Image Courtesy IGN.com

Nick Martinez reviews FIFA 2010.
EA Sports’ FIFA 10 Dominates the Virtual Pitch (X-Box 360)

EA Sports’ FIFA soccer franchise often polarizes members of the video gaming community - - gamers either love each year’s iteration or they reject it in favor of its competitor, Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer. FIFA 10, this year’s football based foray, breaks away from this paradigm and delivers a realistic and highly entertaining soccer experience - - from the referee’s first whistle right down to the game-winning goal in stoppage time. EA Canada, the game’s developers, caters to gamers’ need for their FIFA fix right way - - the moment the FIFA 10 disc enters their X-Box 360 console, players are immediately transported onto their favorite club’s practice pitch. While there, they can perfect one on one striking skills against a goalkeeper, practice free kick set pieces (and for the first time in the series, create their own custom formations) or hold an inter-squad team scrimmage to test out their side’s starting 11.

Fans familiar with the franchise will recognize the major additions made to FIFA 10’s game play.   First, developers trashed its familiar eight-way directional construct, a control system that made player movement feel jerky, unrealistic and almost robotic. In its place stands a new 360-degree directional system, where virtual footballers skillfully maneuver between opposing defenders, make accurate cross-field passes and finish plays with pinpoint strikes on goal.  This makes for an unparalleled simulation of the real-life game-day situations faced by professional superstars. And with FIFA 10, game-day can’t come soon enough. 
Once the player enters the virtual stadium filled with screaming fans and colorful team banners, it’s hard not to notice the brilliant greens and browns of the manicured grass, the gleaming white chalk lines that trace the field of play, and the perfectly rendered logo-filled player jerseys (or “kits” for the British fans).

The game, now available in stores worldwide, presents a wealth of professional talent on its roster - - there are 30 country-specific leagues, like the English Premiere League and Italy’s Seria A, housing a total of over 500 teams.  For players who want to add a more international feel to their FIFA experience, the game also offers up 41 playable national teams, like South American powerhouse Brazil and the 2006 World Cup Champions Italy. Also, developers revamped the highly popular Manager Mode by adding over 50 key improvements and tweaking the previously buggy facets of the often-frustrating game option. Gone are the low-ball transfer offers by opposing teams’ AI managers, the petulant football Prima-Donnas who force you to break a team’s budget in order to keep them in your colors and the frustrating (and often conflicting) governing board expectations for your newly signed gaffer.

Now, FIFA 10 sports a supremely realistic transfer system, where lower echelon teams and top-flight clubs have equal footing in pursing top superstars.  Having more money doesn’t necessarily guarantee the acquisition of premiere talent - - a free agent’s choice to could come down to the number of players at the player’s preferred position, the team’s chance of winning their league or even the club’s global location.
What if the upstart NY Red Bulls could bring 2008 FIFA Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo to the Meadowlands instead of soccer stalwart Real Madrid?  Who would win the David Beckham bidding war: the youthful Dutch side Ajax or veteran filled AC Milan of Italy?  FIFA 10 allows its virtual managers to play out those scenarios and many others.

There are a few drawbacks to the near perfect FIFA 10.  Once the player exits the practice field, they are presented with a very clunky, sometimes illegible and overly sensitive menu system that takes forever to load and is impossible to navigate. Also, while the FIFA series prides itself on featuring menu music from international artists like Wyclef Jean, Muse and Avril Lavigne, this year’s collection features an eclectic mix of chaotic melodies and headache-inducing rhythms that irritates more than it entertains.

Lastly, the game’s much-lauded “Virtual Pro” feature, which allows players to create a footballer in their own likeness for use in almost all facets of the game, is still in beta testing. 
The incomplete nature of the option, one which adds very little at its current form, fuels speculation that EA may force them to pay for an ancillary add-on, if one ever comes at all.

Despite these hurdles, FIFA 10 for the X-Box 360 races up field and, with precious seconds left on the clock, nails the bull’s-eye - - forcing the competition to walk off the pitch, heads bowed in defeat.

Overall rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Tags: CGI, comic con nyc, EA games, nick martinez, ps3, Sportscenter, Technology, Video Games, xbox 360

This entry was posted on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 11:55 am and is filed under ENTERTAINMENT, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.