Operation Sports Forums - FIFA 11 Hands-On: Drogba Is Big

Didier Drogba is a large human. He's also a muscular, tall and intimidating force on the pitch -- he's even more intimidating when he's allowed to wield a cast on a soccer field. However, it's hard to say that Drogba is always noticeable in FIFA.

But the developers working on FIFA 11 are trying to change that this year. They want gamers to recognize Drogba on a visual level because he is a big and well-known striker that has a unique look. But they also want you to notice him just by the way he plays.

While playing the game, I certainly noticed Drogba on a visual level because the new player models and visuals were in full effect during any close-up camera shots. He looked incredibly detailed and proportional, which is actually quite a big step forward for FIFA. Drogba's impressive physique was also readily noticeable because his jersey just so happened to be two sizes too small (what a narcissist).

As for noticing Drogba for his particular soccer skills on the pitch, it is harder for me to say that will come through at all times. Drogba is a big target who -- even if he has a bit of a reputation as a diver -- is able to control the ball and beat out most defenders for 50/50 crosses. During my time with the game, Drogba got the best of a defender on a cross in the box and put the ball in the net. However, at this point in the development cycle, the tackling and shielding were still a work in progress, so I did not get to see how well Drogba was able to control the ball.

Either way, knowing the strengths of your players certainly seems to be a focus this year. Players like Berbatov are going to float around on defense more and be less effective in a defensive role, but you will want to get the ball to him if you want to make something happen while pushing the ball up the field. You won't want to push the ball ahead with Sol Campbell or do lots of tricks with him.

Essentially the developers are trying to make attributes and tendencies mean something. A player with outstanding passing skills will be able to really bend a lead pass through to an attacking striker. Some players with certain personality traits -- a high aggression level on defense for example -- will act different than passive players on defense. Other players who have strong shot ratings will try to look for their shot first rather than pass. I could give more examples, but I think you see where I am going at this point.

Now, I have tried to avoid using the term "Personality+" -- the term the FIFA developers are using to describe these changes -- until now because I wanted to write a brilliant sentence to end this portion of the impressions.

Ready? Here it comes...

It will be a big PLUS if all this effort put into the PERSONALITY of players works out, especially because it sometimes feels like all players and teams play the same way in FIFA.

Anyway, while Personality+ is the main thing I wanted to discuss after having so little time with the game, I do want to put a few quick-hitter things below in bullet form:

-For user-created chants, you can chant anything the little demon monkeys in your head dream up. However, little Timmy on Xbox Live will not be able to hear those chants, which does make sense but I still hoped it would somehow be overlooked.

-You can also insert music tracks into your games on the pitch.

-Passing has been tweaked this year to eliminate some of the ping-pong passing. Players with bad passing ratings will sometimes make bad touches or flub passes when trying to immediately get rid of the ball. You will also want to get a bouncy ball to a player with a good possession rating so he can settle things down a bit.

-Because of the tweaked passing, things also certainly felt a bit more congested in the midfield area. Due to this congestion, it seems like finding possession guys to guide the team through the defense could be important.

-It felt a bit easier to stop through balls and just deny passes in general.

Check back in the coming months for more FIFA 11 coverage.