Fifa 11 Xbox 360/PS3

@ LTFC,

If you know your opponents you could also get the winger to go on his weak side and have a lesser cross. That's what I generally do, and I don't concede a disproportionate amount of headers.

Noticed something yesterday, maybe you guys already know this but I'll share anyway;

When on the wing I would normally be sprinting and then use the knock-on to try and get away from a player, however I started testing it using only the knock-on. For example normally you would be a walking, running on the wing and a defender would come towards you. I would then press sprint to get up to speed and knock-on to get past/away the defender. Normally the defender would "magically" react by turning and sprinting instantly and be locked on next to me.

So I started trying it without the sprinting button, and the defender wouldn't have the instant reaction. I got the impression that the sprint button activitates some kind of "sprint" reaction leading to the ridiculous reaction times the AI use. But not using it meant the burst of speed actually meant something and enabled me to get away. So the button pressing is only the knock-on, usually once to wrong foot the defender and a secondtime to keep ahead of him. Usually by that point I would be in a decent crossing position, but you could also then hold the sprint button and continue knock-ons to keep ahead.

Seeing the realistic reaction of the AI, I then started using it in midfield aswell. Again the reactions were normal and short burst of speed (normally by using sprint in my case) left the defender heavy footed and enabled you to create some more space for yourself. Ofcourse in midfield you have to be carefull as a too heavy touch means you end up near another defender and losing the ball. But it works well imo.

I guess it kind of comes back to the earlier discussion about walking and the AI backing off and not being "activated". It has a similar effect, but imo it's a natural one (even if not programmed that way) as once you have used the knock-on the defender will react, instead of the usual instant reaction to any sprint button press.
 
TikTikTikTikTik said:
@ LTFC,

If you know your opponents you could also get the winger to go on his weak side and have a lesser cross. That's what I generally do, and I don't concede a disproportionate amount of headers.

Noticed something yesterday, maybe you guys already know this but I'll share anyway;

When on the wing I would normally be sprinting and then use the knock-on to try and get away from a player, however I started testing it using only the knock-on. For example normally you would be a walking, running on the wing and a defender would come towards you. I would then press sprint to get up to speed and knock-on to get past/away the defender. Normally the defender would "magically" react by turning and sprinting instantly and be locked on next to me.

So I started trying it without the sprinting button, and the defender wouldn't have the instant reaction. I got the impression that the sprint button activitates some kind of "sprint" reaction leading to the ridiculous reaction times the AI use. But not using it meant the burst of speed actually meant something and enabled me to get away. So the button pressing is only the knock-on, usually once to wrong foot the defender and a secondtime to keep ahead of him. Usually by that point I would be in a decent crossing position, but you could also then hold the sprint button and continue knock-ons to keep ahead.

Seeing the realistic reaction of the AI, I then started using it in midfield aswell. Again the reactions were normal and short burst of speed (normally by using sprint in my case) left the defender heavy footed and enabled you to create some more space for yourself. Ofcourse in midfield you have to be carefull as a too heavy touch means you end up near another defender and losing the ball. But it works well imo.

I guess it kind of comes back to the earlier discussion about walking and the AI backing off and not being "activated". It has a similar effect, but imo it's a natural one (even if not programmed that way) as once you have used the knock-on the defender will react, instead of the usual instant reaction to any sprint button press.
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I've had this exact same thought about using the right stick for the knock on, when you sprint the AI will also sprint and activate it's ludicrously strong and accurate challenges. I never sprint before using the knock on, you can even do it from a completely standing start, and sometimes it still absolutely skins the defender. Mostly they still block it, but on the odd occasion it works in a strange way where your player runs round the defender but it almost feels automated, but works in your favour.

I think you're right on the crossing issue, if the AI can whip in a cross Beckham style then it's a goal every time. I'm gonna see if I can try to divert the winger in-field a lot more, at least a deeper cross that's more in front of the defence and from further in-field might be easier to defend, as your defenders will be goal side of the attack and the AI having to head the ball coming more from behind, than to the side. Those arcing, wide crosses that go in behind your defenders are too lethal. But hopefully, as in real life, forcing the winger inside rather than down the line will make him pass it and decide not to cross it at all.
 
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It´s incredible how deleting the updates makes the gameplay becomes so much better in Fifa 11, specially after this last update that made the AI even more robotic and unrealistic.
 
nerf said:
They didn't make any AI changes aside from the BAP fix.
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Make the test for yourself. I don´t believe in anything EA say anymore, it´s very clear to me that they messed up with gameplay on last patch, even they saying they didn´t.
 
Nick Cave said:
Have you deleted all of them.. I was thinking of trying this tonight... :P
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It would be good if i could go back to the a specific patch, but to delete it only appear the last one, 1.06 and after you delete it the game goes back to 1.0.
 
Honome_WEC said:
Make the test for yourself. I don´t believe in anything EA say anymore, it´s very clear to me that they messed up with gameplay on last patch, even they saying they didn´t.
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So how have you found the gameplay to be different?

I've been trying to work the shield technique as much as possible, it's working a treat, slowing the AI pressure right down. I pretty much press R2 now as a means of trapping the ball, and if anyone's near me I automatically shield it even if the defender's a few strides away from me. Seems to make him lay off me a bit. Also, with faster players, I seem to have developed a little technique of shielding the ball, waiting for the defender to try and run round me one way, then turn the other. Leaves the defender standing.

Also, I've learnt that I can occasionally hit high balls up to big target men. I tried this with Adebayor. As the ball approaches in the air, I hold R2 and nothing else, sometimes he manages to take it on his chest and hold off the defender before looking around for someone to lay it off to. I like that a lot. Previously this was impossible without shielding. Really can't believe I'd played the game for so long without it. Doh! :SHOCK:
 
Nah I can't be bothered playing this crap anymore. There is clearly a massive change in how the game plays between friendly matches and CM games. Friendlies are balanced, physical challenges actually depend on the size and speed etc of the players involved. Shielding works. Slow dribbling works. You can score some really enjoyable goals.

For a second time I've gotten bored of just playing friendlies, so I started a new CM with Tottenham on World Class. First thing I notice is that the game instantly changes it's gameplay. AI challenges are x100 more robust. You can't shield the ball any more, the AI just runs into you and knocks you over with no foul. Every match plays the same; spend the entire match with the ball, venture within 30 yards of the AI's goal and you get ransacked to the ground. Then the AI will break once or twice in the match and score with either a through ball or header that you can't do anything about. It's absolutely pathetic.

The AI forces you to play at the speed its wants you to, which is fast, because three or four players hound you down absolutely ridiculously and there's nothing you can do to hold them off apart from getting rid of the ball. The AI packs ten players deep in it's own half, against 3-4 of your players. It's really genuinely pathetic. The physical challenges though become so ramped in the AI's favour it's basically cheating. My virtual pro is a 6"4 big target man. What happens when I shield the ball against a small skinny full back? He runs into the back of me and my VP's body goes stumbling 5-10 feet like he's got some elastic band pulling him away from the ball. It's really, really pathetic and sucks all possible fun from the game.

Oh, headers. Shitting headers. THIS still happens over and over again. In this video, as the cross comes in, the AI actually makes Dawson run AWAY from the attacker before I get control of him. In this case, the guy heads it wide, but the AI actually made my player lose his marker before it let me control him. How shit is this?

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In this second video, this shows the most frequent goal I concede. The cross comes in, I have my defender goal side, he's marking the attacker, but even still, press the head button to clear, and one of two things always happen. Either the player doesn't jump and does nothing, or, in this case, my player does jump, in this instance Ledley King, who is both dominating in the air, big, and strong, but nope, in FIFA11 it doesn't seem to matter. Time and time again this happens. I jump, the AI attacker jumps, the AI FORCES the attacker to win the ball by some kind of default, and he scores. Again, and again, and again the AI always, just ONCE per game, wins the header right in the vital area of the pitch. It's basically cheating. Given that over half the goals I ever score at the other end of the pitch are from headers, then yeah, my sudden inability to win the header with a massive CB in my own six yard box is literally the game deciding that it's going to score.

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I then dominate the rest of the game, losing 0-1, getting smashed off the ball, outrun, physically overpowered. I hit the post, Van Der Vaart has an open goal but gets tackled miraculously by some massive defender who was MILES behind him but somehow reached the ball with the world's greatest ever tackle, their keeper pulls off three stunning reflex saves, then Bolton have ONE final attack and, yes, score with another header. One thing I've noticed, is that your keeper in FIFA11 is next to useless. He will have nothing to do compared to the AI's keeper, then let in probably 50% or more of any shots at him. Ridiculous. I can't tell the difference between a world class keeper in this game and a poor one when they're on your team. They still don't save shots.

Oh, and again, notice how the AI scores by using the massive, raking, diagonal long pass inside the full back (that you can't do anything about), then he crosses it and the AI's made my defender, yet again, stand off the attacker in the most vital area on the pitch before I have a chance to control him (that you can't do anything about).

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So I'm giving up on this game. I'm bored of playing friendlies despite having some good games, and being able to score some really cool, realistic looking goals. Switch the game to CM, and you see a massive, massive jump in the AI's pressuring, it's ability to win challenges and the AI itself forces every game to play the same.

Literally every single gameplay aspect that EA promoted, and seems to have got so right when you play friendly matches, goes completely out of the window when you start playing a proper game mode. I just don't understand EA. Why not keep the gameplay the same? For everything fun you can do, CM matches makes them all completely redundant. Take this for example. In a friendly, Ozil can use the shield then 360 dribble to hold off the player, wait to bring others into play, then build an attack.

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Then take tonight's game in CM. I shield the ball in largely the same way, and some massive defender just rams through you, knocking you over. These two videos show the exact difference between the game in friendlies and the game in a competitive game mode.

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One tactic I loved using in friendlies using the shield button was to play a long ball up to my virtual pro, he could often take the ball on his chest, shield it, and then bring others into play. Realistic, satisfying to do, and uses the exact abilities of that player. I tried to do this just once in five CM matches tonight, never managed it once. He chests the long ball, and BEFORE you even get to perform the shielding animation the AI has knocked you in the back and sent you flying.

Seriously, wtf are EA thinking? I'm sure someone will comment saying they don't notice any difference, but there is a MASSIVE difference in how the AI treats you when you're on the ball. All the neat little touches EA added to this game become completely useless. Can Lennon use the bridge move past a slow defender? Nope. Why? The defender just fouls him by body checking him, leaving Lennon to bounce off the guy. Shield the ball and bring others into play? Nope. Three sprinting lunatics will just run into you. I particularly liked one occasion where Modric was up against a slow Bolton defender, he got sacked off the ball then the defender performed a gravity defying turn (I'm sure you all know the one, where he changes his direction with a turn with the outside of his boot in the space of a millisecond).

I'm not putting up with playing this crap. Games in friendlies feel right, they're well paced, slower, more methodical, evenly matched, and promote creative football. CM matches degrade instantly into an ugly, crappy mess of players running into each other, ping pong passing purely to avoid rampaging AI tackles, and the very fact that nothing you learn about the game seems to work against the overpowered AI. The game quickly turns from a fun, creative game into a total farce where gravity doesn't even hold back the AI on occasions. It's so artificial, and removes every ounce of fun this game contains. Yep, friendlies are fun, CM is an utter bore that destroys everything good EA actually did with the game in the first place.

Enough said, really, why EA have screwed up the gameplay in their main game mode is beyond me. Couple that with the fact that you can't even play the mode properly anyway thanks to various bugs then I don't know why I've bothered to be honest. I switched the game off the moment I went 2-0 down in that Bolton match, having just played a game that I lost 0-1 to Lazio where I had 14 shots on target to their 1 - header from a cross, followed by robust challenges, deep defenders, inability to do anything fun. And that's FIFA11 all over. No fun.
 
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FIFA very clearly changes gameplay between the game modes, on many, many levels... not just AI. Playing online is different to playing offline and it's not just lag. There are so many weird things which just change. FIFA is actually not too bad if you play exhibition against a human but on any other mode it definitely changes and that is something which no-one seems to be able to explain.
 
@LTFC: The key to FIFA is knowing when it's time to take a break from the game. Ultimately, FIFA shines when you approach the game from a more casual perspective and is poor when put under closer scrutiny. FIFA 11 really is an exceptional game if you don't take it seriously, and for me it's a much better and more enjoyable game the less frequently I play it.

That's not what hardcore fans like you and I want to hear, but EA's focus is the casual market, not us, and so judging the game from a more serious perspective is going to result in nothing but aggravation. For me often times the best remedy is dropping the settings to assisted and throwing back a six-pack or two.

But seriously, when I get as disgusted with the game as you appear right now, I know it's time for a break. Wait a few days or even longer, and next you play FIFA will seem like a much better game.

But then of course you start the cycle all over again...
 
I agree. Since scrutinising the behaviour of lobbed passes for a feedback thread, it now eats away at me any time I see the ball's trajectory get manipulated. That and the repetitive pass-turn-pass-turn-pass-turn nature of the gameplay are what's making it difficult to enjoy at the moment. And career mode certainly offers little incentive.
 
I guess the key is to take a break, but when I go back to play it again, I doubt I'll ever try career mode again. Just don't see the point. There's really nothing to do in it anyways, but the fact that the gameplay turns into this horrific mess removes any point at all from playing it.

Does anyone know if playing a one-off league tournament changes the AI from friendly matches? If it does, then I'll have to make do with playing random friendly matches, which is pretty rubbish value from a game to be honest.
 
EA really need to give us something to do in manager mode. Do they play their own games? I wish Konami had this engine. Atleast they know how to fill their games with fan-service. EA have one of the best sports engines this gen but haven't REALLY built upon their great start in 07(?). Is it too hard to ask for a little variety? A little love put into the best players? A little love put into the best up and coming talents in world football? Buying a new player should be an exciting exercise but it's all so... dull, predictable, lifeless. I should want to see what my new big name acquisition can do but in FIFA11 I don't care because any individuality he has is crushed by the hulking CPU defence screaming around the screen covering every pass and receiver like roided robbie savages.

Any talent my signing has is reduced to single one-touch passes at anything past the "Professional" setting.

I'm not buying FIFA12 at launch. I'll just be watching as the drama develops from the sidelines this year.
 
Yeah I'm gonna wait and see probably on here what the general opinion is on Fifa12. I already know that reviews on websites and magazines will be massive, that's a given.

I do agree that buying players in CM is flat. The unforgiving and pretty crushing physical behaviour of the AI seems to make doing anything 'individual' with a player next to useless. Fifa12 will most likely provide more of the same, but we'll see. I'm gonna try a couple of CM matches with the patches all removed in some vain hope that they affected the AI on competition modes, or else no matter how well it plays in friendlies, it just won't have the longevity to keep my attention.
 
I'm doing the same with FIFA 12 probably, if they don't improve Clubs (the main thing me and my mates play) then it won't be a buy, some of the things that occur in that game type are actually shocking.

Then again I said the same for FIFA 11, as FIFA 10 left a real bad taste in my mouth but my mates were like "since when don't you buy a fifa game" "it'll be much better" etc and at this point in time they agree that the game has MASSIVE issues and needs sorted, lol.
 
Didn't buy 11 and haven't regretted it whatsoever. I miss playing a football video game but tbh other gaming experiences are so much more polished and enjoyable it's improved my overall gaming experience.

Worst bit is that I don't see EA or Konami changing things enough in the next couple years to appease us, the 'hardcore' fans. We used to be the trensetters, the ones you had to impress to get overall sales. But now our opinion doesn't matter, because reviewers can (and are) just bought.
 
I was discussing this with a friend in regards to Call of Duty last night but it's still a really interesting point. One of the big problems now is that the market is saturated with casual gamers - the balance between hardcore and casual is probably more 'casual' than it has ever, ever been, due to how long this generation has being going... and because this generation has been defined more or less by how 'casual' gaming has become.

Thanks to this, the market becomes very sticky. Hardcore gamers buy more games AND are more likely to buy games in a series they haven't bought before: more willing to take a risk.

Once the industry gets to this very sticky point it takes a MASSIVE change to really change about the ordering of the industry: which is why regardless of how good it is, Modern Warfare 3 will be the biggest seller this year, and nothing that Battlefield, Killzone, Resistance, Crysis, or Gears do will make a jot of difference.

PES is going in the right direction, it should give anyone hope for 2012 and onwards... but frankly if FIFA doesn't change this year you may be waiting til the next generation for it to.
 
The market is saturated no doubt but i don't place the blame entirely with games like FIFA and COD. These are casual games as they are and that's fine, it's just when games try to emulate these that the market gets over-saturated with casual games. I'm sure battlefield 3 is going to be more casual friendly than Battlefield 2 and it seems that Crysis 2 is this way compared to Crysis 1 from what i've heard. It's all about taking risks really, i'm sure FIFA and COD fans are calling for a greater challenge, so to speak, but the developers don't get that. I just think they need to strike a balance between the appeal of casual games and the ability for said casual games to have depth that means they appeal to fans who want this 'greater challenge'. After all games will never go back to being strictly hardcore because publishers know how much money they can make, there's no point in expecting that anymore. We can all wish for FIFA to stop being assisted, for instance, but that will never happen. The best way to do it for FIFA would still be to have two separate modes to play the game such as FUN & REALISTIC. I'm not holding out for that though. Here's to hoping that Japanese devs (like PES) maintain their desire to make games that appeal to niche audiences and usually end up being pretty hardcore by their very nature (i.e Demons souls).

Let's be honest though the problem isn't with casual games inherently. Nintendo have always been at the forefront of games that appeal to casuals but they don't take completely take their audience for saps like Activision, EA etc do. Then again i'm sure that probably isn't the game's developers fault a lot of the time, just the big guys at the top.
 
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Nba 2k is a game that is both for casual and hardcore gamers. And they totally swept away EA. The problem with fifa is not that they don't have the talent to do it, is just the don't want. And they don't want because they don't need it. And don't need it until PES makes a threat. That won't happen in 1 or 2 years, maybe until the next generation of consoles.

Hardcore users may be less than 5% of the users base. So, our choice, as hardcore gamers, is to enjoy the games targeted to us. And if there's no football game that matches the Nba 2k series, then I won't buy any. I'm quite tired of it.

I bought Demon's souls and is the best game I've played this generation, and it was not an AAA title and was not a famous game. Most of the people don't even know it. So we're in the same scenario as with movies. A Blockbuster would hardly be something I like at all, but I can enjoy lots of indie and not so ambitious films. There are lots of great games out there targeted to hardcore gamers to enjoy. And now and then some AAA title really makes it worth (Uncharted, Batman...).

We have to learn to be hardcore users in the market as it is, and it may go through not buying a footy game each year.
 
Northzzz said:
The market is saturated no doubt but i don't place the blame entirely with games like FIFA and COD. These are casual games as they are and that's fine, it's just when games try to emulate these that the market gets over-saturated with casual games. I'm sure battlefield 3 is going to be more casual friendly than Battlefield 2 and it seems that Crysis 2 is this way compared to Crysis 1 from what i've heard. It's all about taking risks really, i'm sure FIFA and COD fans are calling for a greater challenge, so to speak, but the developers don't get that. I just think they need to strike a balance between the appeal of casual games and the ability for said casual games to have depth that means they appeal to fans who want this 'greater challenge'. After all games will never go back to being strictly hardcore because publishers know how much money they can make, there's no point in expecting that anymore. We can all wish for FIFA to stop being assisted, for instance, but that will never happen. The best way to do it for FIFA would still be to have two separate modes to play the game such as FUN & REALISTIC. I'm not holding out for that though. Here's to hoping that Japanese devs (like PES) maintain their desire to make games that appeal to niche audiences and usually end up being pretty hardcore by their very nature (i.e Demons souls).

Let's be honest though the problem isn't with casual games inherently. Nintendo have always been at the forefront of games that appeal to casuals but they don't take completely take their audience for saps like Activision, EA etc do. Then again i'm sure that probably isn't the game's developers fault a lot of the time, just the big guys at the top.
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I never said I blamed games like FIFA and CoD - they are symptoms of the problem. If there is any group which is at fault it's the media who are implicit in the advertisement of broken, and poorly designed games.

Take IGN. They pile out article after article subserviently hanging on EA's every word. They do this uncritically... and then they ship out their review. Just reading it makes me shiver in a mixture of disbelief and fury.

If you had any gripes about the brand of football that previous FIFAs laid out then they're likely to be answered here.
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and since then? Well, around 50 articles revelling in how good its sales are, and around ZERO to notify ANYONE about the APPALLING state of the game, the bugginess, the COMPLETE lack of communication. The fact that SO little of the game actually... works? You know, we're not talking about the thousands of gripes that people like us will outline anally - we're talking about the fact that CLUBS DOES NOT WORK? What about last year? Did they tell anyone that CM was totally fucked? No. IGN don't do their job, and nor do any of the other big organisations.

They're the problem. The developers and the consumers do what they do - buy, and sell. The media should act as a watchdog, and an advertiser, but at the moment it does just one. Just like politics, it's a three way triangle. Them, us, and the media. The media are critical to it all working well.
 
It's a difficult one with the media, they get review copies relatively late in the day, and I think reviews are based upon a reasonably short experience with the game. Fine for reviewing single player games for example, but in the case of FIFA10 and 11, and Black Ops, there's no scope to offer online reviews (online was was plagued Black Ops) because the game hasn't been released before they review it. Similarly, FIFA's CM for example needs a fair amount of play before the bugs surface, and ruin the game. If a magazine has, say, a week to play it, assess it, write a review and send it to print, it's just not enough time.

That said, it's appalling that magazines fail to report the problems surrounding the game at a later date. They do sometimes report on things, I'm sure Edge actually reported on that letter a consumer site sent to Activision over Black Ops being broken on PS3. But it doesn't happen enough, not least in FIFA's case. It's supposed to be the job of journalists to report these things, but largely they're ignored, which makes it all the easier for publishers to push through games unfinished, bugged, but to meet deadlines and to coincide with pre-paid advertising campaigns that run into the millions. Publishers get away with it because they can.

As for the whole hardcore gamer debate, FIFA will never ever go that way. Since the game first started in the 1990's, it's never been the hardcore option. PES was, and I really feel hardcore gamers have been more let down by PES' demise than FIFA not stepping up to the plate. People now look to FIFA rather than PES, and some might argue that's not EA's fault but Konami's.

I'm already 100% sure FIFA12 will offer some improvements, a whole host of annoyances in gameplay, really poor AI, and still contain tons of bugs. I am intererested however to see how PES develops. It took a massive change in direction this year, which I enjoyed for a while but found far too many bugs in gameplay to persist with. Hopefully, now that this new direction is in place, Konami will have used the last 12 months to drastically polish the game, cut out the bugs, and make real strides into developing the game it's clearly trying to be. Maybe some hardcore gamers will finally have a decent option again.
 
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Rodelero said:
I never said I blamed games like FIFA and CoD - they are symptoms of the problem. If there is any group which is at fault it's the media who are implicit in the advertisement of broken, and poorly designed games.

Take IGN. They pile out article after article subserviently hanging on EA's every word. They do this uncritically... and then they ship out their review. Just reading it makes me shiver in a mixture of disbelief and fury.
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I wasn't accusing you, i was merely laying out my five cents about the subject. No doubt that with FIFA and COD being at the forefront of commercial appealing games a lot of people i know put blame on their doorstep.

In relation to your other point which i didn't quote, it's because there's very few sources out there who actually critique games. Reviewing them with the intention of giving them a score at the end of it is a different thing entirely and as LTFC said a score often based on a little amount of time with the game. I kind of gathered from reading New Vegas scores just how little time most reviewers spend with the game, shockingly most didn't even mention the unavoidable plethora of bugs which you'd find if you spent more than 10 hours with the game.
 
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LTFC said:
It's a difficult one with the media, they get review copies relatively late in the day, and I think reviews are based upon a reasonably short experience with the game. Fine for reviewing single player games for example, but in the case of FIFA10 and 11, and Black Ops, there's no scope to offer online reviews (online was was plagued Black Ops) because the game hasn't been released before they review it. Similarly, FIFA's CM for example needs a fair amount of play before the bugs surface, and ruin the game. If a magazine has, say, a week to play it, assess it, write a review and send it to print, it's just not enough time.
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Yes, pretty much bang on. They play the game for a very short period of time, they basically guess with the online by looking at the features list, and that's it. Not every reviewer does it but the vast majority do, and that's pretty much enough. Reviewing most games takes longer than these people actaully take, no doubt - the reviewers don't pick out the single player problems let alone the multiplayer ones.

But yes, I agree they don't have enough time - what get's my goat is that they don't admit they don't have enough time.

That said, it's appalling that magazines fail to report the problems surrounding the game at a later date. They do sometimes report on things, I'm sure Edge actually reported on that letter a consumer site sent to Activision over Black Ops being broken on PS3. But it doesn't happen enough, not least in FIFA's case. It's supposed to be the job of journalists to report these things, but largely they're ignored, which makes it all the easier for publishers to push through games unfinished, bugged, but to meet deadlines and to coincide with pre-paid advertising campaigns that run into the millions. Publishers get away with it because they can.
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Can't really disagree with anything you've said there - this is exactly the issue. The reviews don't admit their inadequecy and they will never re-review things. They get away with a dangerous lie year after year. What can you do though?

I've read through a lot of reviews now and I've finally found one which is mostly spot on from 1up (who are closely tied to Edge). His general review is a little over positive for me - but what I like is that he comes out with:

And, as always, you've got those issues that won't show themselves until millions of fans get their hands on the game, such as online connectivity issues or game-breaking bugs. While I didn't personally encounter any serious issues during my time with the game, I won't assume they're not there -- not after last year's endless list of issues in Manager Mode. I'll be back in a couple of weeks with a Pixel Jocks blog to address the online features and any serious bugs players may have found.
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Now that is a revolution - this is what the reviews should state - but even this isn't enough because he should bloody well go back to the review afterwards and change the damned score! What's most pathetic is that someone in the comments then whinges that the reviewer was judging a game based on something he didn't experience! dumb dumb dumb

The whole system needs to change... can't envisage how that could happen but it really needs to. Some massive expose would be a nice start.

As for the whole hardcore gamer debate, FIFA will never ever go that way. Since the game first started in the 1990's, it's never been the hardcore option. PES was, and I really feel hardcore gamers have been more let down by PES' demise than FIFA not stepping up to the plate. People now look to FIFA rather than PES, and some might argue that's not EA's fault but Konami's.
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This is true. FIFA has never been that way inclined and Konami is the generation's let down. FIFA got closest in 2007 with FIFA 08 and hasn't been close since. EA have done a lot of things this year which are pretty egregious but you can't blame them for not making a game for the hardcore.

I'm already 100% sure FIFA12 will offer some improvements, a whole host of annoyances in gameplay, really poor AI, and still contain tons of bugs. I am intererested however to see how PES develops. It took a massive change in direction this year, which I enjoyed for a while but found far too many bugs in gameplay to persist with. Hopefully, now that this new direction is in place, Konami will have used the last 12 months to drastically polish the game, cut out the bugs, and make real strides into developing the game it's clearly trying to be. Maybe some hardcore gamers will finally have a decent option again.
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Pretty much how I feel. You never know though - EA have a chance. If they can nail sliders, anything is possible.

I wasn't accusing you, i was merely laying out my five cents about the subject.
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Don't worry I wasn't irritated, just wanted to make clear where I thought the actual fault lies :)
 
Pfft, with just one afternoon with the game I could've told you CM is rubbish. There's no way any respectable reviewer should be giving the game higher than an 8 rating when its single-player mode is so shallow and broken. The game isn't called "FIFA Multiplayer Only" last time I checked.
 
I've raised the issue with reviewers in the past about them not mentioning Fifa's broken Manager Mode and they act as if it's the most inconceivable thing that I the gamer should expect them to play all modes in any kind of depth.
 
Problem is if anything were to be done about it... it would have to be the gaming media shining the light on itself.
 
Gaming media will not rock the boat because they exist purely because of advertising revenue, so these days you will never find completely honest reviews, doesn't happen, review scores are worth the paper they're printed on and even less for online sites.
 
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