The Etihad looks very good down to the shadows on the pitch
Presentation has been ramped up. I saw 2 different cutscenes after my first 2 matches. I also liked the little intro player spotlight before the match. I wonder if in the retail they will talk about the player. Might not be enough room in the demo for custom commentary.
Speaking of commentary, it's pretty solid. Announceners not talking over each other and they react on cue.
Speaking of reacting on cue, the crowd reacted instantly to a nice steal by Sagna (I was the home team) and also applauded a nice move and cross by Groebenkrutz.
My keeper didn't seem to have canned animations and reacted fluidly (see the double-save in the Barca-Milan game). Too often in past FIFA's you could tell as soon as you kicked the ball whether or not it was going to be a goal.
The CPU will punish you for your mistakes. I over-ran Villa and he controlled the pass and slotted one in the bottom corner because of my bad movement.
Animations are top notch as expected.
Offensively I felt like Barca played realistic. Their buildup was patient at times but they also showed a bit of counter-attacking.
I absolutely love the quick throws. My first few I was button-mashing to get past the cut-scene and ended up throwing them straight into the defender but after that I was able to start quick-attacks.
The impact engine was not overdone in my opinion and it even works off the ball. I had a run blocked off in the Dortmund-Man City match that showcased this.
Negatives:
I don't know if tactics or sliders can fix this but man-marking was atrocious for me. As AC Milan I constantly had to close down on my defenders. For someone who likes to let the CPU do this while playing an option I really struggled to defend.
I might be in the minority on this but the movement is way too free again. With defending being much harder (which I applaud) the ability to contain players who can cut & spin on a dime is really hard.
Passing speed on default was also frustratingly bad. Barcelona is known for their quick crisp passes. Too often my passes floated across the pitch despite heavily powering them up.
I feel like the CPU does a lot of mindless dribbling in circles instead of attacking defenders with quick moves. I'm not talking about skill moved but just a simple "drop the shoulder, side flick past a wrong-footed defender".
Barca's defense was nothing like their real-life counterpart. They didn't pressure me at all and it seems like both sides (human & CPU) are set to contain.
On one occasion l I was stuck in a strafe animation as Villa raced past me as Thiago Silva.
Still no clock for Extra Time. I don't understand why this hasn't been included. They tell you the added minutes but there is no countdown so you're left guessing.
There were a few offsides that were not called (see Messi at 10:56)
CPU AI is still too accurate with their passes & first touch
CPU AI will not attempt any skill moves on you. They will turn on you but no step-overs or feints.
Overall it's about what I expected. The AI is still not up to par when it comes to defending & positioning but perhaps this can be tuned by sliders.
Did you copy and paste that review? It keeps referring to a video but I don't see the video.
I understand it's "your thing" but I dunno, I just feel like a video game ad isn't too out of the ordinary. Granted I havent been to a soccer stadium (only baseball, football, basketball, hockey) but I would think that's better than some generic Soda Ad. At least it's a real product. And don't they change dynamically throughout the year?
this game feels better than fifa 11.there are some weird animations because of the impact engine,i hope this will be sorted out with the final release.and for those who have problems with the new defending system,you can switch back from tactical defending to legacy defending(fifa11 defending) in xbox360 controller settings.
Negatives:
[*]CPU AI is still too accurate with their passes & first touch[*]CPU AI will not attempt any skill moves on you. They will turn on you but no step-overs or feints.
Overall it's about what I expected. The AI is still not up to par when it comes to defending & positioning but perhaps this can be tuned by sliders.
I noticed in the Milan/Barca vid a lot of this. I thought it was nice that you made some poor passes, but the CPU *never* made a bad pass or touch, ever.
Also, human defense is still screwed. They never pressure w/o you controlling, which makes it hard to play spaces to defend the pass. Also, the CPU's players do play to intercept the pass, while your own AI defenders never do. It's horrible and a huge pet peeve of mine (one of many I guess) with FIFA.
Ok total soccer noob here but how do you precission dribble and what does the Y button (through the ball) mean. And for my impression, I am really digging the game.
and for those who have problems with the new defending system,you can switch back from tactical defending to legacy defending(fifa11 defending) in xbox360 controller settings.
Not liking the all or nothing tackle system so far. Any idea if the legacy defending will be usable online in matches where everyone else is using the new system?
Not liking the all or nothing tackle system so far. Any idea if the legacy defending will be usable online in matches where everyone else is using the new system?
Not liking the all or nothing tackle system so far. Any idea if the legacy defending will be usable online in matches where everyone else is using the new system?
Not liking the all or nothing tackle system so far. Any idea if the legacy defending will be usable online in matches where everyone else is using the new system?
Rutter said it is not available online.
For anyone who tried the legacy defending, is it simply the old control scheme or does it play the same as well? In other words, does it bring back homing-missile tackling?
I'm looking forward to trying this demo out tonight. I think I'll like the new defending system since I often tried to play more of a containing style in previous years. I wanted the tackle button to simply tackle since I started really playing FIFA again (08).
I didn't play 11 after 5-6 straight years of wearing out my copy...did goalies come up on late corners last year because I about jumped for joy when I saw that?
Presentation is perfect imho.Player likenesses are excellent from what I have seen
Defending..feast or famine it seems in terms of space, sliders hopefully will help
I like it so far. I've only play two games (both 0-0), but it plays really smooth (and I've seen lots of good off the ball runs). I can't wait to try it against a human opponent.
I have played about 15 game so far in the demo and I think the game plays pretty well. Occasionally I will get upset with the new impact engine (I had a play where Balotelli was running for a ball, ran into a defender and they both fell down. This happens in soccer so I don't mind but then I get up first try to get to the ball and trip over the defenders body again). But overall I think it was a good addition and makes the game more realistic.
Defense is definitely harder and it will take a few games to get used to it. I agree that there could be a tad more pressure, especially in the box, but using the RB button to get a defender to pressure will be quite helpful.