Things you may not be convinced by:
- The Goalkeepers are prone to errors and lack some realism with a few animations and have some odd moments when they fall over quite theatrically! Often you're own players will similarly fall over theatrically when attempting a tackle or even just running towards an opposing attacker!
Things you're going to love:
- The new defending system, known as 'Tactical Defending' by EA. It is a really effective system and will make defending extremely different! I think all in all though it will make attacking harder - once people are used to the system! P.s If you don't like the innovative tackling system there is a way to revert back to the 'Legacy' system for Career mode! But I advise against this; you need to get used to the latest defending as it must be used in online ranked matches!
- There is realistic fouling and reactions to fouls, all intertwined with the 'True Injuries' concept EA are promoting, the players now seem more life like in their physical animation! Basically they fall over like they do on the television and they pull up like they do on the television (They seemed to have developed an exact replica of how Welbeck pulled his hamstring)
- On previous FIFA's the keepers have been really good when they charge out of goal and would pull off some amazing sliding tackles to prevent you scoring a simple tap in! Now they aren't so special, and are reasonably easy to round and tap in to an empty net (not mentioning Torres) this will be one of the unsung improvements that the fans will love without really knowing it!
- Precision dribbling is extremely effective! Now you can quickly jink past players, using skill or not, into some superb attacking holes on the pitch allowing you that extra bit of time to find that killer pass! The system makes FIFA seem like a real football match with each attack having a sense of uniqueness about a similar as it gets to a game of football. Another of EA's additions which provides this sense of realism is the improvements to the passing! You can now link moves together with quick one-twos and very precise and different weighted passing!
- As ever there are some insane new ways to score goals and beat defenders! Need some proof? Just look at this 2 minute video http://www.ea.com/uk/football/videos/fifa12-hjerpseth-fifaralle-02
All in all as a count of 1 negative to 5+ positives I strongly believe this FIFA will be one of the greats, supported in my thoughts by E3 and the gaming industry as FIFA 12 has been named 'Game of the Year' ahead of other headline games such as Gears of War 3, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3! FIFA is released on the 30th of September (Week Friday)
