FIFA 11 Review

The creators behind FIFA Soccer 11 certainly took advantage of the number in the title. Heading into the 2010-2011 season, this year’s FIFA offers a variety of changes and additions to the series, the most notable one being the ability to play as the goalkeeper. This year, players will be able to truly play an 11vs11 game online, as well as create a virtual Pro goalie. Along with some excellent interface changes and improved gameplay mechanics, this year’s soccer game from EA is one of the best entries in the series yet for this console generation. Though the presentation takes a few steps forward as well as few steps back, overall this is a much improved package from last year, worth looking forward to for all soccer fans.

In recent FIFA titles, there aren’t really many changes that needed to be made at this point when it comes down to core gameplay. The game on the pitch flows wonderfully, and with only a few complications here and there, the developers didn’t need to change a whole lot. Instead, FIFA 11 adds to the experience on the field with some tweaks and modifications to the controls and player behaviors to add some variety and randomness to the game. There is a new Pro Passing system where the player must manually control the direction and even power of the passes, so the game no longer feels like ping pong. Things are still a tad fast on regular speed settings, but it’s easy to get used to. The new addition to gameplay this year is the Personality system.

With Personality+, the game finally treats all players differently, and their skills are no longer based on stats. Players can now have up to 5 personality traits, which actually define their actions on the pitch and affect their attributes in key situations. It’s an improvement similar to last year’s awareness, now letting players excel in some areas of the game. The personality types range from being excellent in the air, to being a long-range scorer, to a poacher who tucks away shots inside the penalty box. All of these traits are assigned to players that act like it in real life, and for the most part the characteristics are accurate.

The system extends beyond the basic on and off the ball play. Different players now have a more appropriate body and physical attributes, which affects how they enter into physical contact and battle for the ball. There are also many new celebrations in the game, including those unique to the player in real life, which look great and certainly add a personal touch to every superstar goal scorer. The goalkeepers also benefit from Personality, as it adds two different styles of play for goalies to choose from, each with different attributes and effects in the game.

Both friendly and enemy AI has also been tweaked to a noticeable extent. Players now play to their strengths, so poachers will always try to get inside the penalty box as you try and cross the ball to them from the wings. Opponent teams will not only play to their strong players and skills, but will also track the personalities of your squad, and attempt to prevent said poachers from getting a shot on goal within the danger zones. As a whole, the AI seems to be much improved this year, particularly the friendly AI is much more capable of getting into open positions, which leads to some fantastic midfield play and breakaway opportunities.

The game’s physics engine also feels a tad different, though mostly for the better. The ball will no longer stick to players, as such the aerial lob passes are now difficult to control. So a pass that’s too strong will bounce right off a player’s chest and an opponent will have a chance to challenge for the ball. The AI is much more likely now to use their own dribbling skills and actually get past your defenders, which makes for a challenging and realistic experience compared to last year. Still, there are odd moments when players fall down during tackles too easily, resulting in as many as three players on their stomachs as the ball awkwardly rolls off to the side. These moments are rare, but they do look odd.

Meanwhile, the offline game modes in FIFA 11 went through a bit of an overhaul. The previously separate modes of Be a Pro and Manager mode are now connected, offering users the chance to take their player from the very start of a career to being a legend, slowly increasing their club influence until they are able to become a full time manager. This Career mode offers a way to tie all the single player experiences into one, though there are no sweeping changes inside the actual modes. There’s the Player mode, which is essentially Be a Pro; Player manager that allows users to still play on a team but also influence the tactics and some managerial decisions; and Manager mode, which lets you control the fate of a club in every aspect. Putting these three modes into a Career provides for an extremely lengthy playtime per save, but it’s doubtful that users will actually continually progress through. It’s likely that players opt to stick with their favourite offline modes, so progressing through from player to a manager may not be what some folks want. Still, it’s an excellent option to have and to complete the experience.

In Player mode, users can once again create a likeness of themselves and begin their path to greatness. There are tons of new visual customization options this year, and as well you still have the ability to import your Gameface from EA’s website. Your virtual player will also be able to unlock one of the many Personality traits in the game this year, though only 5 can be equipped at any one time, which adds a new level of strategy and uniqueness to your Pro. On the pitch, players can choose to play as the whole team or just your Pro. When only controlling your player, the rest of the team is guided by AI, which makes for some awkward plays and easily lost possession. The game is still rather poor at giving you feedback as to what exactly you’re doing wrong that negatively affects your match rating. Even if you play perfect position and never miss a pass, it’s still very difficult to achieve a rating above an 8.

And with poor ratings comes bench time. To the game’s credit, it is very realistic in not letting you play every single game until you’ve got enough skill to participate. If you perform poorly as well, the coach will sit you out for a few matches. If you choose to debut with a strong team, chances are they will let you go at the end of the season since you’re not able to meet their skill expectations. The player is then presented with a neat list of interested teams with whom you can sign. What’s awesome is that each team states what position you will hold, ie signing for another top team will drop you back down to a reserve player status, while signing with a poor team could even land you as a captain right off the bat.

The big addition to player mode is the ability to play as a goalkeeper. While this may sound like a boring spot to be, it actually proves to be a challenging position yet intuitive enough to enjoy. Offline, players can play as a goalie just as they would an outfield player, controlling their position and making saves as best they can. There are various aids that can be turned on and off, such as the ball trajectory and suggested body position. Making saves is quite satisfying, and overall the controls seem very fleshed out and make it fun to be a keeper. However, when your teammates go on the attack, you can still guide them by using shouts, sort of a remote control mechanism for your team. They won’t always listen, but its still a fun addition and makes the game less boring when the action is at the other end of the field. Online, goalies are sure to cause some problems this year – it could be a position that nobody wants to play, and it is easily exploitable by those wanting to grief their team. Still, it is a great concept to finally play a true 11 vs 11 game with your Pro club.

The second mode of play, Player Manager, has probably seen the least changes. You’re still in charge of your own player, but now you are also able to influence your club’s decisions when it comes to formations, tactics, and transfers. It’s an interesting mode that acts as a bridge between being a player and a manager. The Manager mode itself saw a number of changes this year, most aimed at improving the experience and making the AI managers more realistic in their actions. During transfer season, there is now a robust search tool that finally allows you to find specific players quickly, based on a number of criterias. This is a welcome addition, and makes the transfer market a ton easier to navigate. All signings now also take place in two phases, as first you must agree on a transfer fee with a club, and then sign a player to a contract that he accepts. The AI is very intelligent in what offers it will accept, and there is also an assistant included that evaluates your offer and predicts what the result will be. As well, loaning players is finally a properly working option this year, with many transactions taking place between AI teams as well as your own. The speed of the simulation is also increased, no longer must you sit through the Board opinion and Player Transaction screens after every match.

Online play remains a strong point of the game, with Pro Clubs ready to take the pitch and compete for the monthly championships. To speed things up this year, teams are able to assign positions and tactics for their players before they begin search for another club to play, so there is a reduced waiting time to get the game started. As mentioned earlier, human goalkeepers may be a concern in Pro games, though with Clubs players are hopefully loyal to the team so problems should be non-existent. Head to head play remains entertaining as ever, and the skill point system continues to ensure that matches are fair, at least after the game has had a chance to estimate your skill level.

There are other additions to the game package as well, such as the Creation Center. This web-based tool lets you create various players as well as teams and then import them into the game for various modes of play. It is a neat addition, since the web interface allows for much more fluent interface and tons more customization options than would have been available in-game. Another new feature is the Music and Audio import system, which allows very quick and detailed customization of all the sounds heard in the game, from arena music to goal celebrations to the main menu tunes. It all works well and is easy to implement. New Theater tools provide a much-needed interface for all the saved replays and screenshots in the game to be viewed and uploaded at any time.

If there is one area in the game that remains uncertain, it’s the presentation. This year’s game features updated player models, a vastly enhanced interface menu system and many new great looking stadiums. During the course of the game, there are often updates (as well as at half time) about other matches going on, which is a very welcoming addition. The music is still an excellent mix of worldwide hits, and the commentary remains solid, if a little repetitive. These are all good updates, but there are also problems. There are some new cutscenes in the game, and one in particular seems to be very misplaced. There is a scene where players are running away from the action slowly, as if a great chance was just missed. It’s a good scene, however for an odd reason it is used to bring in a substitution, making it feel awkward. Other problems in cutscenes exist, such as players disappearing or glitching into one another. Still, a lot of good can be said about a game where the bigger problems are those in cutscenes – but we still wish EA Sports would work these things out.

With the addition of goalkeeper play, FIFA 11 has really reached a pivotal point in the series. No game before it has come this far in terms of gameplay on the pitch. The football here is solid as ever, with some physics tweaks and new player Personalities adding a new element to the gameplay. Perhaps it is not innovative, but it works in moving the series forward with significance. The new offline Career mode brings all of the game’s single player into one neat package, offering the freedom to progress from one stage in a player’s life to another. Player mode is improved with more realistic coach behaviour and player attributes. Manager mode offers a robust set of tools to help with transfers and a much better AI system to really make you work towards creating a great squad. The presentation, especially on the pitch, remains hit or miss, through it’s mostly been improved where needed. Even with a few stumbles, FIFA 11 is easy to recommend to all those who are ready to pick up a controller for the new season.