6. Attacking Intelligence
The game has needed some development in this area for some time, and last year's attacking AI was little short of frustrating - but thankfully, this year, things have changed and EA Sports have continued their progression towards more realism by revamping the system to the benefit of the gameplay experience. FIFA 13 has an entirely new Attacking Intelligence system, with key but subtle features like players changing their runs to stay onside or looking forward to the next potential phase of attacks, pre-empting your own play and giving more options in attack. Of course this does make everything seem a little easier (or harder if you're the defending team), but it changes the feel of play from a solo concern with support to a genuine flowing team concern. Rather than having just one obvious option for an attacking ball, there are now several, with fellow players not only looking to make killer runs forward without your control, but also to make space-creating runs to open up further opportunities. Basically, you end up feeling like Xavi, spotting runs and playing inch-perfect passes onto the feet of your team-mates. As another nice touch, players can now be seen gesturing for where they want the ball, which is just one more step in making the attacking game feel both more realistic and more fluid all round.