5. Online Experience
Community is the buzz word this time around, multi-platform, connected social gaming and competitions gives FIFA 13 amazing longevity. Of all the improvements, this one will ensure FIFA stays numero uno for another year. It’s this innovation that has made EA so renowned. Thankfully, Club FIFA ties all of this together in such a harmonious way. Ultimate team, co-op matches and matchmaking improvements demonstrate where EA’s R&D focus has been since FIFA 2012.
The connectivity and online functionality is fantastic, but the best thing about FIFA 13 is that the egg heads at EA have adopted an ‘if it ain’t broke, just tweak it’ motto. Subtlety not sensationalism is the order of the day and I for one am grateful that FIFA has clearly continued, with some much needed improvements, its vision of football simulation. How can you improve on the greatest football sim ever? Little by little goes a long way, it seems.
FIFA 13 is set for release on September 28th, 2012.
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9 Comments
I played the original FIFA games (FIFA 94, i think) with the legend Joe Della Savia up front and then drifted to PES were i have stayed ever since. You make some good points in this article….possibly enough to send me back to my roots.
Looking forward to your thoughts on GTA 5
Like Notorious, I started out with the fifa franchise back in the isometric view it had on the SNES/megadrive I think it was, then I eventually went over to ISS international pro on the N64, then PES for the next few years as fifa was always behind in terms of gameplay. Until PES 5, fifa was a shadow of a game in comparison, but with fifa ’08 I think it was I found my allegiance shifting. And since then I’ve bought every fifa on the day of release and played it all year round eagerly anticipating the next one.
I tried the PES demo for this year, it seems an improvement over the last one sure, but fifa will win out for me again. PES has the unfortunate handicap of lacking the official licenses and with this they have to be MUCH better than fifa before I’ll consider buying it, and they just seem to lack the innovation to do this.
Good point.
Licenses are a big thing these days, but remember PES has the Champions league rights now. I agree, though, the FIFAPro license does make it tough for PES. Worth every penny and they sure don’t come cheap. That’s one of the reasons there are only two (good) franchises around these days, I guess.
dont forget you can patch PES to be official ;)
im the same though. got the first PS1 fifa (before that it was sensi soccer on the amiga). then moved to PES until fifa09 where i have been since.
i just get annoyed when they continually fail to fix bugs that have been around for ages.
all their focus is on the UT cash cow now and i only play manager mode and the occasional versus when a mate comes down, but im 37 and not many mates play games any more.
You have three elements you covered in this article that shouldn’t have been in it.
1- presentation ( not entirely but I see why you included because of the new feature ): FIFA always got the better sound design in their games but the only improvement is the match day which is a welcomed addition to the series, nothing new ( NBA 2K had it in years but it’s nice to see it implemented in other sports games ).
2- the other two areas are “game modes” and “online experience”, you shouldn’t have included these two factors for the simple fact that the demo didn’t provide an option to experience neither features and for that reason you can’t comment and put your opinion on something you didn’t touch yet.
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Now onto the real stuff :)
1- animation in the latest FIFA demo is incredible, as always FIFA provide smooth looking animations and for the past few years PES playing catch up, however, PES 13 is neck and neck when it comes to animations especially with the added feature of player ID ( something which is also implemented in the NBA 2K series for years ), controlling the best of the best never felt as realistic as ever before which brings me to the next point.
official licences is great but when you got all the players animations the same then we got a problem, FIFA offers a great football game but that’s about it, there is no feeling of individuality when it comes to FIFA games, you control Messi just like you control Robben, Ineista or any similar player, they all animate in the same fashion we might as well create 3 generic players and put the same attributes for messi, Iniesta and Robben and would got the same result.
you can make the hardest moves in any other player like it’s nothing, on the other hand try making feints/skill moves with Pepe you will see the difference between him and Ronaldo or Messi or Di maria…etc etc, he will do the move but the ball will go far from his legs and he has to run to catch it and control it again, THAT doesn’t happen in FIFA.
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Last but not least.
I’d like everyboy reading my post to experiment, because after these trials you guys will appreciate PES 13.
1- choose the hardest difficulty in both games, try FIFA first and don’t go guns blazing for the goal, try playing a game of possession and go with your team before the 18th yard area, don’t cross the penalty area be outside it( between the half center and the penalty area around the 22 yards ) as long as you could and see what happens, the AI defenders will not move and try to intercept the ball, just pass the ball between players near you for the whole half time and you will get to percentage up to 89% and I am not an experienced FIFA player and that’s on the hardest difficulty Im not kidding.
After that try the PES demo 2, put it on the hardest difficulty and see if you could do the same, the most I got is about 74% possession because the AI actually acts and reacts better.
And why FIFA doesn’t have a double team button for defending like in PES and also like the real thing?
2- this is undoubtedly the most disappointing aspect every year with FIFA, when you control Messi before starting a match, try running/dribbling opposite his leg in circles, the guy will change from a lefty to righty in a matter of seconds in the most unrealistic way possible because Messi in real life doesn’t have a strong dribble in his right foot, he is a master with his left foot.
Plus he can shoot as powerful and as comfortably in his right foot as much as his left foot and he even do the flip-flop/elastico in his right foot, this is as unreal as it gets.
Now try doing the same stuff with Messi in PES 13 demo 2 ( because its the latest build don’t download demo1 ), put the difficulty to beginner in PES 13 demo so you can run freely, go with Messi in the defending area for Barca so you can run even more freely and try doing the same thing and see what happens.
There is even an attribute for weak-foot strength in the PES series so players like Ronaldo will have better control and can actually use his weak foot more than other players just like what he does in real life.
FIFA is a great football game but when you want to get in-depth and wanna see realistic gameplay PES will always be on top in terms of team style playing ( ie if you choose Barca or play against them you feel playing against Barca possession game ) or as controlling individual players.
Sorry for the long post ;)
Good points, dude. Don’t apologize for the long post. Thanks for your thoughts. I’ll have a go at your experiment too.
To clarify, stay at the 44 yards area for the possession test.
Thanks.
Just read your comment, absolutely outstanding read, I play both Fifa and pes, but i’m getting Pes because it comes out on my birthday (yay) and i’ve decided to hang up my Fifa boots. When playing Pes 13, on superstar, I truly have to see whats around me, and holding L2 so i can actually make runs and so on is just great,
According to Fifa, if the AI is improved, why is it that i’m joleon lescott, and the computer is oxlade chamberlain, and all he does is run up the wing, he notices he can immediately go past me o he runs basically back and forth and then passes it out, whulst on Fifa Ronaldinho’s attacking straight at the goal, megs me twice, cuts inside and scores. Not only that, but i’ve noticed that not many people have mentioned how awful the passing is on fifa, so mch so that if you actually try to make a through ball next to your player, it will try and be ‘clever’ and play it inside your opponent, thus making you give the ball away.
can’t wait for pes, amanger mode and become a legend is going to be bashed out on my birthday, also, if your interested check out TheMidngihtKid on youtube and listen to his fifa 13 breakdown, does really talk sense
oh and sorry for the typo, everboy = everybody I missed the d letter.