FIFA 12 (DEMO) Review



So, its that time of the year that all football-loving-console-loving men and women come together to play the new edition of FIFA that the ever present Electronic Arts (EA) produce, Last year‘s edition I felt was an excellent add on for the ever popular series, however a few small faults stopped it from being the best football game ever created, I am sure you all know exactly what I am talking about.

So, FIFA 12 hits our shelves on September 30^th however, Xbox 360 and PS3 Users have been able to get their hands on the demo, which is what I am about to review.

New Menu In FIFA 12!

Is it any good?………..Well you will notice straight away, the new and improved menu system, rather than being and up and down menu which has been present I believe since 2008 or 2009, they have installed a new side scrolling menu which straight away seems much more responsive than the original, no more waiting to go into career mode forever, because its trying to connect to the EA “Servers”(if you can really call them “servers”, as they are never available).



They have changed the choosing teams screen ever so slightly, with massive 3D HD badges in place of the old 2D badges, although a nice touch is seeing the players in the actual kit of their teams and the kit selection, the hilarity of seeing Manchester City’s Aleksandar Kolarov tower over the likes of Borussia Dortmund’s Shinji Kagawa is incomparable.



Xbox 360 Cover Ft. Wayne Rooney & Jack Wilshere



To the actual game itself then, well straight from kick-off you notice something massive is missing, whether or not it is good or bad is another question though, the continuous holding of the B/Circle buttons has been removed , (I can hear a lot of OH NO’s) but fear not, all is not lost, it immediately make s you think about what you are doing, no longer can you pull a player out of position, if you do prepare to be punished, like  I was , playing as Manchester City Vs Borussia Dortmund (on world class).

 In this year’s edition you have to work for the ball, and boy does it feel like it. At the end of the game I think the possession was 90%to Borussia Dortmund, 10%to Manchester City.

 I had one maybe 2 touches of the ball the whole game, one of them I managed to take it past 2 defenders with a low drive across goal and into the back of the net, that’s what Sergio Aguero can do. It was a sweet hit and it actually felt like I had scored a proper goal, the same way when you went from FIFA 09 to 10 and you scored, a feeling of“Thank god , I scored that, cause Im not gonna get another chance” came over you.

Another great addition to this years FIFA, is the new commentator, yes like everyone else, I breathed a sigh of relief as I heard the beautiful voice of Alan Smith, instead of the boring overused and biased Andy Gray, THANK GOD he has gone, he has absolute no idea on what football is, which is why he like Richard Keys has been relegated to talk sport(Not the fact that he is a sexist idiot). I also know that there will be 2 different teams of commentators like a couple of editions ago this time you don’t have to download the (I think).

Unfortunately, I cannot make a remark on the new physics engine that they have put that allows players to react to their surroundings (I.e. Tackling players) as the teams I played against were particularly quick and good at passing the ball around either that or world class is just rather harder in this years outing.

What else is new………. well the Etihad Stadium (Manchester City’s Home Ground) looks very sparkly and very modern, the graphics are top notch on that side of the game, I haven’t had a chance to take a look at the crowd yet to see if they are still 2D (Most Probably).

So to wrap things up, the demo was a good insight into this years game, I think it was a positive release, however will take some time getting used to, having to be more tactical than all out attack, I personally love the new tactical style and it will definitely make the attackers think about what they are doing, with teams like Barcelona who can counter attack lightening quick they will destroy lower teams, like real life to be honest. Try it out ASAP and see what you think.