FIFA 11 is the next installment in Electronic Arts’ long-running FIFA football franchise which comes after the blisteringly popular FIFA 10 and a World Cup follow-up, 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa. It is built for a host of platforms, with the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions getting a whole lot more for fans to grapple with. The game of course features the 360 degree dribbling mechanic which set FIFA 10 apart, allowing players more freedom to place crosses, through balls and passes. Building upon an already great couple of games, FIFA 11 sets the stage for some actual 11-on-11 football and a splendid gaming experience.
For ardent supporters of the franchise, a new career mode will probably be the best thing that could have been added in. Now you get the choice of being either a manager, a specific player, or for the first time, a player-manager through your eventful career, guiding your team literally on and off the pitch depending on what you choose to explore. While this ‘extended’ mode can expand your horizons in terms of what you have at your disposal, it also limits your freedom a little bit and makes things messy. More options are crammed together in a rather clumsy package. Little has been done to get rid of the clutter which makes managing things efficiently and dynamically quite testing.
If you jump straight into a FIFA 11 game you should notice that behind the scenes, the goalkeeper AI has undergone an absolute overhaul, and that keepers will now charge more intelligently and save more intuitively. This is similar to what 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa had to offer from the goalkeeper in penalties. The man between the sticks attracts all the drama and glory, saving with a wider range of moves and reflexes it seems. But this can also lead to some really frustrating football matches when the opposition keeper is peaked out in form and is having just the best game. Nothing that good old fashion football can’t cure though. Direct, attacking football always has its rewards, but open your team up too much and you could be made to pay. Another thing spruced up is the environment. The crowds seem more realistic and a tight stadium does add effect.
Player celebrations in the game have also been given a bit of a makeover. No more is celebrating a well-taken goal an isolated affair. Teammates jumping into the act is a positively fresh take on player celebrations. But it does get repetitive after a while, with almost the same thing every time. You’ll have to sprint to the by-line so as not to get interrupted during heart-felt, crowd-pleasing revelry. On the other hand, your pro will have to complete certain achievements during matches in order to unlock some of the more jubilant goal celebrations. The game also revisits the training ground with all that FIFA 10 had to offer, like the opportunity to create your own set pieces and test run them to perfection. Other features include the ability to play as a keeper in order to brush up your positioning and ball saving skills which should help you perform better in a match.
Finally we come to the fact that you can actually play as a goalkeeper in a match. You get a chance to experience what it is like to be a goalkeeper, how the entire team depends on you, and how frustrating it can be when you make a mistake. Even the tiniest error by a keeper is always analyzed to the smallest detail, and he is perceived as letting down his team and the fans. But pull off an awesome save or two and it is almost as if the entire city cheers for you. Knowing when to rush out at a player’s feet or when to meet a flighted ball with a strong fist can be tricky, and stepping out on the pitch as a keeper will need a lot of courage, grueling hours of practice, and even more patience. Positioning is key and even with all the assists turned on, keeping the ball out of your net is no easy task.
FIFA 11 makes for a really great football game on the PS3 and with over 30 tracks from several artists the title’s varied soundtrack serves to put you in the right mindset for some energized attacking. But the lack of truly creative movement of the ball from your team’s AI, gives the opponents too much time to get bodies behind the ball. It’s almost as if the player urgency has been thinned out.
The Final Word: FIFA 11 is definitely an improvement over the previous iteration in the series, but just a little bit so. And it also has a lot of stuff that makes the good old game of virtual football that much more drab. Complicated menus in the career mode and almost ‘hidden’ features mar an otherwise more improved mode with arguably a greater degree of variety. One thing is for certain though, the game is a real delight and should serve as the stepping stone for many more to come in the series.
Graphics: 9.0/10.
Gameplay: 9.5/10.
Sound: 8.5/10.
Career Mode: 9.0/10.
Overall (not an average): 9.0/10.