EA Sports has been publishing the incredibly successful FIFA series since the mid 90’s and this year the annual release, FIFA 11 is due to release on September 28th. In recent years FIFA has outperformed its main competitor in Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer, formerly known as Winning Eleven.
EA decided to reboot the franchise a couple of years back and has since added to the series with every iteration. FIFA 11 has continued this trend and finally added the ‘Be A Goalkeeper’ mode which allows players to fully control the keeper and play a full 11 vs 11 online. Also new are the 360 degree player movements, passing and shooting systems. The game has received a major animation and AI overhaul this year and the physics as well as field player’s skills greatly improve the FIFA experience. A tall lanky defender will not be able to one touch a ball nearly as well as C. Ronaldo or Mesut Ozil. The passing system is much less of predictable and the players’ abilities come into play much more this year.
When playing FIFA in the past I always used to think: “This could be much better” or “They use the same animations”. FIFA 11 seems to be showing just how much work EA has done to take FIFA from a good game to a great game. Previously the FIFA series felt good but lacked the realistic feel of a real game on Television which is reflected by how 50/50 tackles are aren’t always the same or when sloppy passes hit the heel of a team mate and simply how the ball physics are in line with what players would expect.
I had a great time with FIFA 11 and am looking forward to review the final build of the game.
