of revolution. But the community had reservations about how physical things would become on a playing field which many already consider to be over zealous.

The good news is that when the Impact Engine works, it looks and feels fantastic. The real time animations portray the multiple points of contact between players with incredible believability and it’s a level of realism we’ve never seen before in a FIFA title. But with every venture in to new territory there comes great risk, and sadly the Impact Engine is displaying some troubling signs.

The issues don’t actually seem to be with the initial tackle or incident; the problems tend to arise during the aftermath of a challenge or off the ball. Players sometimes tangle awkwardly and there seems to be a lack of avoidance logic particularly when players have gone to ground or fallen over. There are also some weird instances when players will violently jolt a yard or two apart when the real time animation engine almost don’t know what to compute. It doesn’t destroy the experience but it does break the spell on an otherwise engaging affair.

Another issue which quite a few people picked up on over the course of the play test was the inconsistency of refereeing decisions which can only be pinned on the Impact Engine I’m afraid. FIFA 11’s animations had an almost yes/no outcome which made them look visually poor but it made an AI referee’s job extremely easy. Now that collisions happen organically, displaying multiple points of contact, the referees seem to struggle to interpret quite “obvious” fouls. It’s a knock on effect from the Impact Engine which no one really saw coming but due to the added intricacy of collisions it now makes total sense.

One thing I know a lot of you don’t like is the perception that FIFA’s players tend to “skate” around the pitch showing a lack of connection between turf and boot. Well the good news is that in FIFA 12 challenges now carry and preserve momentum allowing players to continue when clipped or unbalanced. The bad news is that there’s still no sign of genuine weight transfer and inertia in player movement which is what I think causes the “skating” issue. I’m not going to pull any punches, it’s still there.

One major Impact Engine positive though is the Self Injuries system which seems to be working wonderfully. The best example we saw on the day was Theo Walcott pulling up with a muscle injury mid-sprint. Now the animation was lovely but the most important thing was the context of Theo’s Self Injury. Around 10 minutes earlier he had been clattered by Lampard, the game was deep in to stoppage time and well it’s Theo Walcott, who is injury prone at the best of times. All the factors added up and it just felt and looked right.

I’ll stress that the build we played was pre-alpha code which is ridiculously early but none the less I can only judge the Impact Engine on what I saw on the day. When it works it’s near genius but when it’s doesn’t you’re left scratching your head. The overwhelming positive is the Self Injury system which seems to be working really well at the moment but the core of the Impact Engine needs some work and the creases in collision and avoidance need to be ironed out.

Tactical Defending

Tactical Defending for me is one of the biggest improvements to FIFA 12 because it fundamentally changes the way you control players at a very basic level. Gone is the horrific pressure system and in its place is Contain. Getting to grips with this new mechanic is the hardest thing about Tactical Defending and combined with the new timed tackling, you find yourself being bypassed by dribbling opponents very easily at first.  But as time goes and you become used to the control scheme the merits of this new defensive system begin to shine through.

Contain is not something to be used continually though, far from it. Knowing where and when to use it, is the key to its success and in one on one situation’s it adds a real cat and mouse affair to defending in FIFA 12. When you do get to grips with it and you do get the timed button press right, the feeling of tackling an opponent using Contain is second to none and it provides a sense of achievement that auto-tackle could only ever dream of.

The other major feature of Contain is the ability to drop off or close down with the left analogue stick. This works really well for buying yourself some time in difficult situations as you are no longer forced to commit to a tackle at the earliest opportunity. My only gripe with it is that the shortest Contain distance is perhaps a little too far away. Something contextual to allow you to get closer (than the default) in very tight situations like near the touchline would be a most welcome addition.

The other key thing to mention is that you still have the standard defensive jockey system (L2) in FIFA 12 as well and making Tactical Defending work is about balancing the use of these different systems. You need to think about defending now which is perhaps highest praise I can give Tactical Defending really. Holding a single button isn’t going to cut it this year and those who master Contain and have a varied tactical approach to defending will really enjoy themselves. Defending is an engaging experience now and it sits on par with attacking as genuinely fun element of FIFA 12.

Tactical Defending makes FIFA 12 a much more considered affair and now that the awful pressing system has gone everyone has more time on the ball and everything has become a bit more measured. All that’s needed is a little fine tuning, but even in its current state Tactical Defending is a real success story for FIFA 12.

Precision Dribble

For me dribbling in FIFA 12 is the star of the show and the new Precision Dribble is an utter revelation at times, allowing you do things I thought would never be possible in a FIFA title.  The extra layer of close control that you have is just outstanding and you can use it in so many ways rather than it just being a tool for going past defenders.

One of the most impressive things about Precision Dribble is that it has contextual elements which will trigger in certain situations. In very tight areas players will show an extra level of control and awareness taking even tighter touches than before. They’ll also shield automatically too which shows a real intelligence for the situation the player is in rather than it being a mathematical calculation.

Dribbling is powerful now make no mistake about it and while you’re still acclimatising to Tactical Defending that power is certainly felt, maybe even enhanced.  But over time it certainly balances out and Precision Dribble stands out for me as the very best of the trinity of gameplay features. Picking up the ball and running at defenders has never felt so good and Precision Dribble has given FIFA 12 that je ne sais quoi which elevates the gameplay to new heights.

Pro Player Intelligence

Of the trinity of gameplay features Pro Player Intelligence is definitely the most un-assuming of the three. In fact right at the start when you’re jolted by the huge changes to defending and the Impact Engine you almost don’t notice it at all. But just because it isn’t rammed in your face from the first moment doesn’t mean that behind the scenes Pro Player Intelligence isn’t hard at work.  

Personality+ started the process last year and Pro Player Intelligence has certainly taken things up a notch. What’s most important for me is that the players now feel a little bit more individual. Is it as good as it could be? No, but it’s a big step in the right direction. Players like Drogba, Fabregas, Nasri, Lampard now really stand out because of their attributes and using them appropriately can have devastating results.

Drogba is a physical powerhouse to be feared, Fabregas’s passing is crisp and precise, Nasri’s dribbling is simply stunning and Fat Frank knows where the goal is. The individual qualities of players are accentuated now which with FIFA’s mammoth player roster simply had to happen. EA never get enough credit for individuality simply because the spectrum the game covers is so huge, but now it’s just starting shine through.

The player vision maps which we’ve heard so much about also have a nice impact on proceedings. Especially with a player like Fabregas who can control, swivel and hit wonderful passes in one single flowing movement. Try the same with Alex Song and the outcome is wildly different, which is so important to make the star players stand-out. It’s subtle and it isn’t evident all the time but in those key moments when a killer pass is required, you’ll know who you want to be delivering it.

It’s difficult to judge Pro Player Intelligence and give you a definitive verdict because we only had access to a small number of teams so I can’t tell you for example how vision maps and threat analysis filter through the leagues. Which in many ways is the most important thing about Pro Player Intelligence but none the less the signs are good and I can’t wait to see how this affects the bigger picture later in the year.

AI

Hmmm where to begin with the AI… Well it’s certainly a mixed bag with some good and some not so good. The major problem that I have with the “not so good” is that the problems are all too familiar for my liking and AI issues flagged up long ago still seem to remain in FIFA 12.

This first one has been a gripe of mine for years and it’s entirely directed at the AI movement and off the ball runs that your team-mates and the CPU make. Quite simply the movement is way too static and way too linear. When you break from midfield the strikers ahead of you just run in straight lines, they don’t move diagonally, peel off or drop short, nothing it’s all incredibly one dimensional. This means that you have to work really hard to create space and chances rather than it being part of natural build-up play.

The reverse happens in midfield where you’d want your team-mates to come looking for the ball, to make runs beyond the strikers, run in to the channels and they just don’t do it unless instructed. The gameplay as a whole is much more structured now which I really like but it’s almost too rigid. At times players seem strictly bound to their positional roles rather than reacting to on the pitch events. Again, it’s all just a little bit one dimensional and far too familiar.

There are positives though and I’m not just going to bash the AI repeatedly as it doesn’t deserve it. In possession the CPU is much better now and they’ll keep the ball for extended periods pinning you in your own half whilst probing for opportunities. When you combine this with Tactical Defending it makes for some really interesting battles against the CPU.  They also don’t cross anywhere near as much and there’s much better variety in the way the AI attacks your goal.

But with every AI positive there seems to be a negative because when the AI does probe and it does make that yard of space they very rarely punish you by actually shooting. Even on World Class they still have a tendency to hesitate when getting a chance and by the time they’ve taken two unnecessary touches it’s far too late. It’s so frustrating because on World Class I want the AI to punish my mistakes and show that killer instinct in front of goal, but it just doesn’t.

Without doubt the AI of your team-mates and the CPU is the biggest limiting factor with FIFA 12 right now and it underpins everything good and bad about the gameplay. What worries me most is that implementing intelligent movement isn’t an overnight job and to fix these issues the development team are going to have to move mountains before release. Unless of course there were things missing from the pre-alpha build we played, which is entirely possible but I can only judge what was in front of me. The most worrying section of my gameplay impressions, bar none. 

Ball Physics

Picking things back up now after the uncomfortable read that was the AI section we have ball physics and all of a sudden the smile is back on my face. I didn’t think there was a great deal of room left for improvement in ball physics after FIFA 11 but I’m happy to admit I was wrong.

The ball now has so much more weight and feeling to it than before .So much so that you actually believe you’re striking through a football now, rather than an inanimate object. The ball now carries its own mass and the realism of its flight when passing, crossing and shooting is the highest of eye candy.  It now also feels completely detached from the players, deflecting and bouncing where ever the physics determine rather than feeling magnetised to the nearest player.

The biggest improvement felt by the new ball physics though is in the shooting which is a tremendous step up from FIFA 11. The shot trajectory is much lower and you’ll need to be a lot more precise with the power bar to get the right elevation and placement. Shots also have fewer tendencies to balloon wildly and anything which goes over the bar now flies in to the crowd rather than looping on top of the net. The curl on shots has also been reined in with the wild left to right swing now smoothed out to a more realistic bend and dip. As you can tell from my lavishing of praise so far shooting gets my approval, no question.

My one negative is with passing because for me it still lacks that little bit of zip at the top end. At times it can feel quite sluggish and it lacks enough light and shade to allow you to inject some urgency when the situation calls for it. It’s a shame because shooting has that zip now but passing just doesn’t and only a small tweak to the top end passing speed would resolve the problem instantly.   

Graphics

How the game’s graphics are shaping up is a difficult one to call really as all of the cosmetic enhancements to FIFA usually happen last. But FIFA 12 certainly looks better than FIFA 11 even now, and that’s purely down to the new lighting which is a real joy in certain weather conditions.

The lighting is much more subtle now and the high contrast look to the game has been paired back. I know a lot of people (myself included) thought that FIFA 11’s colour palette was way too bright giving the game an almost cartoon feel at times. Thankfully the softened lighting has removed that garish edge and everything seems a little bit more real now. I’d even go as far as to say that FIFA 12 can be quite gritty at times, especially in overcast weather which I really, really like. It still looks like FIFA though make no mistake about it and no one is going to be utterly blown away by the graphics as the changes are subtle but it’s a more grown-up presentation this time round and the game as a whole benefits from that.

Sadly the player models and kits don’t seem to have moved on a great deal and the latter especially still have that plastic sheen up close which makes the kits looks too thick and almost glued to the player models. But there are definitely more real player faces on display this year, exactly which players I can’t mention but the eight-way facial capture method has certainly been expanded and there are some eerily familiar faces wandering the pitches of FIFA 12.

Overall the graphics have certainly been improved but the work seems to have gone mainly in to the lighting department rather than a drastic overhaul which some of you would have wanted. The changes are subtle but they deliver and FIFA 12 is certainly a much better looking game than its predecessor.

The Finer Details

The best things always come in small packages and thankfully FIFA 12 is crammed with tiny details which flesh out the headline gameplay features we’ve already heard so much about.  I’ve been an advocate of “the finer details” for a few years now because I believe that even the tiniest flecks of detail can be incredibly powerful when combined as one big presentation package. It’s taken EA a while, but slowly changes are being made.

The first one which is a lovely touch is the addition of contextual quick throw-ins, which is something we’ve all wanted for a while. I have to say EA have implemented them brilliantly and seeing a player run just off the pitch, pick up the ball and ready themselves for a throw-in is a truly a great moment. But other than the exemplary animation what quick throw-ins add is a seamless nature to the way FIFA 12 plays. The less cut scenes and screen resets the better in my opinion and quick throw-ins certainly help to maintain that match day cohesion.

Now this next element really is a wow moment and the first time it happened, jaws dropped and eyes bulged. When an injury happens or a player requires treatment the referee will drop the ball for the CPU and they will then play it back to you just like a true sportsman. It’s entirely cosmetic and it has no gameplay reverberations what so ever but I don’t care, I absolutely love stuff like this and the more EA can cram in the better.

The other worthy mention is the way the game is presented from the main menu all the way through to final whistle and in that sense FIFA 12 is a complete redesign. The old menu system has gone and has been replaced with a horizontal layout which makes moving through FIFA’s vast array of options much easier and crucially much quicker. It’s also a much more vibrant and polished menu system with the dull greys and blacks replaced with chromed reds, silvers and whites.

The team and kit selection has also had a revamp with kits now being displayed on a player from the club rather than just a kit icon which you scroll through. You can also now see the socks which accompany the main kit, which may seem insignificant but it helps to prevent the rather annoying kit clashes which are common place in FIFA 11.

There’s so much more too with club specific pre-match sequences, new tunnel scenes, new match information menus, real player faces in team management, the list goes on and on. There are still mountains of detail for EA to get through but finally it seems like they have made a concerted effort to focus on the detail and present FIFA 12 as best they can.

Verdict 

I have to say that based on FIFA code that I’ve played this early in previous years FIFA 12 is light years ahead at this stage which can only be a good thing. But many issues from FIFA 11 still seem to linger in the background. The trinity of gameplay features have eradicated some of our biggest hates but the most important ones contained within the games AI still seem to be standing tall.

Where EA deserve credit though is that they haven’t just dumped the Impact Engine, Tactical Defending and Pro Player Intelligence in to the game and hoped it would fix all of last year’s problems. They’ve gone back and looked at ball physics, goalkeepers, Personality+ and Pro Passing again and for the most part have made some real advances in these areas too.

The game as a whole feels much more refined than FIFA 11 and tactically it’s a much slower and more considered experience. There’s a methodical pacing to FIFA 12 now and I think it ebbs and flows very nicely. My one criticism of of the pacing is that I’d like some extra top end zip to passing just for added urgency and thrust going forward. Other than that the game speed is very well balanced right now. 

Calling FIFA 12 a “Revolution” for me is probably a bridge too far because whilst the new improvements are largely great, the obvious problems from previous FIFA’s are still there for all to see and that sours some of the advances in my opinion. The focus now has to pour in to the AI and off the ball movement especially because in all honesty it’s holding FIFA back and until those shackles are broken I can’t call FIFA 12 in any way revolutionary.

It’s one small, but beautifully formed step for FIFA 12, but sadly no giant leap for the revolution we desired.

On April the 28th, as many may have realised from various twitterings from various people, there was an event for a small segment of this community to join a FIFA 12 related webcast where EA released, explained and illustrated some of the good news about FIFA 12’s gameplay. Aaron McHardy and Santiago Jaramillo, two of the gameplay developers and Romily Broad spent the best part of an hour and a half doing this so I wanted to thank them for that effort first and foremost. Any community interaction is appreciated and while EA have not been as generous as I would have liked over the last few months, this was a good start in the run up to FIFA 12.

Before I get onto revealing anything I want to disclaim that I have not played this game, I have not watched a game being played at length. I have seen small videos to illustrate the workings of some of the new features, and I have heard EA’s in depth explanations of how these work and what they believe they will mean for FIFA. I am in very little position to critique much they have said or shown. They did not show us by any means everything, and just because I don’t say anything about something doesn’t mean there won’t be highly significant changes to that area.

First, they talked about ‘tactical defending’. This is no small change, this is big, and it would not be a farcical PR comment to say that this could revolutionise the way FIFA plays. I cannot say that it will work well, but it definitely will be a huge change. It can be summed up with two major points: We finally have a tackle button and the ‘Pressing’ function has now disappeared

Replacing the old ‘heat-seeking missile’ system is a ‘contain’ system. Using the contain button, you will be able to lock into the attacker, but it will not press them. When containing you can move with some freedom – by pushing the analogue stick towards the attacker you will get closer to them and when pulling it away will make him track at a further distance. You cannot while ‘containing’ actually get close enough to make the tackle. Tackling will now be down to you. They hope and I hope to that this will end the ‘pressure’ problems that FIFA 09, 10, and 11 have been ruined by, and instead make the defending more like it should be. It will hopefully become a case where the defender will be containing, covering, waiting for the opportunity and where ‘pressuring’ will be a case of removing options rather than sprinting into the tackle at a thousand miles an hour. It should hopefully make tackling at a sprint much harder, but also make containing easier. This should be, and I do believe really could be a dramatic restructuring of how the game works. Gone is the worst part of FIFA 11 replaced with a system which should finally allow you and encourage people to defend properly. Having said that, the moment the movement of the ‘contain’ function seems quite unnatural: the defender mirrors the attacker almost perfectly and with immediacy, and this worries me quite a lot. FIFA has for a long time had momentum problems, and if there is one thing the webcast lacked it was any real indication that these momentum problems have disappeared. Looking at this new contain function I see something which would, if not for its unrealistic reaction/turning, be almost redundant for any decent player should jockeying be realistically balanced. When ‘containing’ you have no choice over lateral movement, and the player tends to put himself right between the ball and the goal. This is often not going to be as effective as what you could do manually, putting yourself between passes and so on. I even question whether we need the ‘contain’ button at all: it could easily become something which will either be overpowered in a similar way to the press button of the past, or utterly useless. I really hope to see over the coming months that EA respond to these criticisms and look into improving the naturalness of the contain system. It would be a great pity, given that they have made the brilliant move to re-implement a tackle button, to tarnish it with another unrealistic defensive crutch.

A new defensive feature they announced was ‘Push & Pull’. When behind a player, this will allow you to make much more aggressive interactions with him, tugging, barging and so on by using the standing tackle button. They did say that referees would be on top of this – and you could be called up for doing this too much – but it is a clear and further improvement to the physicality behind FIFA.

There are now also in-air ‘slide tackles’. Before players could only slide along the ground, which would often lead to your player sliding under a ball and causing an egregious foul. Now players can make tackles when the ball is bouncing up high.

Secondary man usage has changed up quite a lot too. As opposed to just charging after the player with the ball, it now refers to what you are doing with your selected player. If you are pressuring from one side, taking out one lot of options, the secondary player will focus on cutting off other options.

Next they talked about precision dribbling, which is a group of changes which should massively improve your ability to dribble. They described this as being able to maintain closer control in traffic, as well as giving ability to shield while still dribbling. They showed us some real world examples which were inspirations for this feature, and then a few testbed videos of how it will work. In FIFA currently you pretty much can only dribble in front of yourself. You push the ball forward and run after it. With FIFA 12, with this contextual close control dribbling, you will be able to make lots of tight sideways touches, moving the ball and your body without actually going any real distance. This is something which has been vitally missing in FIFA for a long time (and something which the other game does really well), in terms of tight dribbling and moving in the final third this will represent a big upheaval for the series.
Precision dribbling will also allow for the first time some movement when shielding. FIFA 11 gave us the ability to jostle when moving on the ball, to hold players off and so forth, but FIFA 12 will allow you to do this when shielding a player from behind. Shielding in past FIFA’s has left you as a sitting duck, but now it looks like, with close control allowing you to manipulate your body around the ball and the shielding improvements, that proper hold up play, and skilful, incisive dribbling without skills will finally be possible.

A video which I found impressive was of an attacker passing a defender by turning on the ball, flicking it between his feet, and then moving off past the defender. It was similar to an improvised roulette, but it was all activated through the left stick, and it was that video which made it clear how substantial this change should be.
Next, they talked about the impact zones/impact engine. They say that this represents the biggest technical upheaval of FIFA since the next-gen engine was created: they have ripped out the old collision detection systems and replaced it with something a lot more organic. The old system they explained couldn’t really deal with multiple collisions – in the sense that when two players collide there will be multiple parts of their body clattering together. In old FIFAs, they would take into account the most significant collision only – meaning that collisions after this were neglected, causing lots of clipping and players being affected unrealistically. The new system can deal with this, and players are affected by each collision as they happen. The results in all honesty look like things the Euphoria can produce (having only seen a few collisions). There are of a much greater variety and much more credible reactions. The number of possible collisions is now nearly endless, we saw a purportedly once-in-a-million head-over-heels event, and a lot of other collisions in situations where FIFA used to fall down. Though this might sound as if it will just affect what happens after the tackle happens (and thus mostly aesthetic) it seems to actually go a lot further than that. Collisions now have an effect on the tackler and the tackled player – and tackled players seem to have a lot more resilience. They can now deal with being tackled in certain ways, stumbling but staying on their feet, and trying to use body movement to avoid the brunt of a tackle. Before, players would be running into a tackle and just continue running into it, whereas players will now do what they can to avoid, or at least cushion it. This means that players can dodge incoming tackles with body swerves: another factor which should nullify hyper-pressuring, as small body movements could easily avoid a fast-flying tackle.

Because they now have a lot greater understanding of the stress on each area of the body, they can now massively improve the way injuries work. Meaning we’ll have repeated impacts, bent knees and rolled ankles. Players will also now have the possibility of re-injury, where on coming off the back of an injury they can be more easily reinjured to that area again, and even self injury, where drained players may find themselves pulling a hamstring: we saw both of these in action. Fabregas, off the back of a knee injury was wearing a brace, took a small knock, and then was down again. Another player who had run the length of the pitch with the ball and then back makes a poor touch, stretches for the ball, and then pulls up with an injury. Animations will now show with more clarity how players are injured, and they’ll hold parts of their body in pain.

All together, these new improvements (and a lot more for the future promised off the back of the new Impact Zones) represent some quite substantial evolutions for football games. They say it permeates into every area of the game, and from what I have seen I can believe that. This isn’t quite the euphoria engine, but it’s a mighty big step towards that kind of thing, it looks beautiful, and I feel it will have a quite considerable effect all over the game.
Finally of the big four things they had to talk about was Pro Player Intelligence. This is a series of changes which change the way the AI thinks based on its own abilities, and the abilities of its teammates and its opponents. This means that players play to their strengths, and their opponent’s weaknesses. Defenders will try to guard against the strengths of the attackers, and playmakers will try to use their teammate’s abilities to get to goal. As example, we saw a testbed video of a player bombing down the wing, with Peter Crouch in the middle. In this situation a cross was played in quickly. In an exact same situation, but with David Villa replacing Peter Crouch, the winger decided to turn back and pass towards the top of the box. It’s the kind of feature which theoretically will work wonders, but could easily be almost unnoticeable. Without seeing a large amount of gameplay, it’s hard to judge.

An area they seem to have put a lot of work into is the ‘vision AI’ feature, a vision system which represents the players understanding of the area around them. Players can no longer see directly behind them – better players have better knowledge of areas to their left and right, and can see further faster. An illustration testbed video showed us exactly how their vision map was working: it appears like a series of wedges spreading around the player. As the player turns, their map will grow and shrink to represent what they can now see. A player like Fabregas has a higher angle of vision, and his vision wedges grow much faster than other players. Due to this he will ‘see’ passes which are further away much faster. On turning he almost immediately will grow aware of the other players. JS Park on the other hand, when turning becomes aware much slower and doesn’t ‘see’ the same pass until it is too late. The growth of the wedges is affected by each threat or opportunity that the player sees.

It will be interesting to find out how this affects the controlled player: but it should at the very least mean that players who still, even with Pro Passing, are dramatically under useful, have an extra advantage in their arsenal when it comes to lengthy passes. Hopefully it will also truly be the end to the spin-passes which have grown to be a popular hate figure in the last few FIFAs.

With the first few announcements it’s easy to be cynical, sceptical, excited, hyped, over hyped, and so forth. What I’ve seen excites me, but I remain sceptical. What I’ve heard about so far will not be enough to make FIFA 12 a great game, but it’s theoretically a very good start. EA have shown immense courage to actually rip parts of their enormously critically acclaimed game to pieces, renewing their defence system to a depth I simply didn’t believe they would, and totally replacing their collision system. FIFA 12 is already showing qualities that not only FIFA has never reached but no game before it from any studio has reached. This isn’t to say that it will be the best FIFA ever made, but it is to say that they have made a number of great steps. However disillusioned you may be about FIFA 11, it’s not time to give up on FIFA 12 or EA just yet. Some of my biggest problems have been looked at, but some others remain unknown quantities, hopefully in the run up to FIFA 12 we will hear even more good news.

[DISCLAIMER] The videos that we saw were from both the Test Bed environment and live FIFA 12 gameplay. Whilst what we saw was incredibly impressive, these videos are chosen with the express intent of demonstrating the new FIFA 12 features as simply as possible. FIFASoccerBlog will not be providing a definitive opinion on these new features until we get our hands on the game, we’re simply going to relay what we saw and what we were told.

More than one collision point = more organic collisions - Previously when players came together, one point of contact was taken into consideration and a premade animation was played based on that single contact, which left times where the outcome of a tackle looked nothing like it should have done based on the context of the collision. In FIFA12 players can now make contact with each other at more than one point giving much more fluid and natural collisions.

Momentum preservation - Players carry momentum into their tackles, meaning that the speed at which you hit someone will change the way you collide. Go in lightly and you’re less likely to upset them, steam into them and you’re going to do some damage. Players can carry on through minor collisions. It’s an isolated example but we did see a particularly meaty collision that caused a front flip and yes, it was fucking hilarious.

Less premade animations – No longer will the CPU be picking the best effort from a list of premade animations. Now animations can be worked out, in real time, taking many points into consideration. The result? More fluid animations that bear much more relation to the action that triggered them. Coupled with….

More intelligent animation resolution - …..and multiple points of contact, tackling and player contact should feel a lot more fluid and a lot less cagey. To quote Aaron McHardy, “the variety is almost endless”. We saw a head on collision result in one player get sent flying on to his back whereas one from the side caught the player enough to rotate him.

Real world physics - Player can take knocks but keep the ball, bounce off challenges and generally make contact with other players, which they will react to, but that won’t neccesarily force them to go down or to lose the ball.

No masking – Animations are no longer used to “mask” the contact made between players. Everything is calculated  considering the factors above.

The new engine not only looks very impressive but opens the door for True Injuries. A huge step away from the seemingly random injury model that’s currently in place, True Injuries means that the on pitch action can have a real impact (excuse the pun) on how players injure themselves. Players can injure themselves by landing awkwardly, streching muscles or twisting limbs. This should have a huge effect on CM, with players being able to re-injure previous problem points and even pick up career niggles such as persistent knee problems.

After the first view of the impact engine, my thoughts went somehow to the euphoria engine used in GTA4 and Red Dead Redemption, but it looked less clumsy and more concise. I can only hope it plays that way.

[DISCLAIMER] The videos that we saw were from both the Test Bed environment and live FIFA 12 gameplay. Whilst what we saw was incredibly impressive, these videos are chosen with the express intent of demonstrating the new FIFA 12 features as simply as possible. FIFASoccerBlog will not be providing a definitive opinion on these new features until we get our hands on the game, we’re simply going to relay what we saw and what we were told.

Tighter control near the touchline – Players will now be much more aware of their surroundings (Hooray!). As an example, players in possesion near the touchline will understand that they’re there, and keep tighter control of the ball to stop it running out of play.

Sprint > Jog > Close control - Close control has been added below jogging as a way of allowing players to take smaller, more frequent touches, keeping the ball closer and keeping tighter control.

Shielding - Players can now  dribble whilst shielding, meaning you can still move around the pitch whilst holding players off, rather than being rooted to the spot.

Allows more time and space - Something that seemed to be an upshot from a combination of both close control and tactical defending was attackers having more time and space on the ball. Allowing for…

More space around the area - In previous FIFAs I’ve found the final third almost a no go area especially in terms of playing slowly and trying to pick holes, with defenders pouncing on you the second you get close to the box. With close control you can find find more space in and around the area making it accesible. So now you’ll be able to play like Arsenal to your hearts content. Don’t forget to shoot though…

Maintain control in tight situations – Keeping the ball under tighter control will allow you to get out of tricky positions that would certainly have ended in to you being dispossesed in FIFA11. With the removal of auto tackling, players are going to have to work hard to get the ball off of you, creating the potential for some intense battles for possesion. We should see more options for holding the ball up before finding a window to release it and more opportunities to slice your way through defences with deft touches and smarts, rather than rainbow flicks and rabonas.

As with many of the points you will read today, they’re much easier to understand and interpret when seen rather than read about. If last year is anything to go by, then we can expect to see some publicly released test bed videos that explain how these features work and what they mean for the game overall.