FIFA 11: How did we come this far?

Title: FIFA 11
Developer: EA Canada
Platform: PS3
Game modes tested: 1Vs1 multiplayer

Good start, posting a FIFA 10 image on a FIFA 11 related post. Well done!

It's been a long time since I haven't played any FIFA game. Playing with friends, it is common to flat around a standard (in our case Pro Evolution Soccer) and avoid anything else. The reason why this happened is that PES was much better than FIFA, let's say, 10 years ago. Better graphics, better controls, better feeling, much better and more suitable tactics.

But something must be changed if everybody is saying that FIFA has taken the lead. I had the opportunity to play the latest release this weekend (thanks Michael) and, even if now I can confirm that FIFA is the new king, I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed of how things are turning around for soccer simulations.

You could have seen, with the obvious time passing differences, those kind of animations 10 years ago, on FIFA 2000. Players always seem a little 'humpbacked' and clumsy when they try to pass the ball backwards. And at least two generations have passed since that day.

Chiellini might not be a great 'Casanova' but he is not that humpbacked!

Another thing: FIFA encourages pressure. If you press you will get the ball back. When everybody learns it, you'll end up pursuing players more than playing the football. With good results, considering that, unlike PES, you can retrieve the ball and press with the same button. This particular game feature halves the fun in multiplayer sessions.

If it is true that games come out 6 months after they have been completed because programmers have to take away many new stuff because they do not work at the moment, why don't wait a couple of years before coming out with a new game? Let FIFA out with the title 'FIFA 11/12'. You can update rosters online, or stadiums, or everything else, but your core programming team can go on and deliver something really different. When KONAMI realised that, we had PES 2 and PES 5, the best simulations of the PS2 era.

Unfortunately, nobody is going to follow my advice, and they're going out and buy any FIFA or PES (or Madden, or NHL, or NBA Live) coming out every single year. That's how the video gaming World goes nowadays, and that's how players wanted it to go. If they had wanted it another way, maybe now I would have played something better.

Anyway, far from footballistic perfection, FIFA 11 stands as one of the most outstanding soccer videogaming experiences. I really love the way you have to chase the ball once it is passed towards you and the genuine feeling with counter-attacks. Put the ball between the defensive and midfielder line, take Kaka` or Pastore or Snejider on that ball and see how they can prove their divine status.

I appreciate how strikers behave in these cases, proposing for the through pass in a smart way. In addition, you can, more than what you do with PES, see the difference between using Ronaldinho or Ben Arfa, for example. Not only on the graphics side.

This is not a review, just another blog entry. I'm not giving any mark, I just can say that I had a good time playing. Just because soccer is not like that from FIFA, it doesn't mean the game cannot be fun.