FIFA: A Franchise Reborn

[kerosene31]

Re: FIFA: A Franchise Reborn

The perfect example of how competition makes better games. Each game has pluses and minuses, and each pushes the other to be better every year.

[JimmyDeicide]

Re: FIFA: A Franchise Reborn

The control I have over my players in both FIFA and NBA 2k is just stunning. Through a controller I have the ability to feel like I'm playing a sport. The controller-player connection is smooth and intuitive.

NCAA and Madden need to rewrite a lot of code to make you feel like you're in complete control of your player and his movements. Fluid controls and controller-player connections need to be tight.

NCAA and Madden controls are simplified and dumb downed. The hardeds position in all of sports is the QB - but in the video game world its a point and click game. Give us deeper controls and controller-player connections need to be tight.

Agree with this except i dont have Nba. The control i get with Fifa is the best in any game.
As for the article its good but the AI outsmarting you? really?
I switch to Pes when i want AI.

[JasonLin]

All these are just amazing...

now... EA Sports.. where is NBA LIVE...

[woody2goody]

I own FIFA 12 but still play PES weekly, and I have to say that this proves that competition is great for not only the football genre, but for Madden, NBA 2K, The Show and others, which were (and in some cases still are) driven by a rival game.

[bakan723]

WE9/PES5/WE9LE is still the best soccer game.

[LucianoJJ]

Re: FIFA: A Franchise Reborn


David Rutter and his team should be credited for the rise of FIFA. For years FIFA was all about eye candy, and licenses. This series has progressively improved the gameplay, ball physics, AI, etc. I love it. Even though I have felt challenged, I do believe I got my money's worth with FIFA 12.

[teambayern]

Great article, but I'd like to suggest one correction. Fifa 07 was by no means timid; it was perhaps the most audacious venture by a sports gaming company of the modern gaming era. EA Sports knew that they would never catch up to PES by slowly improving an engine that was, at its core, broken. So it commissioned a separate development team to work on a brand new game and engine, for years, while the other team kept the lights on with Fifa 06. The result was the wildly innovative Fifa 2007, which was raw, unpolished, but wildly innovative. It debuted the engine from which Fifa 08-12 were born. I'm a PES fan, and I'd agree that Fifa 08 was the first game to steal my attention; but you have to recognize that Fifa 08 - 12 have been on the standard one year track. It was Fifa 07 where EA truly took the risk and made the game we have today.

Oh, how I wish Madden would do the same. If ever there was a game that needed a complete reboot...

[peigone]

Re: FIFA: A Franchise Reborn

FIFA as a franchise has not been reborn, that's a rather silly premise. FIFA has always been #1 in sales while PES ran second in terms of mainstream popularity. The only thing that changed is when next-gen came along, the FIFA series made a smooth transition and continued on with its growth and development, focusing their dev efforts almost exclusively on User online play. But EA certainly didn't re-invent their game and franchise. At its core -- AI-wise specifically -- the game itself is more or less identical to what it was on last gen. Meanwhile PES stumbled, bumbled and failed miserably, losing a huge portion of its smaller audience and cult following in the process. A relevent article would have examined how and why Konami has failed to capitalize on EA's continued disinterest in creating a realistic User-CPU football sim, which was always PES's forte.

[lhslancers]

Re: FIFA: A Franchise Reborn

WE9/PES5/WE9LE is still the best soccer game.

Nah. Passing is too assisted and the game is on rails. I would have agreed with you until FIFA12 came out last year.

[lhslancers]

Re: FIFA: A Franchise Reborn

FIFA as a franchise has not been reborn, that's a rather silly premise. FIFA has always been #1 in sales while PES ran second in terms of mainstream popularity. The only thing that changed is when next-gen came along, the FIFA series made a smooth transition and continued on with its growth and development, focusing their dev efforts almost exclusively on User online play. But EA certainly didn't re-invent their game and franchise. At its core -- AI-wise specifically -- the game itself is more or less identical to what it was on last gen. Meanwhile PES stumbled, bumbled and failed miserably, losing a huge portion of its smaller audience and cult following in the process. A relevent article would have examined how and why Konami has failed to capitalize on EA's continued disinterest in creating a realistic User-CPU football sim, which was always PES's forte.

I'm not so sure anymore that a true sim would be fun to play. EA's game looks like football and is pretty and replicates some elements of football but it is arcade at it's core. That's fine with me by the way.

[peigone]

Re: FIFA: A Franchise Reborn

EA's game looks like football and is pretty and replicates some elements of football but it is arcade at it's core. That's fine with me by the way.

That was my point. The FIFA franchise was never re-invented or reborn, it plays the same arcade style User/CPU game it played seven years ago. That's always been FIFA's appeal -- it's fast, fun, furious and pretty to look at.

Fine by me as well, now that there are sliders to tone down the fast and furious bits.

[NYKnicksNumba96]

Great article. Now if EA could just put in Red Bull Arena...

[Blublub]

Good article - I also never would have thought FIFA could hold a candle to PES, but this year finally changed my mind. If the EA team keeps focusing on gameplay improvements over silly flash it's their game to lose...