Another year, another FIFA game from EA Sports. As is often the case with sports games from EA, “FIFA 12” is largely similar to its predecessor, the aptly titled “FIFA 11.”
Both revolve around soccer. Both feature Landon Donovan on shiny covers.
“Then why should I upgrade to ‘FIFA 12’?” you ask.
To be honest, unless you’re a truly hardcore FIFA player you probably won’t need to.
Though the core gameplay remains largely unchanged, “FIFA 12” is not without bells and whistles.
With this game, the much-touted “FIFA Trinity” has been completed, seamlessly integrating a player impact system that spent two years in development.
In “FIFA 11” when players collided the game projected a set animation based on one point of impact, occasionally causing players to move through one another or make awkward advances toward each other.
Don’t worry: the awkward advances make a glorious return in “FIFA 12,” and they look much more realistic than last year’s. Now player impacts are decided by multiple points on each player’s body and account for such variables and speed and momentum.
The result is a far more fluid and realistic interaction between players, making “FIFA 12” hands-down the most realistic looking soccer game out there.
“FIFA 12” also improves upon its predecessor’s advanced dribbling techniques, which are executed with the right joystick.
New techs include the elastico chop, a kind of fake to the right, flick to the left dribble useful for passing oncoming defenders; the reverse toe bounce, a fancy ball-juggling maneuver; the highly-contextual Bergkamp Flick, where a striker bounces a pass off of his toe over the head of a nearby defender and quickly 180s to regain possession; scoop turns (both 90 and 180 degrees), useful for dodging close defenders; and double around-the-worlds (another juggling technique).
Whether or not those get used by players or not is, again, what separates those dedicated, passionate football lovers from the more casual player who would be fine developing a strong—albeit less intimate—relationship with “FIFA 11.”
What comes in the box is surprisingly little—the disc, the standard legal pamphlet, an advertisement for FIFA Street and an online access code…that’s it. No manual! EA must have fallen on hard times (or maybe they didn’t have anything new to say about “FIFA 12”).
The fact that each game comes with an access code for online gameplay is a little disconcerting: that means that buying the game used won’t net you its online features, which sounds like a bit of a cash grab (EA Sports is notorious for its policy of nickel-and-diming customers).
Is it worth it? If you are a casual player I would say you are safe sticking with “FIFA 11,” but if you have the cash to spare and want to experience the most realistic game of soccer that isn’t actually soccer, “FIFA 12” will quench your football thirst quite nicely.
