A beautiful version of the beautiful game
Football titles are fickle beasts. They have tread the tightrope, balancing innovation with refinement. Grand, sweeping changes would alienate the fan base, but there have to be enough advancements to justify the annual price point. The good news is that FIFA 11 is the best footie title yet; the bad news is that the changes wrought on the beloved FIFA 10 might not be to everyone's taste.
Right off the bat, FIFA 11 feels different from its predecessor. The highly touted Pro Passing and Personality Plus make an immediate and unmistakable impact on the game, providing an altogether more physical and unpredictable version of the beautiful game.
Pro Passing is the feature that is most likely to trip up veterans of the series. In previous titles, passing was heavily assisted, and pinball midfield passages of play became common practise. In FIFA 11, pass direction and power is manual, resulting in less predictable exchanges between players. It takes some getting used to, and matches can get bottled up in midfield battles, but the net effect is more realistic and satisfying.
The Personality Plus system works as advertised, imbuing players with a slew of traits that make a visible impact on the way that they play. Having trouble getting around a defensive powerhouse like John Terry? Perhaps a speedster like Theo Walcott is the answer, or a strength player like Gabriel Agbonlahor, or a trickster like Fernando Torres. You might even want to eliminate contact with Terry altogether, and shot from outside the box with a powerful strike from Steven Gerrard. The options, and how you utilise them, are endless, and performing well in matches soon becomes reliant on understanding the strengths and weaknesses of certain players and your team as a whole.
This mentality extends to defence too. The 360 degree Battle for Possession sees players almost climbing over each other in pursuit of the ball, but body position and skill-sets determine how successful their tackles will be, and judging how long your player can successfully jostle for the ball is important. The system lends a new physicality to matches, and new animations make the crunching tackles ring with authenticity.
These three additions make FIFA 11 look and feel very different from last year's outing. Less accurate passing has slowed the pace somewhat, encouraging more thoughtful play as you seek a way through your opposition's defence. Midfield battles rage on as players look for the upper hand, and set pieces benefit from the more realistic jostling as players fight for prime position.
On the gameplay front, then, FIFA 11 ticks all the boxes. And while veterans of the series will have to endure a period of adjustment, I'm confident the changes will be well received.
The changes to game modes, on the other hand, might be a bit divisive.
The most noticeable change is to the single-player campaign options. Previously split between Be a Pro and Manager Mode, the new Career option merges the two, offering the option to pursue a career as a player, manager, or player-manager. The duties of a manager have been refined too, and backroom staff options - like scouts and coaches - have been automated. This means that the role of a manager revolves largely around buying and selling players and managing team fatigue. With less manager input and fewer stats to track, the game is clearly playing to its strengths and avoiding a duplication of efforts with titles like Football Manager. Personally, I welcome the streamlined approach, but there will be fans out there that will find the new system less agreeable.
New this year is the Be a Goalkeeper mode, which sees the player between the sticks. There are on-screen prompts and assists help you get to grips with the new position, and saving blinding shots and key penalties is a blast. Unfortunately, the life of a goalie is a solitary one, and matches can be dull affairs. Goalkeepers can call tactics to the players up-field, but the lack of direct control can be frustrating. On the whole, the new mode feels like innovation for innovation's sake, and it doesn't really offer anything of substance to players. The only time Be a Goalkeeper mode really comes into its own in online team play, where games tend to be more open-ended.
The online game modes will be familiar fodder for fans. Head-to-head ranked and unranked matches are still in evidence, and mostly lag-free, while the 10-on-10 team play mode has been expanded to 11-on-11 with the addition of a playable goalkeeper. New this year is the ability to set up Friend Leagues for others to join, with a customisable number of matches played between multiple teams to decide the winner.
Visually, FIFA 11 marks another step up for the franchise, though a lot of the changes are incremental in nature. Well-known players look more realistic than ever, but once you start venturing into less exposed leagues you're bound to find eerie, wax-faced players populating the pitch. The presentation of the game is also top-notch, with commentary (from Andy Grey and Martin Tyler again) that, while not always perfect, at least doesn't grate. But if FIFA 11 doesn't quite meet your expectations, there are a number of ways to augment the experience. The online Creation Centre affords you the ability to create or re-create teams, and offers a startling depth of customisation, and songs and team chants can be imported into the game to give it that personal flare.
On the whole, FIFA 11 features a wealth of refinements and improvements that make it the best football game yet. A lot of that success is rooted in tiny, incremental changes to the core gameplay that make the action feel familiar but fresh. Fun, addictive, and loaded with replay value, FIFA 11 is a beautiful version of the beautiful game.
