Ultimate Guide To FIFA
FIFA 10 (out of 10)
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This week, I realised two very important things.
The first is that I do not look good in a full-body lycra suit. As in, really not good. Actually, I don’t think it’s possible for ANYONE to look good in head-to-toe lycra.
Except, perhaps, Megan Fox, but I’m getting sidetracked…
The second thing I realised is that it’s going to be very difficult for me to enjoy playing FIFA 09 as much as I used to before this week. Not because I’ve suddenly decided it’s a bad game, which couldn’t be farther from the truth, and not because I’ve simply spent far too long playing it, which probably is true. Nope, the reason I’m struggling with FIFA 09 all-of-a-sudden is because I’ve just spent two days playing a version of FIFA 10 that was still some way from being finished, and it was absolutely incredible.
Both of these things occurred to me after arriving back from a trip to EA SPORTS’ jaw-dropping FIFA headquarters in Vancouver, Canada. The first when I downloaded the pictures from my camera of me being motion-captured in the new Moven suit, and the second when I fired up FIFA 09 and wondered where the 360-degree dribbling had gone.
Playing FIFA 09 for those first few minutes really hit home to me what a fantastic game FIFA 10 is, and that’s the really clever thing about it – the changes in 10 are subtle enough so that the game doesn’t feel in any way alien when you play it for the first time, yet significant enough to make you realise just how impressive and vital they are, once you go back to a version without the improvements. The 360-degree dribbling, for example, feels instantly natural to you when your player picks the ball up. It takes no time at all to get used to, which is a pretty incredible achievement from a gameplay point of view considering how many more options you now have, literally, at your fingertips.
Of course, the fact that I was thinking about this while sitting in my living room playing FIFA 09, rather than back at FIFA central in Canada playing 10, didn’t exactly brighten my mood – the offices where EA’s FIFA team are based are a footy fan’s dream. For starters, there’s the full-size pitch – complete with the EA logo in the centre, just like the one you see in Arena mode – which is impressive to say the least, but the football theme doesn’t begin an end there. Giant versions of Ronaldinho and Franck Ribery cover the doors to the lifts that take you up to the floor the team are based on, which is dominated by club flags and shirts hanging from the ceilings, TV screens and PC monitors everywhere show games from many different countries and leagues, and even the meeting rooms are named after the world’s greatest stadiums.
Basically, it’s the perfect place to settle down for a couple of days of playing FIFA 10, which is exactly what myself and a bunch of other lucky journalists did – not that there was much settling. The PS3 and 360 versions of the game had barely been running for 30 seconds before someone jumped out of their seat following a shot at goal or, in my case, to say nasty words about the referee. And that’s the other really, really good news about FIFA 10 – for all the improvements, of which there are many, the game is still packed with jump-out-of-your-seat moments. I honestly can’t recall anyone being bored while playing, even for a few seconds, and I’m talking about journalists here remember.
That doesn’t mean all the matches were frenzied goal-fests either. In some ways the games that went goalless for large periods were just as entertaining as the high-scoring clashes, as players made use of the improved passing to zip the ball around and wait for an opportunity, or goalkeepers demonstrated their improved reaction times by making incredible double saves that simply weren’t possible in 09. Even the referees did their bit to keep things fast-paced and exciting, by awarding free-kicks and dishing out cards or tellings-off in-play, without using cut scenes.
In between games, we got to speak to the team behind FIFA 10 about how they keep a track of thousands of players’ real-life attributes to ensure they’re properly represented in the game, how they take real crowd sounds from footy grounds and bring them to your TV and how they motion capture stars like Wayne Rooney to make sure the players move as realistically as possible. That’s when I managed (just) to squeeze into the infamous lycra suit I mentioned earlier. It was interesting stuff, so make sure you check back here every week for more on those.
Everything about the trip to FIFA central was impressive, but, for me, most impressive of all was the way the game played. It just felt right. Don’t forget, we’re not even talking about the final version here. That’s how good FIFA 10 is going to be.
The only negative part of the trip was that EA failed to Neuralyze me – Men In Black style – and wipe my memory on my way out, which is why I’m in my current situation of not being able to go back to 09 just yet. I will of course, because it’s still a fantastic game, but I hope October 2 gets here quickly.
See you next week.
Darren
