FIFA 11 Demo Impressions XBOX360/PS3

alright here goes my impression. firstly, to start off with, i have always been a PES boy. just got a ps3 recently so never got down to trying any Fifa before this demo. PES6 was the game lasting me the last few years. I am expecting myself to get PES this year but I have not played the demo yet as I wanted to give Fifa a good run-out.

To be honest, I am very impressed with Fifa's freedom thus far. Maybe it's because I have never played a proper next-gen game, so the graphics, freedom in movement and passing were an eye-opener.

just a few questions, is it better to play on full manual? that's what I'm doing but it's difficult to get shots on target.

is there a way to get curl on shots? i know about finesse, but doesn't that just help us to place the ball in a side-foot manner?

secondly, what's the difference in passing between normal x and the through-pass button if i selected full manual?

thanks guys. hopefully will give FIfa another whole day of run-out before giving the real badboy(pes) a proper and fair run-out.
 
sneaky77 said:
Did you flick the right stick to knock the ball ahead? Cause I was able to get separation from the last defender in a thru ball earlier doing that
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I did with Benzema when on a breakaway (started by the CPU defender running into my player at midfield like an idiot) but just before I took the shot (I scored) John Terry, who was all but left for dead, was right ay my back and Benzema was doing the "stick my arm out behind me to hold the guy off" animation before I fired a shot around Céch with Terry right on me.

Felt good to finally get behind them even though if was off a pretty lousy mistake, but it's only happened once (getting away from a defender).

With the way that they've gimped pressuring I wonder if they didn't do this to try and balance things out again somehow. Jockeying and watching passing lanes should be enough (it isn't against Assisted passing) but it seems like they've "balanced" things by simply making fast player really slow or just completely incapable or using their speed whe people are around.
 
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I've gone back and embedded three videos in my impressions on the previous page (pg.5). Or they're here under the spoiler:

nerf said:
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:
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YouTube - FIFA11 Demo - Alves overlap

Edit: Should also note that the first pass from Iniesta to Xavi is not a one-two pass. Iniesta's high attacking work rate means he'll sometimes attempt forward runs just after releasing a pass anyway.

nerf said:
Similarly I had Poulsen climbing all over the back of CPU Iniesta and he still got away from me with the ball:
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YouTube - FIFA 11 Demo - AI Iniesta

nerf said:
Scored a delightful goal with Messi, cutting inside the fullback and curling a sidefoot shot into the far corner:
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YouTube - FIFA 11 Demo - Messi goal
 
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dirkgrout said:
Haven't played fifa for years but thought i'd give it a go as i've heard many people describe it as a football simulation. Now maaybe i'm doing something wrong but playing as juve v barca i spent the whole time getting barged off the ball by xavi and iniesta. Also, every player seems to be the same speed, makes no difference who i'm dribbling with. How do you tackle someone without sliding in? I go smashing into iniesta with chiellini and he's too strong for me! Whether or not you like this game to describe it as a simulation is crazy.
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You should probably spend a bit of time watching the tutorials before commenting on how you can't tackle. If you can't play the game of course it won't feel like a good game. You have to actually time your tackles, don't just run in the back of a player. Think about it.

When I first got FIFA 09 I didn't know what was going on. I was getting thumped online 5-0. It's not something you can judge after 3 minutes. Give it a few games and you'll get the feel for it.

Also will people stop talking about either of these games being a 'simulation' because of course they're not. We're playing 90mins crammed into 10 minutes it's going to feel arcadey ffs.
 
dirkgrout said:
How do you tackle someone without sliding in? I go smashing into iniesta with chiellini and he's too strong for me!
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Use Jockey (hold left trigger) to channel him away from goal or into traffic, and attempt your tackle when the ball is between you and him, not when he's shielding the ball on the opposite side. Dribblers are quite good now at keeping the ball away from the defender. Give it some thought rather than just holding the button.

Rooney10 said:
is it better to play on full manual? that's what I'm doing but it's difficult to get shots on target.

is there a way to get curl on shots? i know about finesse, but doesn't that just help us to place the ball in a side-foot manner?

secondly, what's the difference in passing between normal x and the through-pass button if i selected full manual?
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Depends what you mean by 'better'? I think it's more satisfying and allows more freedom, and personally-speaking makes the game far more fun and involving for me because I have to concentrate on and consider each action. Shooting is definitely the hardest part to learn, it takes a bit of practice and patience when you're missing relatively easy chances at first.

Players have a curl attribute, so it will be more pronounced with certain players. Finesse tends to naturally add some curl too. Depends on the angle of your shot and body shape too.

Very little, although you can LB+Throughball to get a lofted pass (you can't with normal pass). I think the power bar for the Normal Pass charges up at a slightly quicker rate than the Through Ball power bar, so Manual Through Ball tends to be better than Manual Normal Pass for doing very short touch passes (you can just tap a very low charge).
 
If chiellini ran full pelt straight into the back of iniesta in a real game would he just bounce off him or would he knock him over? Think about it.
 
nerf said:
YouTube - FIFA11 Demo - Alves overlap

Edit: Should also note that the first pass from Iniesta to Xavi is not a one-two pass. Iniesta's high attacking work rate means he'll sometimes attempt forward runs just after releasing a pass anyway.
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Nice one buddy.

Yeah the off-ball movement seems really good!

So I'm also wondering now, apart from having a high attacking work-rate attribute, tactically speaking, Alves didn't have a forward arrow tactical attacking instructions to get forward more often?
 
Have really enjoyed the demo, they have completley changed the way players who are good on the ball can be used. Messi will be a massive force online now. as he should be he is prob the best player in the world after all!!

The auto tackling is just rediculous!! Especially after playing the PES demo it makes you realise how little you have to do to defend. against cpu i just hold down 1st and 2nd defender press and run through them and take the ball every time!!

I would like it if someone could make a video. If you play two player and dont use the other pad. so you are just playing against a "dead" team with no one in control. I have tried this before if i want to practise skills etc. Yous still get tackled alot!! and if there player gets the all its hard to get it back off him with no one in control.

Agree the passing is not as inaccurate as i would like. but dont think it will ever get much "worse" as EA clearly want the masses.

Saying that i play on semi and if the passing was any less accurate or when i play on manual. It wouldnt work for me unless they tone down the pressing!!

Animations are awesome and graphics lighting have improved. I always play on dynamic as zoomed in as it can go which helps for graphics and i love the level of intestity you get from this.

Replays are nowhere near PES's level. which is a shmae.

Bugs - 1v1 cpu runs into the keeper 99% of the time

Penalties are WC style which is GREAT news really adds something, but CPU misses 99%

OVERALL - imo tone down the auto tackling this will be a very fun game, far more varied than last year!!
 
PLF said:
Nice one buddy.

Yeah the off-ball movement seems really good!

So I'm also wondering now, apart from having a high attacking work-rate attribute, tactically speaking, Alves didn't have a forward arrow tactical attacking instructions to get forward more often?
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Good question. I'm hoping it's down to the attributes, but as Edit Formation is unavailable in the demo I cannot check. Maybe tonight I should swap Abidal and Alves around and see what happens!
 
dirkgrout said:
If chiellini ran full pelt straight into the back of iniesta in a real game would he just bounce off him or would he knock him over? Think about it.
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This didn't happen. Iniesta was static and you ran into him at full pelt? I doubt this situation arose. What I reckon is more likely is this... Iniesta had the ball was running away from you, you've held down the pressure button and expected because you are bigger that you would win the ball. This doesn't happen in real life and I'm glad it doesn't happen here.

I honestly couldn't care less who likes the game or who doesn't, if you think Pro Evo is the way forward, enjoy that game instead, but just moaning about not being able to defend is a ridiculous argument for why a game is terrible.
 
Oh also saw a jack knife header yesterday, the first time in a fifa game. I played a freekick into the box with Juventus and it was slightly behind the player aimed at and he arched his back while falling backwards to flick the header which the keeper saved.

Ian Rush used to do it a lot in his heydey.
 
JGlover769 said:
This didn't happen. Iniesta was static and you ran into him at full pelt? I doubt this situation arose. What I reckon is more likely is this... Iniesta had the ball was running away from you, you've held down the pressure button and expected because you are bigger that you would win the ball. This doesn't happen in real life and I'm glad it doesn't happen here.

I honestly couldn't care less who likes the game or who doesn't, if you think Pro Evo is the way forward, enjoy that game instead, but just moaning about not being able to defend is a ridiculous argument for why a game is terrible.
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This didn't happen?!!! Are you my stalker? Next time I'm playing football 'in real life' I shall hold down the pressure button and see what happens. The point is that if a big man runs into a small man the small man falls over and wins a free kick. This does happen in real life and I'm not glad it doesn't happen here.
 
I think the only issue I have currently is the pace issue. If I'm using a fast player like Ronaldo, Walcott or Ribery, I should be able to sprint past defenders or at least get ahead of them in some respects. I can do that, but then they always seem to catch me up almost instantly. If pace was addressed, this would be superb. Sadly, I can't see that happening any time soon. Still a fantastic game, mind.
 
Having played some more I really have to say this is growing on me in similar fashion to the PES 2011 demo. AI is still largely disappointing but I'm sure I'll enjoy playing this against friends.
 
Scutch said:
I think the only issue I have currently is the pace issue. If I'm using a fast player like Ronaldo, Walcott or Ribery, I should be able to sprint past defenders or at least get ahead of them in some respects. I can do that, but then they always seem to catch me up almost instantly. If pace was addressed, this would be superb. Sadly, I can't see that happening any time soon. Still a fantastic game, mind.
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Haven't played the demo but if true and happening consistently, then this is disappointing.
 
dirkgrout said:
This didn't happen?!!! Are you my stalker? Next time I'm playing football 'in real life' I shall hold down the pressure button and see what happens. The point is that if a big man runs into a small man the small man falls over and wins a free kick. This does happen in real life and I'm not glad it doesn't happen here.
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lol.

I realise I'm not going to win because you failed to tackle Iniesta with Chiellini and you're angry about it. It's ok just watch the tutorial and learn the game.

I suppose I must apologise on behalf of FIFA upsetting you. Sorry.
 
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I think a lot has to do with the 360 defending. Once they get into a certain zone the players seem to "lock-on" meaning you can only get free with a stick knock-on. Also seeing the attacker wave his arms about behind him looks a bit too much to me.

As for the passing, as Rom mentioned with the slowness of them, the solution is to overpower every pass as first touch is always good anyway. But even then they don't have the required zip to them.

I can't help but feel it's just a typical "Innovation" (read: Botch Job) by EA to try to adress stuff whilst not actually getting to the core of the issue. The issue with pingpong passing is that there is no first touch rating and that you can pass at any angle regardless of positioning. So what do you do to "solve" it? Obviously make everyone just pass far slower.

I would want to be able to ping it about at speed with Barca but not with Leverkusen, but now that seems to be artificially hindered.
 
Scutch said:
I think the only issue I have currently is the pace issue. If I'm using a fast player like Ronaldo, Walcott or Ribery, I should be able to sprint past defenders or at least get ahead of them in some respects. I can do that, but then they always seem to catch me up almost instantly. If pace was addressed, this would be superb. Sadly, I can't see that happening any time soon. Still a fantastic game, mind.
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You need to use the R3 flick so your player has space to run full pelt without the ball at his feet. The defenders won't catch you then... ;)
 
Played like 20 or 30 games with the demo. When everything works well, it can be a real delight, but those moments of brilliance doesn't serve as a make-up for the shortcomings of the sim aspect. It's exactly what I expected, Fifa 10 with some touches but not moving at all, and though technically and artistically a good work (presentation is finally great), it falls too short on the aspects that matter to me.

Too many things still wrong in the game:

- As tiktiktik says, the slow passing feels like a choppy code to fix something else. It's blatantly crap and unacceptable at this age. Besides, there's the problem of range. You can't put the ball out of bounds from one side of the field to the other side (in a vertical direction, like from RB to LB), even if you power it to the max the ball does even bounce before arriving there! Lazy casual programming.

- The game is still a tackling fest in close spaces. There's still no 2quick feet" that allow Iniesta to get past a player without resorting to quickly turns with L2. And even with slow dribbling, you almost never can't wrongfoot a player at all and most of the times they can even tackle you from behind or while you get past them. Yes, 5% of the times there's a foul called. But I really think they should completely work this from scratch. When someone comes sprinting to you, most of the times you simply can't move aside to dribble him.

- There are practically no interceptions, again. You recover the ball or loose it when someone puts you to the ground or runs at full pelt towards you.

- Strength is overdone again. Football is not players falling to the floor again, again and again.

- Practically no stats involved in first touch. Ouch.

- CPU AI doesn't play much combination football, they simply dribble and quick turn with impunity and disregarding physic laws until they feel they have to pass by some unknown reason. All CPU teams play exactly the same patterns. Tricks are abused by the cpu in the most unexpected situations.

- Speed catching up (hey, that's the way to solve those too many 1 vs 1!!!) if you don't use the R3. It shouldn't be this way.

- Personality my ass. There's (again) only speed and strength to overcome your opponent. They have hyped up very slightly some creative players simply by making them turn faster and run faster (Iniesta, Xavi) than last year.

- AI runs are... primitive. Your mates will run forward or to the wrong direction, not detecting and using the gaps. Hard to see any diagonal run that cuts the defense, even with the best players in the pitch.

- Deffensive AI still not 100% fixed. Idiot defenders breaking the offside line again and again by no reason, midfield "hole" is there still and strikers now can't receive alone not because they improved defenders AI but because they made them less aware and active. Many times my forwards simply go to do absurd runs far from the ball by no reason.

- Tactics doesn't impact the game at all. Very shallow water here... just like last year.

- Still to see if there's any stamina model involved (impossible to see in 3 mins).

- 3 mins demo is an insult to the public.

There are a lot of pros, actually (lighting, animations, models, shooting is utterly brilliant, nets, etc..) but the BASICS are exactly like last year. It plays the same run forward and tackle football, because if you really try to build up and use your brain it doesn't carry you far enough. You can't create chances by simply outsmarting your opponent or by employing tactics.

I'm still undecided about buying it. I know I will enjoy a lot full manual online with the people I play with, but...
 
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