72 of 83 people found the following review helpful:
Same as last year although with subtle differences
Before I start with the review, i just need to clear a couple of things up. I have indeed played the full game and this review is not based on a demo, if you have any questions regarding the full game, i will happily answer them for you. If you still don't believe me, wait until you have the game, then check this review, you will see i am telling the truth...
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
Looks good, but sadly lacking
Firstly, I refuse to play any game on "easy" level, I just dont see the point. I played Fifa 09 a lot, right up to getting Fifa 10 and will probably go back to it now and then, as the playability of this one is lacking.
If, like me, you are a fan of a lower league club, naturally you want to play as your own team. In manager mode, this is very difficult. It...
Before I start with the review, i just need to clear a couple of things up. I have indeed played the full game and this review is not based on a demo, if you have any questions regarding the full game, i will happily answer them for you. If you still don't believe me, wait until you have the game, then check this review, you will see i am telling the truth.
So whats new? Well, not a great deal really, pretty much the same teams as last year with maybe the exception of the Dutch national side, which see's a welcomed return. The first noticeable difference from 09 is the 360 movement, which is a great addition and definitely changes the way the game runs. Players can now make bending runs into space and when taking on defenders with players such as Ashley Young, you get the sense that he can do it easily, as in real life. The biggest difference from 09 and the demo is without doubt the A.I. of the goalkeepers, make no mistake, gone are the days of easy one on one's, the keepers WILL shut you out 9 times out of 10. Although sometimes they do seem god-like and save shots they have no right to, this is not a bad thing as i am sure you will agree that 09 was far too easy to score.
The big thing EA are plugging this year is the new and improved manager mode, and while there is a plethora of new options, not much has changed. In the few hours that i played the game, not once did i have any media interest in my club, usually you are given options on how to address comments, but thus far, i have seen none. When starting a new game now, you have the choice of what stadiums you play your homes games at and have the option to change all the other teams home ground from the main menu. Although, don't expect to change teams that have their proper ground, (i.e. Man Utd) to say, the Nou Camp, as this isn't possible. Also when starting a new game you can change the diffulculty of the clubs board, obviously the higher the level, the less money, time and patience you recieve, making getting results that much more important. The transfer system has been overhauled making it harder to attract players, you now have to take into account your wage structure and transfer budget. I was playing as Real Madrid and tried to attract Franck Ribery, however his wages were way out of my reach, so i would have to lessen my wage bill before going back in for him. Taking into account that he was not interested in signing for my club anyway, which is shown by an interest bar when bidding for players. So in short, don't expect to sign C.Ronaldo for Barnet because it just won't happen. Also, i have noticed that some of the team rosters are not up to date, for example, Richard Dunne is still at Man City and not at Aston Villa, i only noticed this because i support the former. You can however go into the edit mode and change him there, however, its a bit poor from EA not making sure they have implemented the correct changes.
A new mode called Virtual Pro has also been added, which in a nutshell means, you put yourself in the game and can use him in all offline and some online modes to boost his statistics. Also you can download your game-face from EA Sports World AKA Tiger Woods, to make him look like yourself. You have to option to take him on your squad roster when starting new manager mode games. From here you get a basic player, but the more you use him in games, the more attributes you unlock, making him into one of the best players on the game. Don't expect his to be a quick process as there are well over a 100 attributes to unlock and if you play a bad game then your form drops. Its a great idea and adds more longetivity to the game.
The commentary is still spot on, not a lot different from 09 but seems to be more in depth, tracking your resent results and top scrorers. There are also tutorials now, showing newbies and veterans alike how to play the game correctly. I consider myself to be a veteran, but there were loads of aspects that i personally wasn't aware of, so this is worth checking out, all of which is narrated by Martin Tyler which is a nice touch. There is also new custom free-kicks, where you can put together your own set-pieces in order to break down a stubbon defence, i have not played around with this yet so i am unable to comment.
I have scored the game 4 out of 5, mainly due to the fact that there is not a lot of difference from 09, but if you are a fan of football games then be sure to pick it up. There is enough here to warrent another purchase, however, don't expect this to be completely different game, because its not. Thanks for taking the time to read this review, if there is anything you would like answering or anything i have missed, just ask! Thanks.
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Firstly, I refuse to play any game on "easy" level, I just dont see the point. I played Fifa 09 a lot, right up to getting Fifa 10 and will probably go back to it now and then, as the playability of this one is lacking.
If, like me, you are a fan of a lower league club, naturally you want to play as your own team. In manager mode, this is very difficult. It is almost impossible to score from a header from a cross or corner, as they have no ability. Some very pacey players in real life are, in the game, only as quick as the oppositions 36 year old defender. The referee blows for the slightest little thing, making the game very "stop-start," strikers completely miss the target from the simplest of shots, even at low power. I could go on.
The sad thing is the creators of the game must assume that all lower league players have virtually no ability at all. Not everyone wants to play as Man United or Chelsea. On Fifa 09, I took my local league 2 side to the premiership on manager mode. It was a challenge, but I achieved what I wanted to. There is no chance in Fifa 10. You could argue this adds to the realism but if a challenge isn't achieveable, theres little point trying.
I am now going to abandon my league 2 manager mode and follow the masses with a premiership team.
In conclusion, the game looks loads better than 09 and is much smoother. It's just a shame some of the playability has gone out of it. While this makes the game more challenging, it takes out a lot of the fun we had in Fifa 09.
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Firstly, this game is good, but I don't think it is as awesome as alot of people are saying.
I was expecting the complete football experience and while it has loads and loads of teams like we are becoming accustomed to with the Fifa series, it does lack in certain areas. For example there is no champions league, uefa cup or even world cup. The manager mode where you play whole seasons at a time is hugely lacking without the inclusion of a european competition. While i'm on the subject of manager mode it is no fun to carefully create a team of your own, buying players, selling players getting everything as you like it only to be sacked because you are 3rd in the league, 4 points behind with 3 games in hand because being in both domestic cups has caused a fixture congestion. Needless to say this happened to me and I lost my Manchester United team that I had been slaving over for a week. One more small gripe (but hugely annoying) is the speed at which you have to slowly clock up the value of a transfer offer, you usually have to bid large amounts to sign decent players and it takes AGES holding 'right' on the d-pad to get up to an acceptable offer.
The main problem is that gameplay still lacks fluidity, with the usual delay when receiving a pass, just enough time to be tackled. I have been more infuriated with this game than any other I can remember (although this does make it even sweeter when you finally do pull something good off, usually using a large slice of luck). Crossing and corners is an art that I am yet to master after over a week of solid gameplay, I am totally clueless on how to do either effectively. Plus - how the hell are you meant to successfully defensively head goal kicks back towards the opponents goal?! Nearly every time my defender flicks on the ball backwards towards his own goal?! This could be argued as being more realistic, but I don't want ultra realism in games, I want fun. Playing football for real can be frustrating, boring and no fun at times, games should offer a release from reality and let you do all the things that you can't do yourself on the sacred turf.
Other small faults include the fact that when you score, 9 times out of 10, the celebrating player will run into the goalpost and/or net and get stuck. This happened when i played the demo and it made me chuckle, imagine my suprise when the same thing happened time and time again in the full game!
As i said before, this is a good game and multiplayer does improve gameplay, adding more human error and oppotunities to take people on 1 on 1 (which is extremely difficult against computer controlled opponents), but the online mode does have a tendency for extreme lagging making the game unplayable most of the time in my experience (could be my connection, granted, but I have no problems with other games)
As you may be able to gather I am no Fifa fan boy, nor am i a PES fan boy, but i really do hope that the new Pro Evo delivers more on the gameplay side than this lacklustre Fifa effort. I have always thought a combination of Pro Evo gameplay and the Fifa presentation and multitude of teams could finally give me 'the ultimate football game', unfortunately i am still waiting for this holy grail......and I'm not holding my breath!!
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Like most people I was drawn to this game firstly because it was the next fifa but because of the fact that it was listed with over 50 improvements.
I bought the game and couldn't wait to play it, the first thing I thought was.............WHAT IMPROVEMENTS? I can answer that with none whatsoever. well the graphics are better and there are more weather conditions.
If anything this game is a step down, to be honest I'd much rather play PES 2009. at least you could actually play it. Fifa 10 was said to be harder to score as they had better defence and keepers, yes it was to easy to score on fifa 09, but on fifa 10 you cant score at all, the opposing teams keeper is essentially the great wall of china, and the defenders are faster than sonic, they close you down far to quickly and even the little midget players like Modric can slam you down to the floor.
Countless times you find yourself running free at the keeper and then in seconds theres 2 defenders on you on pushing in to you and the other slides the ball completely from you. You can't outrun them, you cant lob pass over them and you can't run round them, what use is 360 dribbling when you get closed down in less than half a second. it was a nice try but its too difficult.
the only difficulty you can actually play on is amateur and even then you can only just scrape victories, even draws. the manager mode hasn't improved, its just bugged to hell, theres problems with game face and virtual pro and you have to pay for live season. I must say im being generous with the rating ive given. THIS IS BY FAR THE WORST FIFA YET.
do yourself a favour stick with fifa 09 and then buy the other game you found yourself wanting instead..............damn I wish I could go back in time and stop myself from buying this god awful game.
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I'm sure most of you have played last years fifa so you'll know how good it is in general. they've improved the shooting, the advantage rule, they've introduced quick free kicks and there are more animations for sliding tackles so you're more likely to get the ball. they don't show so many replays etc. great great great.
I'll focus on the bad points though and you can decide if its worth buying. first off the defenders are amazing now. the step in tackle is way too effective that it's just not worth taking on the defender. i find in online games people are just playing the passing game and if they get closed down they'll just pass it back instead of taking them on. I'm sure people will get better at tricks and get past them but then the next new feature also goes against the attacker - barging. in last years game there was some security in having the ball. if the guy with the ball has his back to the defender you were pretty safe with it. now the defender nudges you off the ball way too easy. if feels really unfair because if you trick a defender he'll just catch up with you and push you off the ball. this results in losing possession really easy and in dangerous positions.
another really unfair "bug" is that if you take a goal kick quick you'll catch your opponents defenders, who will be by the half way line, off guard quite a bit and leave your striker with a one on one.
its basically a good game but its really frustrating online and being able to barge players off the ball just sucks in my opinion. still, its miles better then pro evo which has taken a nose dive the past few years :(
good points
great graphics
slow realistic pace
good goal keepers
licensed teams
10v10 online
bad points
shooting still isn't as good as pro evo
too easy to lob the keeper
defenders are too good this year
too many interceptions
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Everything from previous Fifa has been mostly improved since the excellent Fifa 09...New total 360 degress total control of player adds a new and much more realistic game. Preveiously 8 way control on Fifa and PES was the norm, now with 360 control the 8 way control seems so limited/dated once exprienced. Game has improved animation, better management, better control, better online...better everything. The new PES will have to do an awful amount to beat this gem. Best football game ever - highly recommended.
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This is quite a long review, but I felt compelled to let people know how flawed this game actually is. And to have a rant at the same time :-)
For some reason, most people seem to think that this is the best football game available. Well... I disagree. I should also state that I am not a massive fan of PES either. Admitedly, I used to prefer PES over FIFA. But PES has also lost its way recently. So, I have decided to try and convert myself to a FIFA fan, by playing FIFA 10 a lot, and trying to find its most redeeming features.
Unfortunately, there are very few things that are actually good about this most recent addition to the FIFA series. In fact, in my humble opinion, the only decent things about it are the vast number of fully liscenced teams and the numerous online features. But non of this really matters, because I just don't think the game is very playable.
Firstly, the players still move like slightly less rigid mannequins. I can't believe that after so many of these games, they have barely improved the modelling and animation. Also, the players faces are terrible. They do vaguely resemble the players in question, but look more like a lesser evolved ape versions of them. I also find the controls really unresponsive. The players take too long to change direction, and when shooting, the ball never seems to go in the direction you want it to either.
But it's the little things that I find very irritating. The first thing that I picked up on, whilst learning the basic controls, is that you can't perform a 'fake shot/lob' unless you are in the opponents half. So if you have the ball in your own half, as a defender, and you want to create some space by dummying your opponent, in order to get a pass away... well, you can't. And that's just not very realistic at all is it?
Also, there is a statistic for each player called 'skill level'. This determines how many 'skill moves' you can perform. Annoyingly, a lot of the players in the lower league teams have extremely low skill levels. So much so, that they can't perform the most basic of moves. For example, a lot of them can't even do a 'body feint'. Now, if a professional footballer can't even do that, then they have a serious problem, and probably shouldn't be playing profesionally.
Many of the other problems I discovered, were during the 'virtual pro' game mode. Initially, I thought that this would be the most enjoyable of modes. How wrong I was....
Whilst creating my own player (roughly based on me), I decided to make him a centre forward, as that's the position I play in real life. I chose to start playing for Carlisle United (my local team), and started off in the reserve team. This was to be expected I suppose, as I had yet to prove myself. Anyway, the manager boldly decided to play me as a left winger, which I thought would be alright, as I would get to be more involved all over the pitch. In fact, it's just ridiculous.
In the 'virtual pro' mode, you play as an individual, and are awarded and deducted points for the various things you do during a match. One of the criteria for points scoring is 'positioning'. This obviously varies, depending on what position you are playing. As a winger, you are expected to stay very much on the wing, and attack then defend within the blink of an eye. For example, you have to be on the edge of your opponents box when you're attacking. But if your opponent boots the ball to the other end of the pitch, and one of their team mates gets possesion, you are expected to be there within seconds aswell, or you are deducted points for being out of positon. It's simply impossible to get about the pitch like you're expected to.
And, even if you're attacking, and your team mate decides to take up the exact position you're in, out on the wing, you might think to yourself 'well there is no point in two players being in exactly the same place at the same time. I'll get into the opponents box to recieve a cross or pass'. Even if there is no other team mate in your opponents box, and you are providing the only attacking option, you will be deducted points for being out of position, as you're expected to stay out on the wing. And that's just not the way football is, or should be played.
So, onto my next gripe. After a couple of games on 'virtual pro' mode, I made into the first team for Carlisle United. But I still couldn't play my favoured position of center forward. I am guessing it's because the other center forwards in the squad are statistically superior, which is fair enough. I mean, my skill level is so low that I can't even do a body feint. What am I even doing playing professionally then? Good question. I am a terrible professional footballer at the moment. But wait... After less than 10 games for Carlisle United, I have been called up to the England squad? Furthermore, I am playing my favoured positon of center forward. AND, somehow, I am managing to keep the body feinting genius that is Wayne Rooney out of the team. It's just ridiculously stupid.
As you can tell by the review, I have mainly played the 'virtual pro' mode. But I did play all the other game modes aswell. Quite a bit in fact. I just don't find any of it enjoyable. It's stuttery, due to the referee awarding free kicks for any sort of contact, and also... I just find it very boring.
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This game is so different to Fifa 09, and such an improvement, it's like comparing chalk and cheese. After playing the FIFA 10 demo I couldn't go back to playing FIFA 09 at all, and just made me want to play this game even more on release. There are so many large and small improvements to the game it would be impossible to list them all. The main one's being the 360 degree dribbling, custom set piece creator (which is very easy to use, and a joy when your team pull off your own personal set piece perfectly on the pitch#, the new virtual pro mode and of course the new squad and team updates.
Gameplay wise it runs incredibly smoothly, player A.I. is generally very good with smart attacking movement on the pitch #although players do tend to make the same runs time and again# and good defensive positioning. Graphics are sharp and realistic with the kits and players faces all looking very life like. With hundreds of new animations and movements it feels more like real life than any other previous football game and really sucks you into the game, with pretty good match commentary and crowd chants helping the experience along.
On the negative side though the new manager mode and the game in general suffers from serious bugs. I've been playing for a month now and after every other match or so #in all modes) the game freezes and I have to restart my console, which is enough to send me up the wall. There are already over 50 other bugs and glitches being reported by the FIFA community. Apparently the downloadable patch is meant to fix the problems #although it's not working for everyone) however as I cann't afford to be on xbox live to download the patch it just means that my whole gaming experience is ruined.
I'd definitely recommend this game if you have access to a downloadable patch however if you don't you may only get a month's good play out of the game until it starts to internally combust.
I've played Fifa 09 from the day it came out to the day I bought the new Fifa 10. As an experienced Fifa gamer, I believed while EA Sports tried to improve some features of the game, they sort of went the other way.
I love manager mode in Fifa 09; however it's been altered completely. Good points are players have to have interest in your club in order for them to join. Also, if they see you already have a player playing regularly in their position, they'll be reluctant to come. One more good point is that the salary is very restricted, i.e. this time there's separate funds available for wages and separate for transfers, when last time they were all in one.
Now for the things I don't like. They have changed the 'auto-growth' option; now you're not allowed to turn it off! I find it annoying because I like to use my XP Points where I want them. They also have a morale option for the players now: at first I thought that's a good thing but how wrong was I! Most of the time the players are unhappy (for unknown reasons) and their Current Overall drops, e.g, Walcott who's 81 will drop to a possible 74! That's a really big chunk and this affects how they play in matches! When it comes to renewing your own players contracts, for unknown reasons again, no matter how much money/more years/less years/bonuses you give them, they decline it!
I would recommend Fifa 10 to anyone who has been a Pro fan because it very realistic and the graphics are also amazing, plus you don't have to edit the names of players or teams lol. Though for people who already played Fifa, I would say try before buy!
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Firstly without getting into the changes/improvements to the latest version of FIFA I would just like to say what a fun game this is to play. Endless hours of fun can be had playing this with your mates, like all great football games it takes a long time to get bored! If you're a die hard FIFA player, a PES convert (like me) or a first timer then I would regard this as a deffinate purchase. Considering various supermarket chains are offering this for sale at £25 (or there abouts) no one even remotly interested in football should be without this!
For me the most significating improvements are with the movement and set pieces. This is the first football game that is not restricted by standard movement - up, down, left, right & the four diagonals. To be honest at first I didn't really notice. Then I played someone on xbox live who was a very good player, I was 3-0 down within 15 minutes (and I'm not a bad player)! What I then realised is that I was so used to the standard set 8 direction movement that I wasn't taking advantage of the new system (he clearly was). I then started to play as if it was a real game, without restriction and I came back to eventually win the game 5-4. For the first time I really feel like this is a sim of real world football rather than a football game.
This brings me onto set pieces and something I have wanted to be added for years! You can now create your own set pieces, save them and then use them in games. Fair enough shooting from free kicks - nothing new, much the same as all football games. But I personally was so frustrated by free kicks where you where in a position to cross and corners. Players out of position, standing next to the keeper, no one in the box! Those days are gone! You can now (as part of the practice arena) create your own set pieces in a free environment. You select an area of the pitch for the set piece to be taken, you are then given control of the starting positions of all outfield players and you dictate exactly where they make their runs. You can then use 'play' to see if the runs work as you intended and tweak it to your hearts content. Spend some time on these and you can make any set piece your imagination can conjure as well as recreating your favourite real life set pieces - they are a nightmare to defend against if done well.
As much as I love this game their are a few downsides. There has been a lot of attention placed on manager mode (particularly with achievements) which I feel has not been improved since 09 - if your going to plug something to this degree they really needed to make massive improvements, they haven't. Again a lot of the game is based on the BAP and making your own real life player, download the game face from EA world (which BTW I've been trying to do for days, the website isn't working. Why can't we do this with an Xbox live vision camera anyway?) and then taking your player on a career (getting signed for an online club, getting them to the top of various leagues etc.) but for me the BAP mode was never any good and continues to be sub par. The only other gripe I have is with tackles when playing again the computer, you touch them they go down and a free kick is awarded. They two footed tackle you in the box - nothing. This is something I've seen consistently over several games. However if you play a lot against a friend or on Xbox live then this shouldn't be a massive issue.
All in all this is more than FIFA 09 with a spit and polish, this is in my opinion the first true football sim. Play and enjoy.
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