Year after year does Electronic Arts churn out a football video game in its highly popular FIFA series and here we go again with our review of FIFA 12. Although FIFA 10 managed to hit many high notes, its successor FIFA 11, failed to impress to a similar degree. Now with the holiday season around the corner and the football season already in full swing, EA unleashes its latest at us in the form of FIFA 12. The much-hyped title brings in several new features to the franchise, as well as some upgrades in an attempt to take the sports genre by the horns. FIFA 12 hits us with a much needed trifecta comprising the impact engine, all new tactical defending as well as precise dribbling capabilities.
Gameplay in the title sees some rather drastic ‘refreshments’ with more realistic ball movement allowing for a mean swerve and dip to undo even the sturdiest of keepers. Players seem more aware of their surroundings, stretching every sinew to keep the ball under a challenge or intercept a cleverly weighted through ball. Opponent AI has also improved to pleasing effect. Players twist and feign when on the ball, at times with half a mind on retaining possession for their team. They dash forward in sharp runs, turning defenses inside out. Just what your coach kept yelling out from the bleachers. But none of the gameplay aspects have changed as drastically as the defending in the title.
FIFA 12 features a totally revamped defending system that does away with the automatic and easy stuff in defence. Now tackling takes on a whole new face, and has turned into something much more interactive as well as challenging. As the game has evolved, focus has shifted to ‘jockeying,’ calling for a greater sense of involvement in defensive duties. The onus is now on the player to dispose opponents with well-timed challenges for the ball and players will need to be extremely vigilant in order to stop an attack. Jockeying will get you only so far as to keep up with a menacing striker. Also, putting in a tackle from the wrong side could very well lead to a booking.
And what this game does is that it adds a new dimension to this aspect of the game by allowing players to nudge an opponent, throwing him slightly off his game. Players with greater strength will be more successful in the challenge, while sliding tackles have gotten softer. Finally does mounting an effective defence in FIFA take on the personality of the gamer doing the defending! Of course, you can turn off this ‘manual’ defending system in the game options, but this can only be done for offline play and in online friendly matches and custom unranked matches.
Even the game’s career mode has some nice additions. Being able to talk to the press is one of them, although it is still a very limited feature and the initial excitement gets old fast. And while these press ‘interactions’ allow for little variation, they do serve a purpose. You can unnerve opposing managers and players by the use of convoluted means. Some of the best managers of today’s game love to turn the screw off the pitch and now those who get involved in FIFA 12 managing, have the same freedom. But the best addition to the career mode is probably the ability to send players out on loan immediately after they have been purchased. This happens all the time in real life and it is about time that EA Sports made the necessary changes to keep up.
Other new stuff includes the EA Sports Football Club, an interactive online experience where gamers can collect experience points in order to increase their status. Accomplishments can also be shared and you can keep track of your friends and their achievements via the internet. You can also join in to support your favorite club, a stat also tracked online. A pleasant tutorial explains it all the first time you boot up the game.
The sounds in FIFA 12 seem more entrenched in the title. Fans get behind their favorite players chanting away loudly in support, while the hollow woody click of the ball has been replaced by a realistic ping of vibration when it collides with the post. Game sounds help set the atmosphere, whether at your home ground with 70,000 or so fans backing you or on a rival team’s turf, where there is no love lost between their supporters and your star player. There is still room for improvement with game sounds though, and actually quite a bit could have been better.
A minor change in the way the latest scores from other ‘live’ matches are displayed might go unnoticed but a few left-over visuals from previous iterations in the franchise, such as those at half-time, give a slightly stale feel to the title. Other areas in which FIFA 12 falters are embedded within the new defending system. A nudge can also be performed on players off the ball to block their runs or slow them down as they get into an attacking position. This technically illegal action gives you a marginal upper hand at times. But strangely, the referee seems to turn a blind eye to such ‘tactics.’ So, along with all the good that the game has to offer, there are a few chinks within the system’s armor.
Final Word: This game manages to put a fresh spin on a twenty year old franchise, without compromising on gameplay or the glory. FIFA 10 may have delivered the beautiful video game, but FIFA 12 does much to keep pace with the times and in the end it’s the little things that count at the final whistle. Greatly improved game sounds and a fresh take on commentary provide gamers with a new perspective. An enhancement in game AI makes the title more fun, even if you choose to play all by yourself. Overall, the changes for the better outweigh the tiny fissures in the title. EA Sports has set yet another benchmark in FIFA 12 and quite frankly it would just be wrong to miss out on one of the greatest sport video games yet.
Gameplay: 9.0/10
Visuals and Graphics: 8.5/10
Game Sounds: 8.5/10
Atmosphere: 9.0/10
Overall (not an average): 9.0/10