Review: FIFA 10 (360)

With the birth of the current gen of consoles gamers were eagerly looking forward to what could be done with these series. How far could Konami push the boundaries of gameplay, what new one off features would EA produce to go with fancy graphics and its licenses. In 2008 though something changed and EA seemingly upped their game. Konami failed to respond and last year there was a complete about turn and Fifa 09 became the game of choice for football fans. Fifa 10 has a lot to live up to.

Starting with the presentation, it is identical to Fifa 09 in most areas, the menus are pretty much identical to last year. This isn't a bad thing of course, however with the abundance of options available they perhaps could use an overhaul to make them more accessible. That is a minor niggle though. The pre-match and in-game TV style presentation is a slick at it can be, again though there is a minor niggle, the replays are too short and at the end of a half or the end of the match the choice of replays doesn't seem to be the best. Some more thought could go into this for future iterations of the title. One thing EA do have up their sleeve is the loading screen, or as they like to call it the Arena. In Fifa 09 you had the 1v1 arena loading screen which was genius in its own right. It is still there yet this year they have expanded it to be something special. Boot up the game, go into the arena and hit the 'back' button. All of a sudden you are presented with various options. The 1st of these is the training match, set how many players per team, from 5 to 11 and right there without any loading you have a match. This really is brilliant and hopefully next season we will have a version of this online for those with BAP clubs. Where this excels is in something that many may not pick up on straight away, the play is a little less intense, players don't dive in as much and stand off a bit more, just like you would expect in a training session. It is only a small touch but it is a great touch. Another option you now have is the ability to create set-pieces. This mode is born out of the success it had in another EA Sports title (NHL), you can choose an area of the pitch where a set-piece will be taken. From here you can select a player and record his runs, do this for all 9 active players if you wish. When you have perfected your set-piece you can then assign this to the D-Pad to use in a match. 4 custom set-pieces from 8 areas of the pitch gives you 32 custom set-pieces to chose from. It works really well and will hopefully develop further over time to allow custom attacks and custom defending from open play.

So what about the actual gameplay? Fifa 09 was a massive stride forward in this genre and dragged computer football into the current gen. There were faults though and over time these became infuriating and really did need fixing. AI needed to be looked when defending and EA have done a good job in fixing this. Players seem to track runs and force loose passes much better this year, they also step in and intercept passes better than last year too. Going forward players are anticipating the ball in a more realistic manner and will often set off on a run where they expect a ball to go. This makes games feel so much more on edge and mistake feel more realistic as a result. The long awaited introduction of 360 degree movement is implemented to almost perfection, it does mean however there an adjustment period needed to get used to this after playing Fifa 09. Passing and shooting is also affected by this, with players sometimes needing to balance themselves before getting the ball away, this may well frustrate some, however after a period of adjustment it will become second nature. This also means the gap between manual passing and assisted shooting isn't as big as last year. EA should be commended on this. Once again it is another improvement that isn't immediately obvious. The biggest problem with the gameplay is one that has plagued football titles for years and concerns the lesser rated teams. The way players stats are decreased is unbalanced and whereas in previous years this was done with lower pace, in Fifa 10 it is done by lowering pace and strength, which means if you play as a League 2 side you have to content with slow players who can be knocked easily off the ball. EA need to look at how this is done for future titles, poor skills, passing, first touch etc is acceptable, but a rubbish player can still be fast and strong. It feels like a get out clause from the developers to make the worse teams actually harder to play with. It needs to be fixed sooner rather than later. That aside though the on-pitch action is the best yet.

The BAP on pitch is as good as it was last year and with the introduction of Virtual Pro it adds a new layer of depth. You create a player from scratch and you then take him online and join clubs, the more you play, the better you play then the better you become. This is the start of MMORPG style gaming in a sports title. Levelling up seems flawed right now and certain positions seem to be treated harsher than others. However it is a innovation in its infancy and can be forgiven. What cannot be forgiven though is the omission of the BAP clubs from last year using actual real life teams. You can now only do this by setting up Online Team Play, rather than last years dressing room set up. Also EA saw fit to remove custom tactics from online games, while there is a way around this it is a bit of a pain not being able to set this up pre-match on a game to game basis. Hopefully these omissions will make a comeback in Fifa 11.

Online is the best yet, matches are almost entirely lag free in 1v1, BAP and Online Team Play, it is certainly a marked  improvement on Fifa 09. Credit once again to EA for making these improvements when they could easily have let them slide another year. The introduction of setting parameters for online matches means you are no longer having to cross fingers before each match hoping it isn't another game against Manchester United, Real Madrid or Barcelona controlled by someone who will quit if they concede. You can now select a team level by star ratings, you can filter players by DNF, control schemes used. It now means you can get the game you want. Of course though if you chose 2-3 star and manual control filters you will be waiting a lot longer than if you filtered to 5 start and any controls. You cannot blame EA for that though and it is good to have the choice. What EA can be blamed for though is that they still haven't fixed the camera bug in Online Team Play, if you select a zoomed out tele-cam, then it will not save these settings, meaning you then have to pause the game at the start to set the camera again. Oh yes pausing, for some reason, EA have seen fit to remove the master pause from BAP and Online Team Play mode. Meaning now you have to hope your opposition are kind enough to let you set the cameras before they kick off, very annoying indeed. Also, EA have reduced the lobby timer from 5 minutes to 2 minutes. This is fine if playing random people as it stops the game being held up, however an organised game between friends, this becomes a pain, especially as each time someone goes to ready it knocks 10 seconds off from the timer. It is very hard to see why EA have made these bizarre changes.

Manager Mode is likely to come under a lot of scrutiny from fans of the series, as EA promised more realism and depth. There is a problem though, there is a long list of bugs and issues that make it feel unfinished and rushed. Bugs including players signing contracts will annoy the most and still there are some every odd results that don't seem like one offs. It will likely be patched, but things like this need to ready for release. The age of DLC has a lot to answer for as it feels like an excuse for developers to get a game out and then think about fixing it later.

All in all the game is an improvement over last year where it matters. However there are various niggles and omissions that do grate. It is though a very solid base on which to develop and if the bi-annual Euro / World Cup title can add the amount of improvements that Euro 2008 offered over Fifa 08 before moving onto Fifa 09, then we have lots too be excited about. Just make sure you do listen to the fans EA and don't rest on your laurels like your competitor did the warning signs are there, however EA still have time to turn it around. An overall improvement on the pitch but a game ruined by faults off of it.

Rating: 7 / 10

Words by Bradley Marsh