Fifa 10 review
Would you trade something for greatness??? This is the question that I feel has to be put to the Fifa team, as this is how close they were to making a football game that could have stood the test of time!!!
As we stand Fifa 10 its just a good football game probably one of the best the Fifa team have made but just short of being one of those games you talk about for years to come....
So what is the problem I hear you ask? Well its little things mostly and maybe one big one! Let’s start with some of the missing features, such as live season. Yes it is back from last year’s game and this time with the number 2 added to the end of it, but.... it’s not on the disk! To actually play live season you have to pay for extra for the DLC at around £7.99. Now i know EA is all about making money but to buy a game and then see there’s something they have left out, and are trying to sell me on day one of the games release just seems like they are trying to hard to rip me off! On top of that they have the nerve to advertise live season on the back of the box leading the normal customer to believe that it’s a part of the game you are buying. But the real sting in the tail is the tournaments that are missing! “World Cup!!!”
The 10 year old me would be crying about now! why? Well because this is a game that is made for the hardcore football fan and in that sense focuses more toward club teams rather than countries. If you knew nothing about football (like the 10 year old me) and you just wanted to have fun with this game, what would you do? You would pick a country then pick a tournament like the World Cup or Euro Cup for example and go about making yourself the hero! But unfortunately that will not be happening here because Fifa 10 does not contain any country tournament! Don’t get me wrong you can make your own by using the make a tournament feature but this just doesn’t feel the same as the real thing with all the glitz and glamour that comes with it.
They have also left out a lot of countries from the roster, the likes of Brazil and Argentina are here but some of the smaller teams are nowhere to be found. So you might have a problem recreating some of those games. This may not affect everyone but I’m sure someone somewhere will feel upset by this. The conspiracy theorist in me feels that they left these options out intentionally in order to sell you Fifa World Cup which comes out in 2010 and coincide with the actual tournament. (gooooo England) on the other hand it could just be getting a game out ever year is catching up with them, but I doubt it as these are little thing.
Now I come to that one big thing that i was talking about - BUGS! This game has more of them than the Lion King movie “Hakuna Matata” if they were aiming this game at the hardcore football fans, then they’ve also failed here. Bugs can range from you player freezing in the middle of the pitch for a second, to the laggy online play! EA have said they will be fixing these problems but only time will tell. As we stand you really can’t play this game on a hardcore level as you could just blame the game for why you lost, and you wouldn’t be wrong.
On the positive side, let’s turn to why this game is the best that the Fifa team have made to date. The main reason is, its just plays so well. The players always do what you tell them to do and the new 360 degree movement feature really dose work. When playing the computer I found myself getting so immersed in some of the games that if a player did something silly i would be shouting at the TV “what the hell are you doing you lazy...“
Also playing some of the Be A Pro games where you control one player from behind the shoulder view just feel so intense and fun to the point were if your mistake cases your team to loose or miss a goal you will be hiding your head in shame! But in the same sense if you score a goal, you want everyone to know it was you. This mode can be really fun (that is if it’s not chugging up with lag)
All in all though this is a really good football game and with the World Cup around the corner I’m sure everyone will want a football game to play, to recreate that match you’ve just watched. So if you do like football, even in the slightest, you should play this game to see how far the beautiful game has come on consoles. But if you just want to get into the world cup festivities you might be better served to hold off for the Fifa World Cup game that will inevitably be coming out next year.
