FIFA 11 Demo Impressions XBOX360/PS3

Just played some more, had a good go this time, its an enjoyable game and plays like FIFA10 minus the faults, this to me is the pinnacle of EA's vision of a football game.

Player individualty is there, I noticed CBs had poor first touches and lumbered around a bit, other players with tight control and quicker feet and players like Alonso did pass better than others.
Passes were misplaced, although I still think this is just random rather than me attempting a pass that the player is not set for.
Also the shooting of certain players stood out, Cronaldo has a rocket of a shot.
Despite the upped individuality I did not think it was vital to ever seek out certain players to gain an advantage and did not find it soo noticable that the different teams had an individual feel.

I did find it to still be overly physical at times and smaller lighter players were coming out on top on occasions which I found strange.

The team AI is much improved and player switching is great.

I really find it very easy though. just holding x to run into someone and take the ball resulted in 1 foul in the hour or so that I played and it was rare that the CPU was able to avoid the tackle. The times it did avoid it it was players like Messi & Cronaldo doing a roulette to spin around me.
As I said earlier for the most part I was under very little pressure when in possession, this is on hardest difficulty aswel. I remember in FIFA10 the cpu pressured too much, EA seem to have resolved this by taking it away to a large extent.
Always lots of space for the recepient off a pass also, unless in the oppositions final 3rd. This, for me, takes away from the player individuality somewhat as you do not often need to have a pin point passer to pick people out because the space allows for error in the pass. Also touch isnt soo important for the most part becuase of the space.

The players faces are photo realistic and look awesome but overall I find the look of the game to be a little too polished and shiny.

Overall its a fun game to play. I think I might get it for the online game, but I will wait a month or so after release to see if the final game is as shoddy as last year.
 
Ronaldo, Higuain and van der Vaart are class.

Played 1 game. Thought it was a bit of a let down. Put PES demo on, lasted a half and a bit before putting FIFA back on. Was much better second time around. Enjoyed it. Looking forward to full game playing career mode with Spurs.

As said above, the more you play, the more things will become evident.

Also must add that FIFA feels so much quicker than PES. I played that on -1 and playing FIFA on Slow. Just seems much more lively, like PES was too slow. I guess I should try them with different settings but like I say I enjoyed FIFA more from the quick play test.
 
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played a couple of games and it is better than FIFA 10 no doubt but the A.I seems no better. The A.I still doesnt make mistakes or misplaced passes so offline will be rubbish again.

I am not sure I can stomach paying another £40 for just an online game.
 
kobashi said:
played a couple of games and it is better than FIFA 10 no doubt but the A.I seems no better. The A.I still doesnt make mistakes or misplaced passes so offline will be rubbish again.

I am not sure I can stomach paying another £40 for just an online game.
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I've seen Lyon (AI) misplace a few passes.
 
kobashi said:
played a couple of games and it is better than FIFA 10 no doubt but the A.I seems no better. The A.I still doesnt make mistakes or misplaced passes so offline will be rubbish again.

I am not sure I can stomach paying another £40 for just an online game.
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I haven't bothered to download either the FIFA or PES demos yet. I'm just not feeling excited about either....I'll probably get around to it in the next few days.

But your comment about the infallible AI is pretty much the sole reason why 1-player FIFA has always been such utter shite. Seems like it's the same again this year.

I probably will spend £40 just for an online game - I want to play computer footy, but not against EA's scripted, cpu-cheat AI shite.

How about the AI teams in PES - equally perfect?
 
Has anyone tried uploading goals to the EA Sports website? It worked for me and I can see the video's online, but when I click them it brings me to a blank page.
 
winston said:
I haven't bothered to download either the FIFA or PES demos yet. I'm just not feeling excited about either....I'll probably get around to it in the next few days.

But your comment about the infallible AI is pretty much the sole reason why 1-player FIFA has always been such utter shite. Seems like it's the same again this year.

I probably will spend £40 just for an online game - I want to play computer footy, but not against EA's scripted, cpu-cheat AI shite.

How about the AI teams in PES - equally perfect?
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not played PES yet. In FIFA 11 the A.I have made some misplaced passes but it is still doesnt seem anywhere near enough. It is hard to judge on such a short demo but I just worried playing blackpool will be no different then chelsea.
 
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FlawlessCowboy said:
Really surprised to see all these comments about the supposed 'non-existent' pro-passing. Its one of the things that really stands out for me and is instantly noticeable. I am miss placing so many passes or not putting enough power on them. Its a million times better than in FIFA 10! I am honestly struggling to see how anyone can see it differently - its like night and day.

Personality+ on the other hand, IS pretty non-existent to me. Maybe it will come into play the more I play the game, but for me players mostly feel the same.

One of the biggest improvements for me are the headers and corners. Headers in general feel much, much more like a 50/50 battle and players such as Iaquinta and Drogba can really get some power behind the ball even from quite a high cross or corner.

Again as has already been mentioned, the pace of the game is much better. Even on the default setting the game is noticeably slower which certainly promotes better build up play.

Off the ball runs from AI teammates are really superb too. Wing backs constantly push up and bomb down on the wings, giving you more options. I've also scored a number of goals by players such as Lampard and Khedeira due to them making deadly runs into the box from midfield.

The demo didn't have an instant wow factor for me, but the more I play it, the more I enjoy it. Its all about the little things - for example, I scored a goal with Anelka from a driven shot outside the box. A defender in the box turned his back to try and block the shot, but instead it deflected off his back and past the outstretched arms of the keeper into the bottom corner. It looked absolutely brilliant and realistic.

Its things like this which remind me of Pro Evo of old. I was very rarely wowed by playing a PES game when it first came out, but after a few days I would fall in love. Thats why I'm loving this demo so far :)
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Sums up my thoughts absolutely perfectly.

Thanks for saving me the time. :WORSHIP:

And the AI does misplace passes. Remember also that these are top quality teams that irl rarely make hundreds of mistakes per game. Judge it at lower levels.
 
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My thoughts so far...

I play on all manual except crosses and thank goodness theve sorted crossing which feels less scripted and more truer to the real game. The players feel heavier and the jostling is good even though there feels like theres a lot of it.

The passing on manual is rock hard im finding. Needs a lot of practice i reckon, been losing loads of possesion especially playing as Juventus who feel slow and a bit cumbersome compared to Barca. Ive also noticed teh a.i is miles better than 10. They play offside, they close down as you get nearer the box, they double up and the generally make it hard for you, i really like it.

Ive not seen many long shots by the cpu though, although saying that the last two games Lyon hit two shots, one went over and one of the bar.

Im really liking it. havent tried Pes yet but for me i think this maybe my game of choice and for the life of me cant understand what the negativity is all about.
 
winston said:
How about the AI teams in PES - equally perfect?
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No. You will see a lot more bad passes, missed passes witch is good. Unfortunately it seems the AI in PES can't score. They are very harmless at least in the demo.

I'm shit in PES really i forgot how to play this game over the last 3 years. But most of my demo games ends 0-0. That is not a good sign.

So again, playing against the CPU will be more frustration then fun in both games i guess. But i'm not sure about Fifa yet cause 4 minutes playtime is way to short to make a statement.
 
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Shearer_God said:
Sums up my thoughts absolutely perfectly.

Thanks for saving me the time. :WORSHIP:

And the AI does misplace passes. Remember also that these are top quality teams that irl rarely make hundreds of mistakes per game. Judge it at lower levels.
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well yeah, I am hoping the lower level teams do play like genuine low level teams as I want an enjoyable career mode this year.
 
After playing the Fifa 11 PC demo, you can definitely see the difference pro-passing has made, but I still don't think it's enough.

Btw, 3mins is just not enough! Can't settle into a match at all.
 
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LOL @ Villa trying a heel flick past my goalie. It's good to see the AI trying to do tricks every once in a while. I know they did it in the WC game, but it's nice to see it continued.
 
mcruz said:
one more time i will going to ask something that majority here seems not bother to much...
how is the movement of the ball from your teanmattes?
very scripted and without any variations like FIFA09, FIFA10, FIFAWC or theres more variations in movement like FIFA08, when players constantly surprised me with different movement and sometimes going to one side of the field to another like real matches??
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While playing as Madrid and Barcelona I noticed quite a bit of players interchanging positions in the front line. Messi would switch with Ibra and Canales with Kaka'.
 
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I'm liking it so far, but I feel like the "improved CPU AI" just means they do more tricks. They don't really move any smarter, and I'd argue that it makes them look dumber. Frank Lampard and Sami Hyypia have both tried the 360 dribble twirl past the player I control...not the best.
 
I've played it and i really cant understand where the negativity is coming from. Pro passing not apparent? are you shitting me?!?!

I'm not gonna jizz my pants and say wow this is life changing and amazing, but i definitely feel its the best football game out. Thoughts on the pro demo r below:


I played quite a few games and I'm not a fan, got a few gripes with it. I don't think its fluid at all, its very stop n start. I think its the animations on the dribbling or etc. I just think its less repsonsive than fifa. I have to say though, i wish fifa was as difficult as pro.
 
First reaction; "Meh"

Coming from WC it doesn't actually feel any better. In fact I would say I found the players on the WC game to be more "balanced". Not sure what it is down to. Anyway;

Positives;
- Defensive AI is tighter. Striker gets less space and when you recieve the ball they are on to you in a flash. More interceptions aswell. Have hardly managed a goal, or shot on WC after about 10 matches.
- Heading from crosses is slightly more organic, but not by much.
- Goalie animations have improved, this is really obvious. Nice addition
- Net settings are visible (although the loose setting has the same issue's as PES. Will unnaturally sway after the ball has stopped moving. Visible during penalties)
- Celebrations are better, although I have had quite a few cut away early to an "odd" angle removing the atmosphere.
- Extra defensive animations make for better tackling.
- Defenders have more momentum so you can more easily dribble past a player with a drop of the shoulder and tap of sprint.

Negatives;
- Attacking AI is crap again, started to pay attention and the cpu AI maybe passes once or twice to the side before going on it's normal All-Out-Attack passing nonsense. No possesion play whatsoever.
- Sadly custom tactics are locked, so no chance to test the Park-The-Bus out, however I set my team to ultra defensive and that did as much, or little!, as the previous games.
- P+, tbh so far I have noticed very little difference from the WC game, defenders are slower and more cumbersome, attackers lighter and sharper, etc, etc. One thing I did notice was that the lob-crosspass can't be done with just anybody. A lot of the times the ball would have a far too low a trajectory with the wrong player making it useless. I think P+ has the most effect, compared to the WC, on passing. Tried a long pass out wide with Hyppia and he totally screwed it up. So that is good. But don't think there will be much difference besides what's described above.
- PP, the first few games (being an assisted player........yeah yeah, stop booing at the back!) was a big difference and made it feel more like semi with the powerbar from manual added to it. However the last few games I switched from my WC timing to slightly longer (generally overpowering slightly) and passing was as crisp and accurate as normal. I never ping-pong anyway and always play the pass that should be on due to player positioning and non of that 180 crap so it did very little for me. Also checked the passing %, even had one match where the AI, Leverkusen, had 97%! It's always around 90% in my matches, although they only have about 30% possesion.
- I still find the pressure to be too high (can be fixed in CT), although these are all evenly matched teams so it's harder to tell. But with the lack of proper team AI, i.e. normal football play of possesion and counter attack, etc, I don't think it will be very enjoyable playing the AI.
- Responsiveness, it's not so much that players don't react fast enough, but it seems like they are always taking an extra touch which makes the players feel clunky. Kind of like the player is always on the verge of losing control whenever they get near the AI.
- HOLD X = win ball. Dull defending system.
- Stamina, decided to test it out exclusively. Chose Lyon, as the French tend to give up easily I thought their stamina would be poor aswell......A WW2 joke for you there gents, I'm here all week, try the steak, it's only $9,99......so I stuck my finger to sprint and whenever I lost possesion I double pressured. I even went so far to sub the 1st team and mix it up with 3rd rate players with stamina in the 50's. How dissapointed was I when at the 87th min. mark I paused the game to see how my sprint-happy, double pressure Frenchies were doing only to find that one player, a striker had just gone in the red with the rest a mix of green (2x) and yellow (8x). So ridiculous pressure and sprinting the whole match goes unpunished!

Unknown;
- Shooting? Seeing as the combination of 3min halves and high pressure & better defensive AI makes it pretty impossble for me to really know what the f#$k shooting feels like. I'm lucky to manage 2 shots per match.

Conclusion;

Really don't know which, if either, game I'll be getting. Both have huge frustrations for me and both have some excellent aspects aswell. Think I'll be giving PES some more time to see if I can get past the responsiveness issues I have with that game. If not, I can't say I'm that excited to get either. :(
 
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I'm a bit underwhelmed to be honest. For some reason it doesn't look or feel as good as the Gamerbase demo. Maybe it was the small tv I was playing on at Gamerbase but it looked so much better, player models were much better and seemed to play much slower.
 
MindlessDrugHoover said:
I've played it and i really cant understand where the negativity is coming from. Pro passing not apparent? are you shitting me?!?!

I'm not gonna jizz my pants and say wow this is life changing and amazing, but i definitely feel its the best football game out. Thoughts on the pro demo r below:


I played quite a few games and I'm not a fan, got a few gripes with it. I don't think its fluid at all, its very stop n start. I think its the animations on the dribbling or etc. I just think its less repsonsive than fifa. I have to say though, i wish fifa was as difficult as pro.
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Well explain to me what difference does it make? After a few games you get completely used to it and you can ping pong all you want. It adds no error. It's only there for over and under hitting passes, which aren't really accurate at all, as seen in Rodelero's video.
 
Nah, you misplace plenty of passes. Or at least I do.

You cannot "ping-pong" pass anymore anyway. Which is pretty much all to do with underhitting the pass anyway, as you can't get the power anymore to do it 180 degrees. Unless you don't know what ping pong passing is.
 
Just spent the last 60/90 mins with the 360 demo... my early impressions are very positive :TU:

It looks slightly better than 10. The lighting is much better, the turf obviously much better (especially if you haven't seen the WC game). Player faces, models and equipment improved.

Personality+ is definitely there; could do with ramping up a notch or two but it's an improvement over 10 to say the least. The most obvious part of P+ is the HIGH/MED/LOW Attack/Defence Work Rates. Play as Barcelona and compare how eagerly Alves (High Attack) gets up the flank to how Abidal (Low Attack) does not, it's pretty clear.

I've uploaded one replay demonstrating this, I just can't DL it from Football World at the moment (I'll try and add it at another time). Basically I passed the ball through midfield with Iniesta and Xavi to find Messi's feet in the inside-right channel. I tried to dribble inside towards the D like he does, but was shadowed by Marcelo and Carvalho also stepped forward to double, blocking my route. Had to divert, then made a quick Cruyff turn to earn myself a yard of room. In that space down the right that I'd just vacated (having dragged Marcelo infield with me), Alves came screaming up on an overlap exactly like he does for the real Barca... and not tracked at all by Ronaldo (Low Defensive Work Rate). I was able to slip a pass into the box to meet his run, belted it, and his powerful shot dipped past Casillas and thudded off the bar! It all looked very realistic, hopefully I can share the replay at some point.

Edit: Here it is:
YouTube - FIFA11 Demo - Alves overlap

Love the sound of the ball hitting the woodwork now, btw.

Aside from work rate, P+ feels quite subtle. Dribbling with Iniesta is fun, it's clearly different to dribbling with Puyol, and similarly tackling is much easier with the good defenders than someone like Messi. The CPU put in a couple of great crunching slide tackles with Pepe and Carvalho. So it's there, just maybe not quite as obvious as we might like. We'll see.

I've also seen Xavi attempt a left-footed rabona... hmmm... :Y1

It's less easy for smaller players to get pushed off the ball now. I was able to wriggle beyond Carvalho with Messi in a situation that I know in FIFA10 Messi would have been shoved off the ball. Similarly I had Poulsen climbing all over the back of CPU Iniesta and he still got away from me with the ball:

YouTube - FIFA 11 Demo - AI Iniesta

The CPU still seems a bit reticent to shoot, although Iniesta did stroke one into the top corner from the edge of the box, that was nice.

EA claimed that this year the AI would be more lethal in front of goal... unfortunately I don't think this is the case at all. On Legendary I allowed both Ronaldo and Villa through in 1-v-1 and they skied over the bar. Benzema limply missed a fairly easy header too.

I do like how the commentators mention the strictness of the ref early in the game. For that feature to work I think it's essential to know what to expect... I just hope there's another way of receiving that information when I inevitably turn the commentary off!

I like the player stats thing when substitutes are loading. Good riddance to the stadium panning cut-scene :BLEH:

The CPU now puts small players on the posts for corners. It's not just automatically a fullback - I had Diego on the post as Juventus.

CPU strikers sometimes try to deny you the automatic short goal kick by getting tight to your centre-back, I like that.

The R1 Driven Lob is nice, I just have to remember to use it now!

I play all Manual, so I've not really noticed Pro Passing much if at all. Sometimes passes at less-straight angles are not struck cleanly and are weaker, but it's not something I've really noticed or thought about while playing. Passing just generally feels good (without having tried to exploit or break anything). As a Manual & Offline-Only person this not a huge issue for me.

Player Selection bugs, on the other hand, are... and so far I have not been interrupted by any dodgy logic, the player selection has been perfect thus far (touch wood). Hurrah!

I've spent a similar amount of time with both the PC PES2011 and the 360 FIFA11 demos today... not particularly long sessions with either, but from my initial impressions, it's not even a contest for me.

If EA can serve up a bug-free Career Mode and my initial positive impressions continue, than at the moment I suspect I'll get a lot of fun out of this over the coming year. I hope I don't regret those words later! :P
 
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