Alright Boyz...FIFA 2011 Demo

[DaddyTorgo]

Thoughts?

Playing on the hardest difficulty level I found passing to be more difficult (maybe that's because I stepped up a difficulty level too though?), with less ability to shield the ball. Scoring chances were definitely at a premium, even playing as say Real Madrid. In the half-dozen or so games that I played, I most commonly scored 0 or 1 goal. Only once did I score 2 (and that was with Madrid).

Despite that, some of my goals were gorgeous and very realistic. Parried saves that I slotted under the keeper, balls that caromed off the crossbar down to a poaching striker who then vollied it in...beautiful crosses.

Need to give it some more time tonight.

[DaddyTorgo]

What - nobody else DLed and played last night?

Bunch of wankers.

[JetsIn06]

DLing now.

[DaddyTorgo]

I need to try playing as a goalie when i get home. I can hardly wait.

Apparently you can also play as the goalie in the loading screen...maybe by hitting select or something you can change between goalie/shooter.

Also...didn't realize you can change game-speed before the game. Will try that tonight and see if a slower pace makes it easier to actually go on the attack. The default pace was very hard at times to get out of my own half and get on the attack it seemed.

[Big Fo]

I've played 4-5 games now but that doesn't count for much since the games end so quickly with two minute halves or whatever the demo is set at.

The AI has faked me out a few times now that it actually uses skill moves when dribbling though it seems to use them when unnecessary at times, I was at least seven yards from a player and he randomly did a Zidane spin while dribbling down the sideline.

It seems like the player's AI teammates make smarter runs when in possession in the opposition third now, I just scored a nice team goal after Iniesta broke into some open space in between the OL centerbacks and I put a nice finesse shot into the corner.

While messing around in the arena the long-range shooting feels different. I couldn't do it at all in the two previous games before I read about the double-tap method. Now doing that sends some real weak efforts at the goal.

[Marc Vaughan]

Will probably grab it at some point but to be honest despite everyone at SI raving about it FIFA 2010 didn't grab me, hated the shooting system (or the tap at keeper button as it appears to be for me ) ... as such still a PES man.

[Big Fo]

The shame about PES is that even if I liked it as much or more than FIFA (I haven't actually played any of the PS360 versions yet but I will download the demo eventually), all my friends that I like to play online with will be getting FIFA anyway. And it wouldn't be a smart usage of time and money to get three soccer games (since I'll also be getting FM) in addition to all of the non-soccer games I'll want coming out from now until the end of the year (Civ V alone will be taking up a lot of my time).

I thought FIFA 10 was pretty good but after playing it a bunch was surprised at how many people seemed to think it was great. I thought the World Cup game was a significant improvement, one of the best sports games I've played in recent years.

[Scoobz0202]

I really liked the demo so far. The game play felt really fluid.

Is this version going to address all teams playing pretty much the same soccer?

[illinifan999]

Enjoying the demo, but wish they would've picked some new teams for the it. You don't put either of the CL finalists in the demo? Oh well, guess I'll just have to wait to see how they screw up Inter's jerseys this year.

[DaddyTorgo]

I need to get much better at passing and creating chances. i just feel like there's not enough time in the demo to really do that. at least not on slow speed. maybe i'll go back to normal.

[SirFozzie]

I'll have to try the demo out, nice that they turned it into an earning opportunity for the FB FIFA game too..

[MizzouRah]

Downloading now!

[RainMaker]

My biggest issue with FIFA 2010 was the Manager Mode. Any word on fixes for that in this years version?

[DaddyTorgo]

well turning it down to "beginner" i can finally generate consistent offense and possession so that i can have fun with the demo and see a variety of shots and such. instead of just passing the ball around midfield.

[RainMaker]

Do you guys use manual passing?

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Do you guys use manual passing?

i don't think there's an option to change it in the demo, is there? I think that's grayed out.

When the full game comes out if i use auto-passing i'll bump the difficulty up a notch to compensate for that.

Passing in this version is tougher, and frankly is a lil annoying too. It's quite easy to mishit passes if you're not faced exactly at the guy you're passing to. That being said, on beginner difficulty i just played 5 games where I was laying some beautiful through balls and overlaps. so it can be done.

[RainMaker]

I was an auto-passer for years and the problem I had was that I'd have to crank up the difficulty level where the AI simply cheats. Really made no point to getting good players as weaker ones on the other side could do things my guys couldn't.

Last year I switched to manual and will never look back. Takes awhile to get used to but I find you can actually make more beautiful plays on it than you can on auto. You can also totally screw up a pass and have it cost you dearly. I felt like with auto that you could ping-pong your way down the field and control with any team in the game against any opponent on any level.

Haven't had the same luck with lob passes and shooting which are not set to manual, but for anyone who plays on auto I'd highly recommend giving manual a shot when the game comes out and you'll see that you can play on a normal level and the players abilities actually matter.