FIFA 12

This is a very good game, but to get the most you need to make some changes. Personally I changed the controls slightly (switched to an alternate scheme) and then I changed the camera to tele and zoomed out a bit.

Once you do that, then the gameplay is a lot better. Gameplay is a lot slower than some recent fifa's on other consoles, however, personally I think it makes for a better fluid passing game, and it's also more realistic.

The other camera modes are fine for street games, and the 3d effect works well giving a great sense of depth, unlike many other 3ds games, it does add something to the game - but for the normal matches, I'd turn the slider off, as it doesn't add anywhere near as much.

The new feature of being able to shoot by touching a virtual net on the bottom screen works really well sometimes. When outside the box looking for a pot-shot, or at the edge of the area, it's well worth it, but for aerial balls and placed finishes in the box (where you can't take time out to look at the bottom screen) it's best to stick to the buttons.

A plethora of teams and leagues can be found and they've crammed a lot onto the card in terms of game modes too, however the other reason this is a 4 star game for me is the lack of online functionality. This isn't a rushed game, EA have spent time and it's really telling they developed it specifically for the 3ds, but as a result of that - the lack of online is slightly more annoying, however, there are online squad and kit updates for free, which is a plus.

In the career mode, you can get a deep lasting experince, however, the transfer system is a bit simplified and you can only buy/sell a certain number of players per window (you get a certain number of "bids") however it's compensated for by a good development system, and lots of things like training, scouting, street match friendlies etc

I wouldn't recommend this for kids, because it might be fiddly for them to set it up right, and as I said, you need to make alterations to get the most out of it, and besides, they'd probably prefer a more fast paced arcadey game than the slower tempo of this game, but for teens and up, this is a cracking football game for the 3ds, and is comfortably better than PES, providing a richer more realistic experience jam packed with modes and features, with online multiplayer it would be a 5 Star game, but it's definitely worth the purchase without it, and so I'm giving it 4 Stars.

UPDATE: Having played this for a while now - it's not as good as I first thought, the gameplay becomes quite one-dimensional and the slow tempo becomes.... lethargic.... I'd actually recommend PES 2012 3ds ahead of it now.

Some things in life just have to happen every year. It's tradition, and without those traditions there would be nothing but chaos in the world. I'm talking about things like eating chocolate eggs at Easter; giving and receiving presents at Christmas; and someone posting at least one funny Youtube Poop video during the year. Another tradition you can add to that list is the annual release of the FIFA Football video game on numerous games consoles.

So here we are with FIFA 12, and to be more specific the 3DS version. EA Sports have managed to cram a lot of teams, nations, modes and cup competitions onto the little 3DS card; and now we're gonna look at the main talking points. Through all the modes there are basically two types of football matches you can play: 11 vs. 11 and Streets. Streets is a five-a-side game where you have a small pitch. There's no throw-ins or corner kicks since the pitch is surrounded by walls. The action is thick and fast, and in most games there are plenty of goals. The five-a-side game is actually very addictive, and you may come to like it more than the 11 vs. 11 game.

But 11 vs. 11 is still there for the traditionalists. A full sized grass pitch with proper rules, proper football, proper passion. The gameplay is impressively realistic. Players will hustle and bustle for the ball; bad tackles will result in a yellow or even a red card; and you have pass the ball around a bit in order to create chances. Not all of them will result in a goal, but it is a very rewarding experience when you do find the back of the net.

The games on the full sized pitches are accompanied by excellent commentary from Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend, who clearly express excitement when a goal is scored in the last minute, or disappointment when a game is turning into a bore-draw (0-0). It's too bad that the graphics don't match up to the commentary. More on that later.

There are two modes in particular that will grab your attention. The first of which is Be-A-Pro, where you have the opportunity to rise up the football ranks quicker than Chris Smalling. Here you can create you very own player with your preferable hairstyle, skin tone and football boots. Starting out in local five-a-side games you can work your way up to proper club football and then to the national side; and you do this by performing well in games and earning XP points to improve your stats, and fame points by gaining personal achievements (e.g: not using any sliding tackles). During games you only control one player: your own creation. While there are button commands that allow you to call for a pass or a cross when you're not in possession of the ball, you're teammates have about as much intelligence as Peter Griffin.

There are many instances where the opposition have the ball, one of your defenders is really close, but makes no attempt to tackle the opposing player whatsoever. There are also moments when your teammates attempt to play the ball to you when you didn't call for it and you're surrounded by three defenders, resulting in possession being easily lost. OK, so this mode is supposed to be all about you, but a little bit of brains and teamwork isn't gonna cause the world to come to an end, is it?

The second attention-grabbing mode is the Career mode. Here you pretty much have a player-manager role. Choose your desired club and then work through the seasons which include both league and cup matches. You make money for winning matches as well as playing at home, and how much you actually earn depends on what club you're managing and which division you're playing in. There's a fair amount of depth in the Career mode with lots of things for you to do, such as: deciding on the starting line up; buying and selling players; hiring staff such as trainers and scouts; and arranging friendly matches to help build up the stats of your weaker players. A fair amount of patience is required for this mode as there are a fair number of loading times between the menus and matches, and vice-versa. But if you do show patience this mode can be a rewarding experience as you slowly build up the stats of both your players and your club.

In terms of the graphics this 3DS version was always gonna have its work cut out to match up to the versions seen on the PS3 and X-Box 360. Even so you can't help but notice the bad things about them. Player movements can be very jerky and stuttery, both of which are at their worst when a goal is scored and the goal scorer does their chosen celebration. Close up shots of players are not that great either. The kits are blurred and sometimes it's difficult to make out the sponsorship deals on them.

While you can clearly tell the difference between Wayne Rooney and Theo Walcott, the player's faces are something of a gruesome sight. While creating myself in Be-A-Pro, I searched high and low through the available options in order to give myself the best looking face possible; but I still ended up looking uglier than Shrek after botched plastic surgery. One other thing that got under my skin was that sometimes the game will crash when you score a goal, forcing you to reset the 3DS. It's very frustrating and it's something you should be wary of if you do decide to purchase this game.

FIFA 12 on the 3DS is a football game that has its good moments and it can be enjoyable. However players will have to dig deep and work hard in order to find that enjoyment. There's no denying that this game has a fair number of faults, and if EA Sports decides to release FIFA 13 on the 3DS next year (smart money is they will!) then they've got a lot of mistakes to learn from here in order to make that edition good. The final score from me for FIFA 12 is a fun rating of 4-Stars and an overall rating of 3-Stars.

My previous Fifa game was Fifa 98, and to be honest I don't think much has changed since then. I suppose it's all about getting the latest team and player lists, with updated sponsors and competition line-ups. So for that reason, this game delivers.

The commentary is OK but, I suspect that in order to save space, a little sparse sometimes. I struggled to feel the tension of playing in the cup finals though, for some reason the build-up in the competition just doesn't seem as tense as in other sports games.

All in all, not a bad option if you require your footy fix on the train or bus, the graphics are good (PS2-ish), the 3D is really cool but, as usual, not really important.