Review: Fifa 2010
Game: FIFA 2010
Format: XBOX 360
Developer: EA Sports
Publisher: EA Sports
So it’s that time of year again my friends, no I’m not talking about Christmas being nearly on our doorstep like some off his face tramp, I’m talking about football fans go out in their hordes and buy the latest “Fifa” offered by EA. And lucky me, I get to review it for your lovely selves. But before I do, let me just say that I’ll try as hard as possible to not even mention the “Pro Evolution Soccer” as I think it’s sick that these two games are constantly compared with each other I mean you cant say you saw the first three “Call of Duty” games and the “Medal of Honour” series be compared in such a way did you? or the “Doom” series and more recently “Dead Space” series. So why these two? Because they are essentially the same game I hear you cry? Well that’s a bit of a flimsy excuse since the previous examples are all pretty much the same as each other too. No, you see it’s actually just elitism, “FIFA” players think they are better than “PES” players and vice versa but in reality you’re all just bickering like a bunch of kids. Okay, rant over. Anyway on with review…
Since I’m reviewing “Fifa 2010” you’d be correct to assume that I, myself am a bit of a football fan, OK sod that, I love football. However despite owning a few previous iterations of “Fifa” football games had never really got me hooked, in fact there were games I went out and bought on a whim when I was bored. However last years offering, “Fifa 2009” changed all that. For the first time ever I had played a football game which had genuinely been enjoyable, so enjoyable in fact that I played the hell out of it and as 2010′s version drew closer I, myself was filled with excitement, waiting to see how they could’ve possibly made a brilliant game even better and boy have they. If “Fifa 2009” was the king of football games then “Fifa 2010” is the god, it is that simple. The game itself is fully enriched with so many modes, if I were to go over each one in detail then you would’ve actually age a couple of years by the time you’ve finished reading so what I’ll do is give you a brief summary of each.
That’s of course when I get onto the modes because firstly let me just mention the controls. My word have they improved! I mean don’t get me wrong, controls in 2009 were fine but now you can actually score from long range shots, crosses, freekicks and boy does it give you immense satisfaction when you do. Add to the fact you can then replay and upload said epic goals to the EA website to show all your mates (like this little beauty: http://www.easports.com/media/play/video/10775234 ) and your already on to a winner. The 360 dribbling system, allowing you to run with the ball and without the ball in 360 degrees is also brilliant once you get used to it.
Anyway let’s get those game modes shall we? Well I better start off with the manager mode side of things since that’s been looked at the most. Previously I’ve always avoided “manager mode” as I found it just not detailed enough, especially up against the might of the “Championship Manager” and “Football Manager” series. “Manager mode” in 2010 however is vastly improved and far more detailed. The addition of board interaction and a vastly improved and far less tedious transfer system as really made the mode far more enjoyable (and is consequently the main mode in which I play). “Be A Pro” mode returns from 2009, this time in the form of “Virtual Pro mode”, no longer can you play as a professional football in real life, no this time you create your own virtual pro and play as them. Other than the name change and the player change, not much else has changed however there wasn’t much wrong with it in 2009, in fact it was excellent (except the very dodgy camera angle which still needs improving!) For the hardcore “Fifa” pros you also have a nice set piece creator, meaning that you can spend hours (and I do mean hours) on creating your own set piece systems to use in the game, if you’re that much of a football nut of course, personally I wont use it past trying it out for this review. On top of that you get your usual tournament modes, exhibition modes etc. as you would expect from any “Fifa” game.
“The arena”, or “loading screen thingyme” as I like to call it as been looked at also. The addition to be able to hold fully fledged practice matches or practice set pieces like corners and freekicks is a genius little addition, especially if you just want a kick about rather than a fully competitive match.
On the online side of things, tons have been changed. Of course you can still play against your friends or randoms in fully fledged football matches. But this year sees in the introduction of online leagues. To be honest, I haven’t tried this out yet, however the idea of entire leagues of teams made up of different peoples created “virtual pros” does sound awesome, if actually pulled off, but like with “GameFace” (which I’ll get onto in a bit) some of the stuff EA as promised, fails to deliver.
One areawhere the “Fifa” games have excelled in recent years are the graphics and 2010 does nothing to break that tradition. Stadiums filled with crowds have never looked so spectacular and neither has all the ugliness of Wayne Rooney’s face. Not changed too much from 2009, the graphics still are some of the best you’ll find in footballing games today. I’m not saying it’s a “Gears of War 2” or a “Crysis” (a game made for the P.C. Which boasts some of the best graphics I’ve ever seen.) But the graphics in “Fifa 2010” are good enough, which is what you want from a footballing game.
Now you see it’s not all happy, cheery reviewness, you see there are a few things about “Fifa” titles (well the latest ones at least) that really annoys me and one of those is the inclusion of downloadable content. You see things like “Live Season”, a downloadable mode in which players stats are updated weekly and accordingly with how they are doing in the real world, sounds great on paper and they do honestly work really well. But the every “Fifa” instalment is launched around October time, whereas the football season starts in the summer, so by buying the “Live Season” mode, you’ve actually already missed out on a couple of months of matches. Also the fact that a new instalment comes out every year means really that the DLC pretty much expires after a year because no one will play a “Fifa” game over a year old, no they’ll be going out and buying the latest and greatest so the inclusion of any DLC is slightly pointless. But what do Microsoft or EA care? As long as they get your money they don’t mind and what so you care either? As long as you get as much content as possible, I just can’t wait for the new DLC mode for “Fifa 2011 “ which integrates the game with the forthcoming, new Sky Player. In which you actually control what’s happening live on the pitch as you would playing “Fifa” only this time in real life so that you can kick Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronald constantly in the shins because I happen to think the only thing he’s world class at is being a totally and utter *****, and then proceed bathe in the sweet, nectar that is his Portuguese tears.
Hear that EA? These are the kind of scenes I want to see in Fifa 2011 OK?
Despite it’s short life span however, the “Fifa Store” in 2010 offers some really nice, cheap bits of DLC. You can buy stadiums, alternative commentary and little upgrades for your “Virtual Pro” or as I like to call them, cheats you have to buy.
Speaking of some new additions that annoy me (slightly tedious link there but bear with me) what the hell was up with “GameFace” this year?! For those of you that don’t know, “GameFace” is something EA as been pushing a lot recently and it basically enables the person to use pictures from which the game I can only assume will take various scans of and actually put your face in the game however this time around is “Fifa’s” first use of the technology and boy does it not live up to what was promised. See we were promised a system that actually worked, however on release the system was marred by various problems, causing the whole thing to shut down for a few days, much to the anger of “Fifa” fanboys. First of all, why didn’t they give us the option of just taking pictures from our live cams as they did “Tiger Woods” and “Fight Night round 4”? I mean the majority of us are still struggling to find some kind of purpose to why we bought the damn thing in the first place so you could’ve at least helped us out there EA. But no, we have to upload some high quality pictures to a program on the internet which insists on actually totally not working or crashing my laptop. Yes, I find that strange that a P.C. That is about 10 years older than my laptop can handle such a program whereas the laptop falls on it’s arse every time I try to use it but that is definitely the case. Anyway to cut a long story short “GameFace” is working now, how do I know? Because I’ve used it myself you silly ninny! Obviously, not with the high quality photo uploads as like I said, it just doesn’t work, however there is a solution. “GameFace” also offers you to create your game face using the system used in various create-a-character modes in various games. However I didn’t want to have to be subjected to that, as I and we were promised quite the opposite, damn you EA!
And if there’s one thing you thought would be a cert it would be that “Fifa 2010” would have a great soundtrack, well apparently not actually. 2010 offers the most blandest set of nobody artists to date. Usually the series is known for it’s use of great popular indie hits but that obviously decided to scratch that idea this time around. And the commentary, OH GOD THE COMMENTARY. I mean the “Fifa” series has never been known for it’s great, intelligent commentary but please! For the love of god! Please improve the commentary in 2011′s instalment. I’m sick of getting so wind up at the stupidity of some of the comments that come from Andy Gray and Martin Tyler’s voices. Please, for the sake of my sanity, improve the commentary next time around because it’s bloody awful!
After all that, by pointing out some major flaws and well, not sounding too excited about the game, it may seem as though I think “Fifa 2010” is well….a bit rubbish. But it’s not, honest! “Fifa 2009” was a vast improvement and introduced me to a football that was actually fun to play. 2010 is just pretty much the same with some slight changed and much better controls so there’s not all that much to get that excited about. It’s just more of the same, only slightly better.
REVIEW ROUND-UP
Graphics: 4/5 – You wont see a football game look any better.
Sound: 2/5 – Soundtrack is surprisingly bland and boring, commentary is as rubbish as always.
Gameplay: 5/5 – Tons to do plus a improved controls makes the game utterly enjoyable, in fact far more enjoyable than any previous “Fifa”.
Longevity: 4/5 – Tons of modes and things to do, however not 5 out of 5
Overall: 4/5 – I give the game 4 Ronaldo shin kicks out of 5. More of the same greatness that was delivered in “Fifa 2009” with some vastly improved controls, however some big flaws knock the game a little bit.
[starreview tpl=16]
Tune in tomorrow for a review of the PS3 version by Tom01255 – ed
Why, why do people insist on buying the same game every year? Left 4 Dead 2 caused controversy, but the FIFA games do it blatently! RAGE.
Probably becuase they enjoy them and look for any real excuse to keep playing. Even the slightest of tweaks is enough to excite the fans of a long running series.
I’m guilty of this myself as I buy the Smackdown VS Raw games every year. This year I told myself that I was going to wait until it was available for under £30 around christmas or the new year… But I gave in and preordered it this week. I am weak!