FIFA 12 Demo impressions

[MikeM24]

FIFA is closing the presentation and atmosphere gap. That's the overriding impression. A lot of nice touches and the gameplay is very good too.

Difficult to explain, but FIFA seems "chunkier" and more weighty than PES.

 

[AlaaEG]

Yep, this is how it's done. The lack of inertia does my head in but, with playing on full manual and getting used to the new button for tacking, I'm starting to like Fifa 12 alot more. Those of us who defend realistically like this online will benefit greatly. The pressure *ricks will have to adapt of die.

Spoiler

If EA doesn't bend over and allow the moaning said Pressure *ricks to dictate a nerf in "Tactical Defending"

I have a problem with this system. If I have to cover every passing lane, then what does my team mates do? Football is a team game. I shouldn't just switch from one player to another in fear of conceding a goal if I don't! I want to be able to pick a player and see my team mates support me and push the AI away instead of backing off and letting me to do everything. I want to be able to tackle to get the ball instead of waiting for a miss pass all the time.

 

[arthurm]

It's just a change from one unsatisfactory defensive to another, from FIFA11's heat-seeking 100% successful barge tackling to FIFA12's invisible force-field around the untouchable player with the ball, rendering the game a non-contact sport. Neither are realistic, particularly when playing against the AI.

And I don't know why people expect the sliders to help. Changing the game speed from Normal to Slow makes no difference - it's still ludicrously fast, except for the passing speed of the human controlled team, which is quite obviously must slower than the passing speed of the AI team.

 

[hitmanuk]

It's just a change from one unsatisfactory defensive to another, from FIFA11's heat-seeking 100% successful barge tackling to FIFA12's invisible force-field around the untouchable player with the ball, rendering the game a non-contact sport. Neither are realistic, particularly when playing against the AI.

And I don't know why people expect the sliders to help. Changing the game speed from Normal to Slow makes no difference - it's still ludicrously fast, except for the passing speed of the human controlled team, which is quite obviously must slower than the passing speed of the AI team.

The only thing ludicrous it this post. If you don't like it don't play it but:

The pace on slow is fine
The tackling system works fine and is at last a challenge
Non-contact sport? What are you on about? Its easy to make a challenge after practise.

 

[kevano22]

It's clear some people don't get it. It takes time but once you get the hang of it, tackling becomes fun. Waiting for your moment to pounce is great and I hope they don't change it too much because Clubs should be great.

 

[AlaaEG]

It is fun as a challenge, I agree. But it has nothing to do with real football where the team plays a bigger role.

I just finished a game on professional where the AI kept doing those long passes that only AI players lock in and I am left standing! Not to mention all long ground/aerial passes were accurate. :/

 

[kevano22]

It is fun as a challenge, I agree. But it has nothing to do with real football where the team plays a bigger role.

I just finished a game on professional where the AI kept doing those long passes that only AI players lock in and I am left standing! Not to mention all long ground/aerial passes were accurate. :/

Both games have LOTS wrong with them and I think neither represent real life football in it's true form and they never will.

 

[AlaaEG]

Both games have LOTS wrong with them and I think neither represent real life football in it's true form and they never will.

Should I just mind my own business and never point those wrongs out?

BTW I feel both games have the same AI with some stuff different for each game. It's like they co-developed it!

 

[sincover]

Should I just mind my own business and never point those wrongs out?

BTW I feel both games have the same AI with some stuff different for each game. It's like they co-developed it!

Couldn't disagree more. The AI gap is as large as the animation gap. It's not even close.

I did enjoy a couple games of the demo but I have the same complaints as everyone else.

Also wtf is up with the precision dribbling animation?! I expect shoddy animations from PES but it's quite an eye sore in FIFA.

 

[kevano22]

Should I just mind my own business and never point those wrongs out?

BTW I feel both games have the same AI with some stuff different for each game. It's like they co-developed it!

No of course not. My point was in reference to you saying it's not like real life. There is tonnes on both games, if I made a list of them all it would probably be endless. But you have to either enjoy it for what it is or play the other game and enjoy that.

And the AI isn't the same, imo.

 

[mcruz]

i really cant believe about the teammates AI...
it´s ridiculous... unrealistic... the game has so much tecnology involved and has the oportunity to be great and amazing, but the lack of movement off the ball from your teammates simply kills the game to me...
because the game become so repetitive... you don´t have much variety and in the final, the game forces you to do always the same thing over and over again...
you don´t see the midfielders moving artound the pitch, strikers open space, going to wing, nothing...
PES looks so old in comparasion to FIFA, but look to the movement of the ball, the oportunity to create 4 different formations and the manual control from your teammates. this create somuch variety in gameplay and make the matches always fells different...
another year and for me any soccer game will make me satisfy...

 

[Bobo21]

i really cant believe about the teammates AI...
it´s ridiculous... unrealistic... the game has so much tecnology involved and has the oportunity to be great and amazing, but the lack of movement off the ball from your teammates simply kills the game to me...
because the game become so repetitive... you don´t have much variety and in the final, the game forces you to do always the same thing over and over again...
you don´t see the midfielders moving artound the pitch, strikers open space, going to wing, nothing...
PES looks so old in comparasion to FIFA, but look to the movement of the ball, the oportunity to create 4 different formations and the manual control from your teammates. this create somuch variety in gameplay and make the matches always fells different...
another year and for me any soccer game will make me satisfy...

Obviously we don't know how effective they will be, but it seems everyone is forgetting that FIFA will have sliders! For both CPU and human.
In this instance, you would head right for this slider adjustment:

Positioning: Run frequency
Increases/decreases the number of runs teammates will make.

Here's the full slider list again in case anyone still hasn't seen it: http://fifasoccerblog.com/blog/fifa-12-gameplay-sliders/://

Let's hope they work

 

[mcruz]

Obviously we don't know how effective they will be, but it seems everyone is forgetting that FIFA will have sliders! For both CPU and human.
In this instance, you would head right for this slider adjustment:

Positioning: Run frequency
Increases/decreases the number of runs teammates will make.

Here's the full slider list again in case anyone still hasn't seen it: http://fifasoccerblog.com/blog/fifa-12-gameplay-sliders/://

Let's hope they work

I know bobo...
i will wait to see how effective will be the sliders, but i truly don´t believe that this will change much of the game...
because i don´t want players only run up and down all the time...
it´s more like the basics of the soccer, like i said before...
strikers open spaces going to the wings, offensive midfielders coming to defense to take the ball and iniciate a offensive play, midfielders moving in diagonal and create space with intelligence.
i´m really not sure but i still think that the sliders will solve this problem...
i hope that do!!!

 

[curdstar]

Obviously we don't know how effective they will be, but it seems everyone is forgetting that FIFA will have sliders! For both CPU and human.
In this instance, you would head right for this slider adjustment:

Positioning: Run frequency
Increases/decreases the number of runs teammates will make.

Here's the full slider list again in case anyone still hasn't seen it: http://fifasoccerblog.com/blog/fifa-12-gameplay-sliders/://

Let's hope they work

Regards the sliders, this game needs them more than ever (I never thought I would welcome sliders to a football game) but some of them do clearly highlight how player individuality/stats and even tactics are mostly redundant in FIFA if you need a slider to encourage passing error or run frequency.

My own take on the demo is that the game is wonderful in little pockets of play but ultimately a muddled and over-engineered experience. Precision dribble exploit is not a game breaker per se but highlights quite clearly the lack of urgency and requirement to build from midfield. Midfield is just a giant vacuum at the moment which is no more than a big meadow to be travelled between attacks. It's lifeless.

 

[nugnugx]

FIFA demo :

What i liked

+ smooth animations
+ weight of the ball
+ sound of the ball
+ curving shots
+ arena


What i did not like

- pace of the game
- passing [seriously, passing is the worst thing and so horrible it is the main thing that puts me of off Fifa, you cannot pass hard enough for the ball to move fast, PES passing is like light years ahead]
- AI is always 100% in the right position on field and always on your back, not realistic , players in real life make mistakes and do not stick to their position like glue no matter what
- gameplay feels static
- gets repetetive after many games


PES demo 2 :

What i like

+ pace of game
+ passing
+ actions which you can create, much more freedom than in Fifa
+ Players make mistakes like in real life
+ long shots
+ after many games the game is still enjoyable
+ freekicks are nice


What i did not like:

-keepers should be better in some situations
-sound and weight of the ball makes it somewhat feel like a bowling ball
-sometimes ball bounces too much off of the players



Verdict PES:

Presentation: 7

Graphics: 8

Sound: 7

Gameplay: 8

Lasting Appeal: 8

Overall: 8




Verdict FIFA:

Presentation: 7

Graphics: 7

Sound: 8.5

Gameplay: 5

Lasting appeal: 5

Overall: 6.5

 

[lemondoctor]

For those complaining about the speed of passing, I think the pro passing sweet spot on the power bar is too narrow leading to error being applied and that error often being under-powering the pass.

However have you tried using RB + a Tap of Long Pass. It sends the ball really quickly on a low trajectory and you can get some cool outcomes; especially on manual. It's not a replacement for a normal ground pass, but it's good to have up your sleeve for some situations where you fear a ground pass but don't want to hang it up in the air.

 

[hitmanuk]

FIFA demo :

What i liked

+ smooth animations
+ weight of the ball
+ sound of the ball
+ curving shots
+ arena


What i did not like

- pace of the game
- passing [seriously, passing is the worst thing and so horrible it is the main thing that puts me of off Fifa, you cannot pass hard enough for the ball to move fast, PES passing is like light years ahead]
- AI is always 100% in the right position on field and always on your back, not realistic , players in real life make mistakes and do not stick to their position like glue no matter what
- gameplay feels static
- gets repetetive after many games


PES demo 2 :

What i like

+ pace of game
+ passing
+ actions which you can create, much more freedom than in Fifa
+ Players make mistakes like in real life
+ long shots
+ after many games the game is still enjoyable
+ freekicks are nice


What i did not like:

-keepers should be better in some situations
-sound and weight of the ball makes it somewhat feel like a bowling ball
-sometimes ball bounces too much off of the players



Verdict PES:

Presentation: 7

Graphics: 8

Sound: 7

Gameplay: 8

Lasting Appeal: 8

Overall: 8




Verdict FIFA:

Presentation: 7

Graphics: 7

Sound: 8.5

Gameplay: 5

Lasting appeal: 5

Overall: 6.5

going off your rating PES average is 7.6 but who are we to argue :O)

Anyway for me

PES Presentation 6
Graphics 6.5 (6 on ps3)
Sound 6
Gameplay 6
Lasting Appeal 6
Overall 6.1

FIFA

Presentation 8
Graphics 8.5
Sound 8
Gameplay 8.5 (based on manual how i play it)
Lasting Appeal 9 (I know ill still be playing this in a year)
Overall 8.4


It all comes down to preference especially in control schemes and stat based outcomes. Im really enjoying the new FIFA

 

[Suuuuupertalk]

The only thing ludicrous it this post. If you don't like it don't play it but:

The pace on slow is fine
The tackling system works fine and is at last a challenge
Non-contact sport? What are you on about? Its easy to make a challenge after practise.

Maybe the pace on slow is fine for you, but it's not for others. The pace of the ball IMO is spot on, but the players move and turn at top speed with no decrease in acceleration or speed. It makes the game too fast looking when the AI have the ball.

That said, the pace feels fine when you have the ball and choose to slow the pace down, using the slower techniques the new controls allow, but when the AI gets the ball the pace instantly turns frantic. The AI in no way, shape or form plays in any way like an actual football team would play. This is why I think for offline multiplayer, or maybe online against like minded people, this might be fantastic. But for single player it's terrible.

 

[Schmari]

I just hat a couple of matches with barca against dortmund on fully manual, slow, legendary and the new defensive system. I must say the game plays superb on this settings. The own AI is much more alive and the opponents AI makes a couple mistakes from time to time. It really depends on how you play in defense. I personally never use contain and only try to outrun the ball or use the standing tackle. Controller-sheme is classic, nothing changed there.

I must say that it is actually easier than professional xD
Hope that EA will find the right balance in difficulty in the final game.

What I dislike is that sometimes it is simply not possible to change the cursor (on manual).
I play a mid-long pass in midfield, but the receiver I am aiming to just rushes away and another player goes to the ball. I am hammering LB (L1) like a monkey but no player switch at all!
At times it seems you really have to do the defending yourself :/

 

[Bitter Rivals]

Had enough this now. Bored of it

Need to play some humans....

 

[daikirai]

So I'm having fun with the game, but what I've been doing defensively is using the secondary tactical defense/pressure button to contain the dribbler, and using my controlled defender to take away his best passing lane/player.
It's worked better but I still have very few tackles in each game, I have allowed less goals/chances though which is a positive.

 

[klashman69]

I’ve just come off the FIFA 12 demo, hmm, it’s a very unique game this year, and it’s the trademark ‘FIFAball’. No realistic or a simulation, but not necessarily arcade like I wrongly said before. It’s like I rightly said a Call of Duty, typical modern game which is about being repetitive, addictive and smooth. I mean the impact engine has potential. The balance feels better than FIFA 11,some sexy animations as you would expect and the players feel a little more organic and it’s in general harder and more challenging. I think I’ll have a lot of fun with my mates on this.

Obviously it’s flawed and I tell you the flaws are just hilarious, it’s staggering EA’s Philosophy. They are exactly like politicians! Their knowledge of football is just outrageously rubbish. When you complain about flaws like we did with the pressure. They just did the cheap thing and take away pressure and create a game where containing is everything. I was crying of laugher playing this game. It’s the same old story where the game rewards you for doing the same thing over and over. They can’t make a balanced football game so they just shift the balance for one extreme to the other. This is exactly why the demo is 3 minutes long, so you DON’T realize how repetitive it is until you buy the game and play a 7-10 minute game.

I transited very easily to the new system since I’ve been defending like that for as long as I remember although it took me a few games to get used to using the right buttons at the right time
I cannot believe how easy to keep the ball which shows how funny this new system is. Every player turns so quickly and the skating no momentum inertia is enhanced from FIFA 11, individuality seems to have gone, every player seems to be fast and run at the same pace even now. The Contain is broken since you simply cannot get near your opponent quickly enough just to close him down because his first touch is so perfect and he turns like an alien. Funny thing is, the same story for the AI, they can’t get near you! Every match is exactly the same, all the games I’ve played finished 0-0 1-0 or 1-1 and renders: basketfootball. I mean, they might as well have a shot clock and 5 secound countdown.

I won't talk about the AI, it's as usual shocking but i didn't expect much

One thing I’ve noticed which has changed is manual. It’s VERY easy now using manual, easier than assisted even! Assisted actually annoyed me since I kept passing to the wrong player at times. Manual it’s very easy to past to who you want the shooting I’m not so hot on yet although. Manual, isn’t manual though really, it’s not very sensitive like pro evo’s manual modifier is, this needs work as Konami are making EA look silly in this little area.

I can go deeper into the flaws and bugs such as the AI missing open goals because it’s not at the right zone to shot but I’m not bothered. It’s still fun which is important. You can enjoy this game for a while but it will get highly repetitive as this is what FIFA is a about.

Overall, it’s much better than FIFA 11 which is good; it’s flawed but fun, and hilarious!!!

I’ll try to think of more positives, although I fear when people get the full version they will hate this game, once players play a longer game they will see the repetitiveness again.

 

[CalcioCalabrese]

So after having a rough Saturday with both demos I played both again and they clicked for some reason lol.

I found that whilst you have to be patient with moving the ball around, you also need to act quickly when a passing option presents itself. Scored this one with Barcelona last night http://www.ea.com/au/football/videos/ugc/93661508

Not sure how the pass speed and player runs will be implemented online though. Given it's now harder to blindly pressure all over the pitch, in theory it will be harder to find gaps against other players. Not quite true but you know what I mean. If passing speed is slow and player runs non existent (assuming sliders are for offline play only) then online might be more tactical? Who knows...

 

[Thespeedster84]

Its strange as i feel like that about PES. Atmosphere is shocking and combine it with the camera views it just fails to pull me in. Im not starting another war here about FIFA V PES and manual V assisted but what ive noticed on PES is the majority of time if I get a player like Schnieder on the ball with space around 30-40 yard from goal, point at goal and press shoot there's a good chance its going in. Ive scored a hatful of goals like this and I get no sense of achievement. If I score on FIFA full manual well thats a different story. For me

I might have been used incorrect vocab . I do agree with you atmosphere, especially i enjoy crowds more in FIFA as well as the ability to customize the camera (i always prefer widecam as in PES2012 hence replicating in fifa and it looks nice to me

Talking about current demo, it is basically a flowing style of short dribble and pass between players to bring the ball to opponent's half and having more options to pass back again. I guess, it's the lack of AI movement. Similiar as in PES 2011, where i could say.. Jeez c'mon run run or help me please anyone and i hate if i must use run trigger..

The current pc demo i played is like encourages me too much to pass around, play too patient. And yeah, it's not a Possession football to me, because it is the lack of AI movement that encourages me to pass slowly and it's on professional and world class. It happens in real life, yes, but i would hate to see MU's play like that You must know when watching boring match on tv.

Even if i have to work hard to build up a play. It would like it because cpu works hard too to close opportunity my dynamic team mate AI brings.

But, hey i got a nice moment while using Milan, Van persie chip abbiati that moves forward.. when the ball is almost passing the line, abbiati runs back and jumps and clear it with his left hand. Amazing GK move Something that PES should learn a lot in terms of GK reaction and animation

 

[Bobo21]

Maybe the pace on slow is fine for you, but it's not for others. The pace of the ball IMO is spot on, but the players move and turn at top speed with no decrease in acceleration or speed. It makes the game too fast looking when the AI have the ball.

That said, the pace feels fine when you have the ball and choose to slow the pace down, using the slower techniques the new controls allow, but when the AI gets the ball the pace instantly turns frantic. The AI in no way, shape or form plays in any way like an actual football team would play. This is why I think for offline multiplayer, or maybe online against like minded people, this might be fantastic. But for single player it's terrible.

Wouldn't that be where the sliders below come in then?

Sprint Speed
Modifies the maximum sprint speed a team can reach.

Acceleration
Modifies the time it takes for a teams player to reach their maximum speed.

 

[mfmaxpower]

Overall, it’s much better than FIFA 11 which is good; it’s flawed but fun, and hilarious!!!

I’ll try to think of more positives, although I fear when people get the full version they will hate this game, once players play a longer game they will see the repetitiveness again.

I love all the backhanded compliments going around: "oh, FIFA 12 is flawed but fun" etc. As if any game is perfect. The FIFA-hating that goes on is just silly at times.

And why would you think that people are going to hate the full version if it's better than 11( which it will be)? Most people who buy FIFA 12 will have enjoyed FIFA 11 after all.

 

[mfmaxpower]

Wouldn't that be where the sliders below come in then, applied to CPU only?

Sprint Speed
Modifies the maximum sprint speed a team can reach.

Acceleration
Modifies the time it takes for a teams player to reach their maximum speed.

I think the concern is that they will not influence default movement speeds; i.e. they would influence the speeds controlled by RT/R2 only, not movement controlled only with the stick or pace control (LT/L2).

 

[CalcioCalabrese]

Does anyone else find that precision dribbling animation extremely strange. It doesn't make small movements - it just makes the player move that slowly that it's unnatural. The transition from precision dribbling to a jog or sprint doesn't seem right.

Using LT close dribble works better anyway because of the reduced pressure. Not sure where I'd use precision dribbling.

 

[andythom77]

Had enough this now. Bored of it

Need to play some humans....

I can't wait to play another human, if the other person mistimes tackles like me its going to be very fun, lot more fouls and varying situations!

Bring on clubs and our 1 v 1's

 

[CalcioCalabrese]

Can someone with FIFA 11 UK Version on Xbox 360 please tell me what commentary languages were provided?

I can buy a cheaper version of FIFA 12 in Australia but it's imported from the UK. I'm assuming the languages will be the same or UK version this year.