Flicking through past issues of XBW revisiting our final verdicts on FIFA 09 and PES 2009 was a curious, revelatory experience - we even slag off our cult hero Dirk Kuyt in one of the captions. For shame. Still, it goes to show how much things have changed in both real life and virtual footy during the course of a season. (Just ask lucky Man City or despairing Toon fans.)
Principally owing to verging-on-violent peer pressure from Messrs Pellett and Gapper, we've since substituted lunchtime PES o'clock sessions for a more FIFA-flavoured light bite. And while this exceptionally well-groomed writer maintains Pro Evo still offers the most bang for your hardcore multiplayer buck, even he's come round to the delights of single-player and the overall qualities of the super-slick FIFA engine compared to its increasingly (c)rusty Konami equivalent. When it comes to playing on your lonesome, FIFA 09 just gets better each fresh time we boot it up.
So much so, in fact, that the office resounded to the most raucous cheering in yonks (well, since Arkham Asylum - call it one yonk, maybe a yonk and a half) when the preview version of FIFA 10 dropped through our letterbox. Unlike the resigned, slightly embarrassed way we tiptoe around fallen PES idol Seabass Takatsuka at Konami events nowadays, we'd trust David Rutter and his FIFA team with - if not our lives - then our treasured Istanbul 2005 match programme at the very least. How times change.
Firstly, a quick disclaimer. It's sometimes a pain to judge just how proper a representation of the final product these preview versions are, as even the slightest bit of tinkering with AI or ball physics often has a drastic effect on the way matches play out. That said, even with a few blatant bugs, FIFA 10 - while unsurprisingly opting to tinker rather than revolutionise - is already showing a good deal more promise than even last term's mighty effort.
Evolving the template first pioneered in FIFA 08 - in which elements like the height and pace of the ball, player position, favoured foot and momentum all affected the way players shot and trapped the ball - FIFA 10 feels remarkably realistic. Don't be surprised to see your full-back badly mis-control a back pass under pressure from a winger, or your winger wallop a cross out of play if being jostled by a full-back. Critics might argue that they want to be the ones making mistakes rather than the AI, but it adds an interesting element of unpredictably to the action.
But that's only one of the manifold tweaks and changes, so take a deep breath as we rattle through more observations. It's much easier to dispossess your man with the barge tackle; in fact, sometimes the ball will change possession numerous times in the blink of an eye. The heading is totally kaput in this build - it's impossible to keep corners and crosses on target.
The accuracy of composed shots seems bizarrely toned down (heartbreaking for us, we've come to depend on it in 09), players make patently more intelligent runs and provide more logical pass options, long shots are finally dangerous and there are fewer irritating offside calls. Whack difficulty up to Legendary, disable assists and you've got a brilliant sim, too. All things to all men. God, we love you FIFA.
There's little doubt that this is now the footie king. Rather than overhaul their engine, it seems EA are more than content to consolidate this season - and who are we to complain? 10 is all set to be the best kickabout ever, and Konami have it all to do now...
Interesting. Whilst Konami have been making the right noises, I suspect PES won't have enough in the box to get back the credibility this year. If it goes FIFA's way again this season, I think Konami should refrain from releasing PES next year (just release some updates) and get to work on restoring PES to its former glory.
Oh, and get some good lawyers to challenge EA's stranglehold on the FIFA license.
Was thinking that myself. Slight typo in the heading, methinks
I'm not a footy fan, but I do enjoy a decent video game. Have done since Striker and ISS on the SNES. I've been toying with the idea of picking up a copy of FIFA 09 (the 10v10 matches interest me) but not sure if it'd be worth it.
Been looking forward to this for ages, as I have done every year since god knows when. Will enjoy given the demo a run on Thursday.
While the player physics sound tight I trust they will sort out the heading problems mentioned. One then that gets my goat with FIFA is when they do so much good but then for some reason make you aspect impossible, such as scoring from headers from corners, free kicks, long shots.
Have you played PES 2010 yet or are you just guessing that FIFA is the footie king this year? I've always felt that FIFA was too sterile and as such I'm a PES fan. Every year there is talk about this finally being the year that FIFA becomes king but every year I try it and it feels the same as always, I just don't enjoy playing it. Despite all the flaws that PES has developed I still enjoy playing it and that is what ultimately is the decisive factor for me. However, this year I may buy FIFA aswell as PES.
I must be the only person on the planet who doesn't get the hype surrounding FIFA at the moment, admittedly I haven't played it much (especially not single player), but it still feels like a FIFA game, in the same way that the last FIFA game I bought a few years ago felt the same way.
I just don't like that feel, but each to their own I guess.
I'm a desparing Toon fan But this looks fairly promising. I'm going to get it day one but I'm not going to get too hyped as they're usually just reincarnations of the previous one.
but i bet the , passing and especially crossing is the same ish, pes for last few years has let itself down , pes in my opinion is still a better game , fifas got whistles and bells , i just hope konami sort there ....this year.
I was a PES guy fro years since the old ISS days and i always found FIFA to be a shameless franchise BUT as of last year FIFA 09 changed my mind. it was always a little wired changing the game but after playing a few games you really see that it left PES behind last year it's alot more like a sim rather than PES which has just turned in to a Arcade game. Dont get me wrong im hopping PES can pull it out of the bag this year but they just dont seem to have the heart anymore whereas the FIFA team is still fresh since they changed the development team in 08 and getting better and better all the time.
Having played FIFA 10, I don't think it is a significant enough improvement over '09. Some of the animations are a bit more slick and I'm not feeling too much difference with the 360 degree controls - even though it is an improvement, it seems very slight to me.
If anything, I'd recommend people to buy FIFA '09 at a cheaper price over FIFA '10. Maybe some crap FIFA '10 sales to go with the crap Madden '10 sales will make EA think again about their yearly sports games release strategy. We're in an age of internet updates & patches after all!
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