FIFA 11

I am giving this game 1 * for 1 reason - to benefit from all the features, you have to pay EA sports to utilise it. forget, you've just bought the game.... forget you've paid a horrendous amount for xbox live; you are expected to pay more on the EA servers to get all the features of the game that it all honestly, show be there from the start, as you've just bought the thing.... you can't even play online without paying EA - surely that was what the £35 to xbox live was about?!?!?! complete rip off.

This review comes from the perspective of a user who has had the game for just over a week now, is playing as the Gunners in Manager mode, and has so far not tested it out online.

To make this simple, as there's a lot to say, I'll just review each of the points, and then conclude.

MANAGER MODE: Personally, I'm a fan of the Football Manager series for PC - what I wanted from FIFA was to incorporate some of the strengths of this into a format where I can control the players instead watching from afar. This is only partly achieved. The negotiations, board interaction and new transfer budget adjustment system are all more realistic, but as far as I can tell, scouting has been removed, statistics are only confined to seperate competitions and so not obtainable overall, and the advice you get from the Assistant manager is regularly garbage. The news system, which was in the world cup game, is a nice addition however. Also, the first season includes no European comptetion, gutting for Spurs fans - and I can only assume this is due to licensing.

Ultimately, Manager mode doesn't draw on some of the positives from the other FIFA games, for instance in either 2010 or 2009 (can't remember which) you can swap players' squad numbers. In 2011, as Arsenal, starting with a vast squad, I don't know if I'm giving a youth player someone else's number or not, without scrolling through the more obscure players of my time. I miss that little number grid.

WHO TO BUY?: Well, at this stage, no young players. They don't improve! A quick google search shows that this is a glitch in the game, that would have really put me off had I been aware of it before the game was available for purchase. Jack Wilshere for instance, in real life a rapidly improving player, and arguably the future of the England team, has so far started about 20 times for me, and has got no better. Similarly Neymar, possibly the best signing to make on the game (if improvement worked) has been regularly starting, scoring and assisting, but is still not improving. Gutted! Especially with Arsenal, who have a wealth of young talent included in their FIFA 11 squad. Watch out for deadline day, too. I made two contract offers about 3 or 4 days before Feb 1st, and a week passed completetly oblivious to my transfers. Bye bye Jack Rodwell. No midfield partnership with Wilshere and Fabregas for you this season.

GAMEPLAY: Tricky. The passing system both does and doesn't work. Through balls are regularly played directly to defenders, no matter how specific you are with the little joystick and the supposed 360 passing system. The strength of the passes is also extremely disappointing. Again, playing as Arsenal, and trying to replicate their real life style highlights these problems. That said, when you get the ball zipping about, the passing feels good and smooth.

As for defending, my DMF is finally making tackles, whereas he was regularly bypassed in 09 and 10. Midfield battles are more important in this FIFA, and tackling is a far more contested area of the game. This is a huge plus - as it makes the game far more realistic.

However, where the game loses realism is in the opposition. Too many times I have watched John Carew casually stroll up to my goal when 1 on 1, only for Squillaci (who, incidentally, the commentators give some random German-sounding name to, a one-off as far as I can see...), who's not the quickest player ever, to stride up alongside him and nick the ball. What's also noticeable is whether you play Wigan or Barcelona, the style of play is always the same. You effectively play the same football team each week, just with fluctuating levels of ability.

Shooting is OK, Arshavin's trademark low drives are tricky to execute on the narrow angle, and scoring outside the area, although possible - is very unlikely, especially with a crowded box. The keepers are at least far more realistic, jumping straight back up to make reflex saves. Free-kicks, as ever, remain something of a lottery, but corners produce goals more often, and the new penalty system is excellent.

FIFA's big improvement, the personality...thing is only partially evident. Playing with Abou Diaby is a revelation - even at DMF he gets up into the opposition box and bangs in 10 headers a season, after winning the ball back in your own penalty area. However, try an ambitious pass with Fabregas, and it may as well be Manuel Almunia. There are, however, obvious differences in playing style for various players, which is a plus. It's often suprising who this does and doesn't affect. There's nothing seemingly special about Mesut Ozil, or even Kaka, but Henri Lansbury plays with a suprising smoothness, and Laurent Koscielny often gets himself in a muddle.

LOOKS/SOUNDS?: The music selection is again wierd. Some awesome tracks in there, I often find myself fiddling with my tactics, just so I can listen to more Gorillaz and Two Door Cinema Club and get away from some of the more appalling tracks feautred on the game. Go to the EA Trax section to get rid of some of these monstrosities. As foor looks, the game looks great, the cardboard crowd get no close ups anymore, the commentary is less wooden and helpful stats pop up from time to time. The refs even have names, but they're all a bit silly. One slight annoyance is the 'scores from other games on at the moment' feature, which blocks your view if you're running up a wing - and should only really be of any use on the last day. I don't care that Blackpool are one down away at Everton in Week 2. The general feel of a matchday is excellent however, the chants, though infrequent, are there - and the player likenesses are often freakishly accurate.

OVERALL: Frustrating. It is very good, but it leaves you wondering how they can make some really great improvements, and then ruin it all by not allowing young players to improve. The opposite was true of FIFA 09 - I got 30 year old defenders improving by six a season until they hit 32, and 19 year old forwards improving by 12 until they hit 21. In FIFA 11, seemingly random players increase or decrease by one or two - and this really spoils manager mode.

Hopefully an update will be available for this.

Until then, my advice is this - you will enjoy FIFA 11, more so than 10 for sure. But be prepared to be annoyed on occasion. Decide whether or not this is worth the price.

I upgraded from FIFA 10 as the price of FIFA 11 has come down now. I've had this game for a week or so now and having played it, there are a number of improved areas, but more horrendous ideas have been put into this game. It's plays much like FIFA 10 but worse in my opinion due to a number of issues
First of all, this game is so cheap. I don't mean how much it is, but in terms of playability. The ref penalises you for making the slightest contact with the ball carrier when tackling. You'd never think you were playing a contact sport. Yet, the computer is freely allowed to barge you over and off the ball resulting in nothing.

Secondly, tackling is ridiculous, it usually results in the ball flying off miles away or bouncing off you and your player tripping over the tackled player. It's so stupid sometimes.

Thirdly, they seem to have designed the game to try and get everyone doing the stupid tricks on the stick. You can no longer rely on a player's speed to burst round someone, the computer will keep up with you and tackle you. The tricks are fine for Ronaldo and a few others, but when league 1 players are doing maradona esq runs through your entire team, it's laughable. They seem to have focused on trying to get these tricks into the game a little too much. I'd rather play a pass and move game, which is much harder in this game than FIFA 10, due to the computer swamping you immediately if you have the ball. If they want to integrate these tricks, they should make them easy to do like Pro Evo, not random wiggles of the stick.

I have to also mention the passing is terrible, why did they have to mess with this? The passing was fine in FIFA 10.
The online mode is ok, the servers are usually stable and there are still a plethora of quitters. Graphics are nice, high profile players look a like, but not much effort has been put into the rest. The gameface is still trash, much like FIFA 10.

I was glad to see Ultimate Team is free this year, as I feel that everyone should have the option to use this feature with the price of the game.
Lastly, there has been no patch to compensate the January Transfers, which is either laziness or lack of care on EA's part. So if you want Torres at Chelsea, Suarez and Carroll at Liverpool etc, you'll have to do it yourself.

Overall, I'm fairly disappointed with FIFA 11 compared to FIFA 10, I hope this isn't a slippery slope downwards as FIFA 09 and FIFA 10 were so fluid and satisfying. This game just frustrates me with it's cheapness.