Fifa 11 Xbox 360/PS3

[Robo1979]

@ mfmaxpower - You must now be playing the same game I've been playing all along!

100% agree about the communication, or lack of, from EA! Totally unacceptable! I know these updates are a pain in the arse (I'm guessing some people can't even get them) but at least EA have had the balls to admit changes were required and then they've done something about it.

I'm sure someone from EA will come onto the official forums in the near future once the have the game as bug free as they can get it. I haven't experienced any bugs so far but on the demo I did have the music playing in game after I watched a replay.

 

[adelante]

Yeah it really is strange. I wonder whether I am playing the same game as others at times!

My only conclusion is people are trying to play the game in a manner that was effective on FIFA 10/WC.

I guess that's the way of the world adelante, people just love to complain! Someone was complaining on another forum saying that FIFA 11 is too slow! We've been asking for EA to slow it down for the last two years ffs! LOL!

How are you finding it? Some of the football I play at times is amazing, I think I may have to invest in a capture card and show some of these people how it's done!

Not that there's anything wrong with the complaining of course (as some people would be quick to point out). It's just that at this point the overwhelming negativity seems to be doing a good job at making those who truly enjoy the game seem contradictory...delusional even, so there's nothing you can do about that.

I'll be first to admit that the game isn't a big leap from last year's but subtle additions in on-the-pitch gameplay are substantial I feel. There are some animations they've added which really contributes to how you play the game. For instance, I was playing as Leeds and delivered a through pass to Llyod Sam so ball was coming from behind him on his right. He quickly switched to the other side of the incoming ball, as if instinctively, before it could even reach him so I could follow through the rolling pass with a right-footed cross. Fucking awesome that's what it was.

Spent sometime tinkering around in CT and for the first time in a FIFA game, I've managed to get my team with play with some semblance of tactical space in between players (tactical, of course, being the weakest point of this series). Maybe it's got to do with how different clubs that I played against actually exhibit drastically different playstyles this time. The players in Burnley and Sheffield for example would close down on me but actually STOP couple of meters ahead to cover passing angles. How amazing it was to see that! Middlesbrough on other hand was pressure-fest; I just kept dribbling around with a defender for fun and it was hilarious to see one of their forwards in fucking relentless pursuit.

And maybe it's because I'm playing with a lower-rated club but a difficult 180-degree pass almost always result in a blunder and my player tumbling back. FIFA's always been about freedom of movement to me but it really does pay to know exactly when you need to be using the LT (pace control), LB (stop & turn), LT/RT (lateral close control dribbling) or simply pushing the ball with your left stick, instead of the mindset I've seen some people adopt of relying on just one dribbling control at a time to try and get out of tight situations. Only when you're nimble enough to quickly alternate between all those dribbling controls will you appreciate the subtleties in movements that this game offers.

I also like that they added a bit of personality to the referees this year. Was playing against Sheffield in my last CM game and with the two yellow cards and plenty other fouls I conceded in that match alone, I could've sworn the damn referee was biaed! Too bad I forgot his name =p

You getting a capture card? I don't have a capable-enough PC but I'm already saving up for a Happauge HDPVR! heh

 

[adelante]

You know what would be nice? Some f-in communication from EA for pete's sake.

I think it's safe to assume some of the guys are on vacation? lol. Either that or they're working really hard on the backend to solve the problems being posted in forums. The initial week is always the busiest time for any developer and I find that they rarely speak to the community or press during that launch window.

 

[Robo1979]

Mate I don't mind if people are constructive with their complaints but things like "this game is fucking shite and it will be on ebay in the next 20 minutes!" do little apart from reduce their frustration.

I agree with your post... your comments regarding freedom of movement is spot on. I was playing my friend last night and on plenty of occasions I would be running down the wing, slow up a little and when he came over to tackle me I would cut inside and make my way into the box. On FIFA 10 the best tactic for this situation was to sprint as fast as you can and get to the byline (Johnny Barnes style). Once I had cut inside a few times my mate became a bit more reluctant to get too close to me and stood me up more.

Referee's are much improved. Having different styles of refs just adds to the realism.

Yeah I want a Happauge HDPVR too... a few hundred bucks over here I think.

By the way I hope you beat Leeds!

 

[adelante]

Mate I don't mind if people are constructive with their complaints but things like "this game is fucking shite and it will be on ebay in the next 20 minutes!" do little apart from reduce their frustration.

I agree with your post... your comments regarding freedom of movement is spot on. I was playing my friend last night and on plenty of occasions I would be running down the wing, slow up a little and when he came over to tackle me I would cut inside and make my way into the box. On FIFA 10 the best tactic for this situation was to sprint as fast as you can and get to the byline (Johnny Barnes style). Once I had cut inside a few times my mate became a bit more reluctant to get too close to me and stood me up more.

Referee's are much improved. Having different styles of refs just adds to the realism.

Yeah I want a Happauge HDPVR too... a few hundred bucks over here I think.

By the way I hope you beat Leeds!

If by that you mean beat the league with Leeds then I guess I'm hoping for the same thing then! :p (should've corrected myself and said I was playing AS them haha)

Anybody else noticed that the stamina has improved quite a bit this year? Me and about 10 other friends have been on Team Play online for the past three nights (seeing as how we're unable to get a single Pro Clubs match going for some reason) and it's always a funny sight to see so many players already bending over at a halftime kickoff.

 

[Mainz05]

Rutter on twitter:

@Mikelfc90 The update fixed a couple of crashes and some stuff Microsoft and Sony wanted us to change. Zero 'gameplay' changes as I recall.

 

[mfmaxpower]

Anyone having issues with the game stuttering slightly sometimes during the gameplay? It's happened infrequently and typically occurs when the play is in midfield. It started happening after I downloaded the most recent update, definitely didn't notice until then. I'm on 360.

 

[mfmaxpower]

Rutter on twitter:

lol. fuck if i know what's going on.

 

[adelante]

LMAO some people were right about the "Placebo" effect :p I really didn't think there was a drastic speed increase with the last update despite so many people saying otherwise. You'd almost think they have it in for EA and this game!

 

[Mainz05]

LMAO some people were right about the "Placebo" effect :p I really didn't think there was a drastic speed increase with the last update despite so many people saying otherwise. You'd almost think they have it in for EA and this game!

yeah,just say you patched the game although you changed nothing and ppl will go "everything has changed,its much worse than before,omg!fuck ea!"

 

[polakis]

The game is too fast even on slow! On normal/fast is unplayable! The game is almost perfect and the speed ruins all the fun! Why EA? Why? Please make a patch to slow it down...

 

[kamy100]

I haven't got the game yet, but reading the comments on here, I think that I will rent/borrow it first.

As for EA, they will be happy. All they are bothered about is the metacritic score (which will be better than it was for FIFA 10) and the sales which will be through the roof.

 

[aitken]

Rutter on twitter:

@Mikelfc90 The update fixed a couple of crashes and some stuff Microsoft and Sony wanted us to change. Zero 'gameplay' changes as I recall.

strange, i encounter crashes when i try to play pro ranked every attempt so far. and my game is currently crashed at career mode, nice one ea.

also to do with speed question, speed feels fine when your playing clubs definate, perfect for me but when you play against likes of nani and people use the right stick, you'll understand how fast and ping pong occurs on manuel also so if anything, they've made manuel a bit more assisted but with the tag manuel. god bless david rutter

edit: someone on xbox add me and send me game invite so i don't have to redo everything?
as for some reason theres no autosave option, another genius idea by the great

 

[TikTikTikTikTik]

Middlesbrough on other hand was pressure-fest; I just kept dribbling around with a defender for fun and it was hilarious to see one of their forwards in fucking relentless pursuit.

How is this hilarious? Isn't is just sad?

As for the Placebo effect, both myself and Rom have stated why we got that impression. And I think it's a valid point. It is partly down to how you play the game, pre-patch passing reaction was less zippy so postpatch using the same timing made the game feel faster, although it probably didn't actually move faster it was more to do with timing and reaction speeds. Going back the difference seemed far less so it was more about timing issues. But that doesnt mean it's a placebo effect, I guess some people are more sensative to these subtle differences then others.

And for Rutter's comments, they can be accurate. Some of the devs a while ago stated they only changed some small things yet that made drastic differences to gameplay even though they weren't trying to do that. It's all linked.

Anyway, how do you find defending?

@ Max,
I had the music bug in the demo. Although I actually thought it was quite nice as I have the music low anyway. It was like someone in the stand had a boombox.

 

[Fc_Zenit_Fan]

I think the game speed is fine, but the passing speed is too slow. There is no zip to the passing. Very annoying. The rest of the game is ok, though not a big step up, it's decent enough. Just hope they fix passes...

 

[Sbu]

I got the game yesterday, I've played 3 games offline and about 10 against mates online.

I need to play it more before I write a detailed review.

In brief I must say I'm really impressed with the game. Some of the football you can play at times is stunning. I really am struggling to see how the game has received all this negativity!!!

Do remember that most of the criticism is coming from PES fans. I normally ignore those.

 

[DagsJT]

Do remember that most of the criticism is coming from PES fans. I normally ignore those.

Actually it's not, but then being a fanboy can lead you to come up with all kinds of reasons to ignore critisicm of something you like.

If you look at most of the people with negative impressions, there's a good chance that they've been a FIFA fan for quite a few years now.

 

[Sbu]

Actually it's not, but then being a fanboy can lead you to come up with all kinds of reasons to ignore critisicm of something you like.

If you look at most of the people with negative impressions, there's a good chance that they've been a FIFA fan for quite a few years now.

In the same way, being a fanboy can lead you to come up with all kinds of negativity and criticism towards something you don't like.

 

[DagsJT]

In the same way, being a fanboy can lead you to come up with all kinds of negativity and criticism towards something you don't like.

Very true, but like I say, a lot of the negative impressions are from people who converted from PES to FIFA over these last few years since PES went severely downhill.

 

[nerf]

So, to summarise:

It's too fast pre-post-post-before-after-patch.
It's too slow.
Passes have more zip now, it's FIFA10!
Passes are still too slow after the nth patch.
Game speed has changed multiple times.
Game speed has never changed.
All teams play the same.
Lots of teams play differently.

Good, glad that's all cleared up

Huh?! So what's the point of 'player/manager' mode? I mean if you're not selecting a player then aren't you playing with whole team like as in regular 'manager' mode?

I haven't tried 'player/manager' mode yet, that's why I ask and am confused.

I think they were saying you can't select an existing player as a player-manager, you have to create one. Whereas you can choose an existing one in player mode.

 

[StuartCulli]

 

[romagnoli]

It definitely did, it may have been a gameplay update rather than part of the patch itself but, one moment I was struggling to pass the ball 30 yards, the next I was able to cover the whole pitch width just using full manual ground passing, all with the same players. Yeah, sod it. I don't know how to talk about people saying the game speed has never changed without accidentally being extremely patronising or derisory so I'll leave it.

If people really think the teams play differently then I'm happy for them, but I've had nothing like that experience whatsoever, and I can't tell, by watching the CPU play, which players in a team are good at what besides running, strength and tricks.

I guess this was to be expected when the game technically only just came out in Europe. I'll give it a month before the prelaunch/new game honeymoon period subsides and people start to share common grievances from experience. Hopefully people will become experienced enough with the game to identify what gameplay updates are doing too.

 

[drekkard]

I played 30 matches yesterday, a loooong session. 10 vs human and 20 vs CPU in CM.

Something "clicked" in me regarding dribbling (or the new update changed something, we will never know) and could make incredible plays and good goals. The thing is, I finally changed to SEMI passing, with the rest being full manual.

With manual pass it's bloody hard to play intrincate plays in the final third, if not impossible, and there ara a lot more tackles everywhere due to the little inaccuray of manual pass. As I have through pass to manual, I can play balls to space if I feel like, and have make good plays doing this:
http://www.ea.com/uk/football/videos/ugc/39002080

Playing semi passing and manual through balls you can get brilliant plays and deliver to space when necessary. So I had to sacrifice manual passing to have some fun in the game. Not that I love playing semi, but it's the only way to have some fun.

Stats seem to count a lot in dribbling (I dribble simply by changing direction, slowing down, skill drible... nothing fancy) so I had Pastore doing crazy plays. But passing "levels" all the players, as we all know. Propassing adds practically nothing in its current form.

As someone said, second halves play a little different, specially at the end, and depending on the result.

And some random and fun stuff (EA is getting hilarious):
- In more than 30 matches (20 of them in CM), I've yet to see a single injury of any kind. Pathetic.....
- Shots to the post ARE NOT INCLUDED in the highlights AGAIN, for the 4th year in a row. Idiots.
- I didn't notice ANY difference of style in the CPU teams. At all.
- I had the bug in which music continues to play during the match
- Aerial play is great, I've scored 80% of my goals on headers.
- Ball physics can be great. I loved this one:
http://www.ea.com/uk/football/videos/ugc/39002492
- One match started without players on the pitch. Only the 2 opponents that had to kick off. They kick off and shoot to goal but miss:
http://www.ea.com/uk/football/videos/ugc/39001659
Then all of a sudden, all the players appear in a corner of the pitch and start spreading through the field to take positions for my goal kick.
http://www.ea.com/uk/football/videos/ugc/39001063
Come on EA...

More to come.

 

[PLF]

I think they were saying you can't select an existing player as a player-manager, you have to create one. Whereas you can choose an existing one in player mode.

Yeah, that's true.

Checked it out myself earlier today and for player/manager, it seems like you have to create a player or use a VP. Can't use a real player. :/

 

[Northzzz]

this game is fucking shite and it will be on ebay in the next 20 minutes!

give it a chance

 

[aaarrrggh]

I don't understand why people are calling the game faster. It seems significantly slower than fifa 10 to me.

 

[Northzzz]

Very true, but like I say, a lot of the negative impressions are from people who converted from PES to FIFA over these last few years since PES went severely downhill.

Without pointing out too obvious a point, it's not likely that the people who used to play Fifa over PES back in the beginning of the the 2000's are likely to be highly critical.

Hell they played Fifa 01/02/03/04/05 and probably loved them.

 

[klashman69]

I didn't say that, Klash! Did you get it in the end? If not, I'd probably rent it or borrow it off a mate. I'd give it a month or two as well maybe, to let EA patch the game a few more times until they improve the balance/decide to stop tweaking it. It was good against this manual guy but he wasn't pressuring and was taking his time. As ever, it's a case of FIFA being a better game of football when the other person plays it like football, rather than being able to cut loose and go for it because the game rewards good football in the first place.

To clarify, I just meant the game speed seemed to have slowed down again with the newer update. I didn't mean the trapping and turning is back to what it was. And finesse shots were always a problem in the retail version - Glen had a good moan about it to me via PSN at the start of the week.

Ok, well I barley have enough money for PES, let alone any other game

tbh getting a bit sick and tired of this game being so back and forth with it's impressions!

"It's shit!" "It's the best game ever!". "It's flawed but the best game ever?"

Thing is i getting from the impressions is the likelihood this game will last more than a month or two is slim! It seems as if it's life will be no longer than FIFA 10, 09 etc.. it's just another FIFA game! It's improved substantially but over the balance of things it's the same old!

I wonder why we bother with EA them being so political and all. Maybe that if EA finally prove me wrong ! It will be a GREAT day for me and everyone here

Lastly even that stupid Advert makes me think more and more this is literally cartoon football!

Without pointing out too obvious a point, it's not likely that the people who used to play Fifa over PES back in the beginning of the the 2000's are likely to be highly critical.

Hell they played Fifa 01/02/03/04/05 and probably loved them.

No matter how good or bad the game will be. People will always buy FIFA!

I liked FIFA 2003 even though it was very much in every way a Johnny Bravo rendition of football!

 

[DagsJT]

Without pointing out too obvious a point, it's not likely that the people who used to play Fifa over PES back in the beginning of the the 2000's are likely to be highly critical.

Hell they played Fifa 01/02/03/04/05 and probably loved them.

Still though, I think it's a bit naive to dismiss critisism and say it's because they play PES that they're being negative when an awful lot of people moved over to FIFA and have been with FIFA since 08.

 

[Dryzer]

This game is the dogs. Especially when you play with lower teams. Played a cracking 0-0 with Exeter and Charlton yesterday.

Does anyone know how you can view replays properly in Replay theatre? I can play the clip but its in the window. Anyone know how we can view it as a proper replay?