FIFA 12 Demo impressions

Yeah, sadly, I secretly hoped this would be a major surprise after the lack of real info on the game most of the summer. Sadly no. It's so nearly a great game, ruined by certain factors. But to be positive, I think if people enjoyed FIFA11 then they'll love it, it is a definite improvement, but those improvements have oddly served to highlight the inertia problem to an extent that it now sticks out like a sore thumb. Those AI players literally spend every moment on the ball quick passing up the pitch as fast as possible, relentlessly, and repeatedly making space for itself by dribbling one way, chopping back the other and turning in the blink of an eye, then doing the same back the other way, and back again, again and again and again until it looks like it's just turning in circles.
 
Well that was my last game for tonight. Im really tired so i guess that doesnt help. It was a little bit better, but bloody hell, it better not be nothing like this on final release or i wont have one sodden game of footy all year.

1) its too fast. Feels like Fifa 10.

2) The tactical defending only works to an extent because the attackers can turn on a sixpence EVERY TIME. Ive lost count at how many times the cpu when in good shooting positions, goes back on itself and does a dribble, it looks unnatural and makes the pitch feel small.

3) the cpu always blasts the ball low or goes to the byline. EVERY SINGLE TIME.

4) The crossing lacks variation, its always fast.

5) even on manual the passing is too accurate and the crossing is too.

In my view this so far isnt fit to lace FIFA 11's boots. Its like Rutter has swung back to 10 for inspiration, that was too fast and too repetitive, at least for its flaws in 11 i could have a decent game of footy at a decent pace.

Failing that the sliders may well be this games saving grace as at least you can make the cpu error in its passing, every pass is sharp, fast and accurate even with a lesser team.
 
The precision dribble itself seems to have inertia, simply because it's an animation of somebody actually carrying out this movement in this context. The inertia is built in as a result. As is this weird uprightness, this stiffness to the movement of the player.

By contrast, turning while at jogging place is pretty much as quick as far as the CPU is concerned, and more reactive because the player can pretty much turn whichever way he pleases. Moving forwards with the ball doesn't limit the CPU's options, so it decides it might as well move all the time. If moving forwards pushed you towards a cul-de-sac or made it harder to turn and go the other way, then it would have reason to stop and wait for you to come to it. But it's better off moving all the time because it's harder for you to track it manually and the contain function keeps a huge distance between you.

That's another thing - even if you're jockeying manually, the CPU always moves to keep a fixed distance between you and it, unless it's actively running at you. Not that I mind the CPU avoiding confrontation at all, but it's able to react so quickly compared to you and it can just do this dumb 4-touch pirouette to go any direction it pleases, that the distance often seems to be exactly the same.
 
Managed to squeeze in half a dozen matches after the Champions League. Some very, very early impressions:

* Biggest change seems to be the reduced pressure. The AI doesn't hunt instantly for the ball, it affords you more time. Similarly it's much more difficult for you to go and win the ball back straight away when you lose it.

* LT(L2) was important last year, it's even more powerful in this demo. Holding LT enables you to change direction without having to travel, and they've also empowered it with better automatic shielding, so if a defender tries to close in while you're using the slow dribble and you turn away from him, you'll hold him off pretty easily.

AlaaEG said:
What's the function of L2 or L2+R2 when I am dribbling the ball? I find no use for them except for slowing me down!
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With L2 you can protect the ball in tighter areas - make sharper turns and shift the ball under control. L2+R2 should be used in 'dabs' rather than held down - you can make sharp 'chops' with the inside of the foot, like a kind of sidestep.

Also don't forget that L2 + right thumbstick does stepovers etc.

Find myself using the LB(L1) and the LT(L2) buttons all the time when I have the ball at my feet; stopping on it, facing up, dragging the ball, turning, waiting for things to develop. Think what Xavi does a lot in real life, just shifting and rotating while assessing his options. You can do that now without being so hunted down as you were in 11.

* AI remains obsessed with the corners of the pitch. All those diagonal in-to-out runs seem to draw the CPU teams towards the corner flags like magnets, same as in previous versions.

* Slow speed is, I would say, the same as Slow in 11. Players are highly responsive and can turn quicker on the ball, which can give the impression of faster overall speed... conversely your default movement speed without the ball seems to have been reduced to an ugly crabbing motion, which can imply the opposite. Overall I reckon it's the same. Looking forward to the sliders in the full title to try toning down the sprint and acceleration speeds.

* Like the new camera angle quite a lot.

* Impact Engine appears to be a complete waste of two years of development time. To be blunt.

* Get the feeling that the game will be better when played with low rated teams. These elite players are so agile, and are so talented that you get a disturbing amount of assist on your Manual controls.

* Liked the quick throw-in feature... but only saw one in six matches.

* Disappointed that there's still a load of Traits missing, that are either hidden in the bio (why hide them?) or are just not in the game at all. At least they added some colour to the attributes.

Will probably have a few more matches tomorrow night. Overall so far it feels very similar to 11, but did you think it wouldn't?
 
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I actually agree with most of your impressions nerf, it's fine when you have the ball (100% perfect AI stab tackle excluded), but it's what Rom says so well that's my issue. When the AI has the ball it instantly reminds you that it's a limited AI at work, it destroys the illusion of an immersive game. All this AI twisting an turning, as Rom says, without ever having to stop moving (simply because it can) looks so unnatural. It can dribble fast in one direction then turn and move into the complete opposite direction with no change of pace or lack of control over the ball. And it does this a lot. All the frickin' time, it drives me nuts. I've never seen a footballer constantly cut back on himself over and over to make space, and not at those speeds.

Maybe something can be done with the sliders to combat this but I doubt it, the lack of any other method of dribbling (like I said earlier, where is the use of the AI doing the precision dribble, or 360 dribble?) means that reducing the speed at which it can turn will leave the AI with no means of effectively keeping the ball. Then it'll have nothing to present a challenge in single player mode.
 
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Gotta agree with most of the above, too. I absolutely cannot stand playing against the cpu - it's ultimately, even accepting that they stand off more now, the same woeful experience as last year...and the years before. Relentless pixel-perfect passing, immaculate first touch for all cpu players, no cpu fatigue whatsoever, perfect stab-tackling every time, nearly guaranteed scripted cpu-auto goal on 45 minutes, implausible (p)reactions (ie. they react to your move before you've even made your move, probably because when you press your controller, the game engine first allows the cpu to react to your move, then moves your guy afterwards).

Because the PES12 XBOX demo also came out tonight and I have only the 4GB Xbox, I could not begin to download the PES demo as there's not enough space for both it and FIFA12. So, FIFA12 had to be deleted. Wasn't at all a hard decision to make.
 
i'm reserving judgemrnt at the moment, finese shooting hasn't really changed too much and seems that you can proper whack the shooting, defending will take alot of time to get used to, especially in three minute matches, also noticed they added the bergkamp flick in it, pulled it off and didn't know how i did so, looked nice but came accross a fair few glitches/bugs but i'll give this a few days and see how it pans out
 
People need to realise something and im not trying to knock the game. EA always manages to woo the gamers with their demo. Its happened every year for the past 4 years, the demo always delivers a sensory overload and at times hooks you in, then you proceed to buy the full product. Just a question do people see enough of an improvement in this version to justify its price tag and hype?

The demo should of been longer for the console version, 3 minute halfs are ridiculous, the team selection is fine, it still looks great,tactics screen needs overhaul,even the menu sounds are the same as in fifa 08.

But does anyone else share the opinion that this game could of delivered so much more gameplay wise this year. (P.s the modes look fantastic and hopefully the glitches in manager mode are gone and online doesnt turn into what it usually turns into, slider also can be revolutionary if implemented properly)

C`mon EA you have the $$$ and the Consumers(~13million people), give a true evolution, we deserve it lol
 
I tried the game again and conceded yet another goal from a header. It's crazy. The AI was 2 v 1 and rather than run in on goal he actually moved away from goal where he'd have had a 1v1 with my keeper, and opted to cross it for the unmarked player to head in. Is this literally the only way it can score? Practically an open goal and it still moves wide to chip for another guy to head the ball into an empty net. It's really pathetic.
 
Fifa's tackling AI has always been imbalanced. They don't attempt to win the ball, they just win it. Without any inertia, attempted tackling is pointless anyway since you can never leave a CPU defender wrong footed.
 
theopinion said:
People need to realise something and im not trying to knock the game. EA always manages to woo the gamers with their demo. Its happened every year for the past 4 years, the demo always delivers a sensory overload and at times hooks you in, then you proceed to buy the full product. Just a question do people see enough of an improvement in this version to justify its price tag and hype?

The demo should of been longer for the console version, 3 minute halfs are ridiculous, the team selection is fine, it still looks great,tactics screen needs overhaul,even the menu sounds are the same as in fifa 08.

But does anyone else share the opinion that this game could of delivered so much more gameplay wise this year. (P.s the modes look fantastic and hopefully the glitches in manager mode are gone and online doesnt turn into what it usually turns into, slider also can be revolutionary if implemented properly)

C`mon EA you have the $$$ and the Consumers(~13million people), give a true evolution, we deserve it lol
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Yes. This demo is impressive in terms of graphics and presentation, and does feature some really nice gameplay elements at your disposal, but it doesn't make for a proper looking game of football. You go to all the lengths to play as realistically as possible, with slow, patient build up, then when you lose the ball the AI plays a hyped up counter attack. And yes, it is absolutely obsessed with getting players and the ball into wide positions.

With these headed goals I concede, it's not like there's anything I can do to stop them, mostly when the cross comes in, the screen scrolls across as the ball moves to reveal a striker all on his own. My defenders are never marking properly in the middle, off-screen.

In fact, I played one last game, and the AI kept trying to pump long balls from the central positions to a winger way out wide and high up the pitch, just like in older versions. I then took a long hard look and noticed just how much the AI players looked like they were on speed, the way they were moving and passing the ball around at 100mph. They then scored an equaliser, AGAIN by getting into a 2v1 against my keeper. AGAIN, rather than slot the ball in the corner the striker did this little chip square and some guy headed it in when it really didn't need to do so in the first place. It's bordering on bizarre.

Oh and the apparent easing up of pressure is an illusion. It holds off until you get to roughtly 25 or so yards out from the AI's goal, then every tackle is a 100% perfect lunge leaving your player on the floor. One occasion, using Messi and the new precision dribble, resulted in a hulking Dortmund defender somehow scooping the ball off Messi's foot and then blasting the ball away in the space of microsecond. The AI is a sped up, hyped up mess. I've yet to see the AI do a single 'tactical defending' jockey any closer than 25-30 yards from it's goal. It bombs in, knocks your player over, wins the ball perfectly every single time. It's really artificial.

Demo deleted, EA can fuck off. This is the singular worst football game I've ever played. I mean even on slow setting, the AI players look like they've been recorded then sped up several times, like they're on fast forward. Awful.
 
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LTFC said:
Yes. This demo is impressive in terms of graphics and presentation, and does feature some really nice gameplay elements at your disposal, but it doesn't make for a proper looking game of football. You go to all the lengths to play as realistically as possible, with slow, patient build up, then when you lose the ball the AI plays a hyped up counter attack. And yes, it is absolutely obsessed with getting players and the ball into wide positions.

With these headed goals I concede, it's not like there's anything I can do to stop them, mostly when the cross comes in, the screen scrolls across as the ball moves to reveal a striker all on his own. My defenders are never marking properly in the middle, off-screen.
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Let me tell you story you might enjoy, I had been playing fifa 11with a few mates of mine over the last year and they would come over quite often and we would get into Fifa and play 1vs1 and 1 vs 3 etc. We tried different strength teams, played using different styles and formations. I won some, they won some, but the only thing consistent during the whole year was that Scoring with R1, and Conceding from shots which used R1 were always seen as the most cheap of goals by all involved. (If it were up to me i would remove it from both PES and FIFA and make it so its contextual and user input based)

The other huge issue we all had and me in particular was how insanely easy it was to go up the wing and deliver a ball which would usually and to be honest more often then not end up on the head of a striker no matter his size or strength, who would in turn be able to either get it on target or score, it seemed like there was no alternative, and unfortunately if these problems persist again ill be extremely dissapointed.(Because online it was a nightmare)

And im not gonna start on the over the top through ball problem.
 
KSIOlajidebt sums up most of FIFA's audience nowadays (especially after tomorrow) frankly. He is the main voice on YouTube for FIFA, and frankly he's a blithering idiot. He has so little idea of how football plays it's astounding - to be fair he's quite charismatic but I can't stand his brand of charisma tied to the general idiocy of what he says.

From what I've played of the three demos, tomorrow is going to be a fairly divisive day. The games are very different, and I think they're going to split people quite a lot. I find it hard to imagine someone would really enjoy both.

FIFA lacks momentum and inertia to the extent where it takes me about an hour to actually not be noticing it with every turn and touch. Tactical defending simply doesn't work with this movement, at least against the CPU. I'm not bad at it - I know the fundamentals of how to defend and have no issue with PES's defending (especially in the second demo) - and even though technically what FIFA's defending ought to do is bring it into line with PES's, it's just unworkable.

The whole thing feels so loose, and so floaty - the CPU don't try to beat you by dribbling really (they will go round you at a distance but they don't stand up to you try to beat you). They just make massive turns, at high speed - and there is no indication of where they'll turn next. At the very least, I hope that this will strengthen the communities resolve and EA's resolve to reapply inertia to their game.

Precision dribbling.. well. It works well at what it does but what it does is so minor. It's most major problem is that it's very slow to burst out of it - so while I can make touches to make space, when I then want to explode away, I can't.

Fast players feel fast which is nice, and the flair passing while still a bit too easy isn't a complete abhorrence like it was in July. Defensive shape is better (as in not totally broken), attacking AI is pretty dull, and the CPU AI reacts far, far too fast.

Quite depressed with FIFA really.
 
Rodelero said:
KSIOlajidebt sums up most of FIFA's audience nowadays (especially after tomorrow) frankly. He is the main voice on YouTube for FIFA, and frankly he's a blithering idiot. He has so little idea of how football plays it's astounding - to be fair he's quite charismatic but I can't stand his brand of charisma tied to the general idiocy of what he says.

From what I've played of the three demos, tomorrow is going to be a fairly divisive day. The games are very different, and I think they're going to split people quite a lot. I find it hard to imagine someone would really enjoy both.

FIFA lacks momentum and inertia to the extent where it takes me about an hour to actually not be noticing it with every turn and touch. Tactical defending simply doesn't work with this movement, at least against the CPU. I'm not bad at it - I know the fundamentals of how to defend and have no issue with PES's defending (especially in the second demo) - and even though technically what FIFA's defending ought to do is bring it into line with PES's, it's just unworkable.

The whole thing feels so loose, and so floaty - the CPU don't try to beat you by dribbling really (they will go round you at a distance but they don't stand up to you try to beat you). They just make massive turns, at high speed - and there is no indication of where they'll turn next. At the very least, I hope that this will strengthen the communities resolve and EA's resolve to reapply inertia to their game.

Precision dribbling.. well. It works well at what it does but what it does is so minor. It's most major problem is that it's very slow to burst out of it - so while I can make touches to make space, when I then want to explode away, I can't.

Fast players feel fast which is nice, and the flair passing while still a bit too easy isn't a complete abhorrence like it was in July. Defensive shape is better (as in not totally broken), attacking AI is pretty dull, and the CPU AI reacts far, far too fast.

Quite depressed with FIFA really.
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Pretty much echoes my sentiments.
 
Rodelero said:
KSIOlajidebt sums up most of FIFA's audience nowadays (especially after tomorrow) frankly. He is the main voice on YouTube for FIFA, and frankly he's a blithering idiot. He has so little idea of how football plays it's astounding - to be fair he's quite charismatic but I can't stand his brand of charisma tied to the general idiocy of what he says.

From what I've played of the three demos, tomorrow is going to be a fairly divisive day. The games are very different, and I think they're going to split people quite a lot. I find it hard to imagine someone would really enjoy both.

FIFA lacks momentum and inertia to the extent where it takes me about an hour to actually not be noticing it with every turn and touch. Tactical defending simply doesn't work with this movement, at least against the CPU. I'm not bad at it - I know the fundamentals of how to defend and have no issue with PES's defending (especially in the second demo) - and even though technically what FIFA's defending ought to do is bring it into line with PES's, it's just unworkable.

The whole thing feels so loose, and so floaty - the CPU don't try to beat you by dribbling really (they will go round you at a distance but they don't stand up to you try to beat you). They just make massive turns, at high speed - and there is no indication of where they'll turn next. At the very least, I hope that this will strengthen the communities resolve and EA's resolve to reapply inertia to their game.

Precision dribbling.. well. It works well at what it does but what it does is so minor. It's most major problem is that it's very slow to burst out of it - so while I can make touches to make space, when I then want to explode away, I can't.

Fast players feel fast which is nice, and the flair passing while still a bit too easy isn't a complete abhorrence like it was in July. Defensive shape is better (as in not totally broken), attacking AI is pretty dull, and the CPU AI reacts far, far too fast.

Quite depressed with FIFA really.
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Nailed it mate. Great post.

I hope EA have spent 2 years working on inertia too. Tactical defending against the CPU just exposes EA's AI even more. Tswitching from player to player and jamming on contain or jockey run is a cluster-fuck of button pressing at the mo. Not because it's a bad a idea but mainly because the CPU can change direction and recover from tricks at a blink. definitely have to go homing missile off-line otherwise I can see people returning this game in droves. Seriously.

The positive side to what i've played is some of impact engine. Wow, i saw van bommel barge past Gotze and nearly take his head off lol .I'll post a vids later. The AI isn't as bad as feared but after coming off PES2011's extremely tactical formations that actually make a huge difference if not employed correctly, i can't help but feel a little limp at the sight of some very static movement at times without sending through players or 1-2's.

I'm much happier with the game than i was earlier though. It's very polished. The SHOOTING IS IMMENSE. Best shooting in any football game ever made. Period. My God. Rooney is a beast in that arena. Love the shooting so much.

Pro passing has definitely had a tweak. Feels like i ahve to pay more attention to get a decent pass off. Needs to be tweaked more though. I want average players to pass averagely and Fabregas to pass like it's laser guided.

Either way it's a great demo so far. Love the new Skill show-off menu. Looks swish.

BTW is precision dribbling contextual to the player? Rooneys looked like shit but Aguero's look really good while i was in a match.
 
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The AI seems incapable of making a bad pass. Quite frustrating.

Edit: Also, LT + a tap of lob (basically to do a short, high, chip over a defenders head) results in a rabona EVERY SINGLE TIME.
 
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this post was on GAF:

I agree with the people hating it after playing a lot; the new defending is one of the most ridiculous things they could have come up with. Bad enough that most other things about the game are steps back, but really.
You're at any given point responsible for:

Selecting a player (haphazard at best)
Jockey
Contain
Sprint
Call Second Defender
Actually being in the right position to press the tackle button
Actually pressing the tackle button at exactly the right second

I think everyone actually wanted was to make the old system have some kind of drawback instead of an entire overhaul. Maybe if pressing with two defenders for 90 minutes actually made the team tired or got them out of position ever. Instead we get a spaceship piloting stand-in.
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LOL nailed it. Either they get it out or put in inertia next year, i'm betting. There's no way i'm playing against Barca in CM mode with tactical defending on. Fuck me :LOL:
 
nerf said:
Managed to squeeze in half a dozen matches after the Champions League. Some very, very early impressions:

* Biggest change seems to be the reduced pressure. The AI doesn't hunt instantly for the ball, it affords you more time. Similarly it's much more difficult for you to go and win the ball back straight away when you lose it.

* LT(L2) was important last year, it's even more powerful in this demo. Holding LT enables you to change direction without having to travel, and they've also empowered it with better automatic shielding, so if a defender tries to close in while you're using the slow dribble and you turn away from him, you'll hold him off pretty easily.


With L2 you can protect the ball in tighter areas - make sharper turns and shift the ball under control. L2+R2 should be used in 'dabs' rather than held down - you can make sharp 'chops' with the inside of the foot, like a kind of sidestep.

Also don't forget that L2 + right thumbstick does stepovers etc.

Find myself using the LB(L1) and the LT(L2) buttons all the time when I have the ball at my feet; stopping on it, facing up, dragging the ball, turning, waiting for things to develop. Think what Xavi does a lot in real life, just shifting and rotating while assessing his options. You can do that now without being so hunted down as you were in 11.

* AI remains obsessed with the corners of the pitch. All those diagonal in-to-out runs seem to draw the CPU teams towards the corner flags like magnets, same as in previous versions.

* Slow speed is, I would say, the same as Slow in 11. Players are highly responsive and can turn quicker on the ball, which can give the impression of faster overall speed... conversely your default movement speed without the ball seems to have been reduced to an ugly crabbing motion, which can imply the opposite. Overall I reckon it's the same. Looking forward to the sliders in the full title to try toning down the sprint and acceleration speeds.

* Like the new camera angle quite a lot.

* Impact Engine appears to be a complete waste of two years of development time. To be blunt.

* Get the feeling that the game will be better when played with low rated teams. These elite players are so agile, and are so talented that you get a disturbing amount of assist on your Manual controls.

* Liked the quick throw-in feature... but only saw one in six matches.

* Disappointed that there's still a load of Traits missing, that are either hidden in the bio (why hide them?) or are just not in the game at all. At least they added some colour to the attributes.

Will probably have a few more matches tomorrow night. Overall so far it feels very similar to 11, but did you think it wouldn't?
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Thanks. I completely agree with your points. This game has a lot of realistic feeling deep inside it. I scored a goal with a contextual skill by Ibra which I will be uploading soon.

PES is a bit arcade in game-play compared to FIFA this year but it always has the momentum and beautiful football.
 
Just posted this in the Gamechangers forum:

I've now played a couple dozen matches of the demo and my impressions are: mixed - really mixed. On one hand, they seemed to have eleminated what I thought was the worst of FIFA 11 and the game is much more balanced between attack and defense. That in itself makes 12 a big improvement over 11 in my book. On the other hand, I'm struggling to come to grips with the new features and right now the game just feels awkward for me (which isn't helped by having only 3 min halves!!!).

First, the "Holy Trinity:"

Tactical Defending: there's a lot of positive here I think but this is the hardest part of the game to come to grips with after 11. Things got better once I switched the buttons around on my controller to be more like previous settings: I moved contain to the right bumper; tackle to where contain was; and press to where tackle was. The changes to the controller settings I find very un-intutitive, to say the least. And I wonder, is there a benefit at all to using contain? What's the point? In any case, once I exiled contain to RB, defending was better. Still, it's hard, very hard. Which isn't necassarily a bad thing but it'll take a while to really be able to tell how I like all the changes. (On a side note, anyone try "Legacy Defending?" It's not bad. Much improved over 11.)

Precision Dribbling: I don't know what I had a harder time with, the new defending system or trying to figure out how to use Precision Dribbling. What's most confusing to me, and I brought this up quite a while ago, is what is the purpose of having both Close/Pace Control (LT) and Precision Dribbling (LB)? Seems to me like Precision Dribbling is meant to replace LT, so why have both? It's very confusing. As for Precision Dribbling delivering on the promise to finally allow us to take on defenders without resorting to skills and be better at maintaining possession in tight spaces, well I notice the latter but not so much the former. Maybe it's just because I haven't become comfortable with Precision Dribbling but it feels like players lose all momentum and become too vulnerable when I use it - so I don't see how that's suppose to help in taking on defenders. Just like Tactical Defending though, it's too early to say whether Precision Dribbling is a disappointment or if it just takes time to master. It's certainly not intuitive though.

Impact Engine: In one word: meh. Overall the physicality has been significanltly toned down, so that's a good thing, but some of the collisions that do occur are just silly. I suppose the new Impact Engine is a net positive but sometimes it can be hard to take seriously the way some players tumble over or fall flat on their face.

What else?

Well, the worst aspect of the demo gameplay has to be passing for me - it's even worse than last year. It's slow, there's no feeling of zip on the ball, it feels as if the ball weighs ten pounds or something, and it's just terrible. But, I've heard it's been improved for the review version, and plus we can adjust the speed in sliders (if there actually are sliders - what happend to them being in the demo?), so I won't worry too much about passing right now. Conversely, it's almost as if the shooting physics have been turned up to too fast - some shots looked insanely fast. I think shooting overall felt improved but there were some crazy examples of shots that I thought should've ripped a hole in the back of the net.

Player Pace: I noticed there's been quite a change in this department but I can't quite figure out exactly what's been changed. I've noticed that defenders aren't as able to catch dribblers, which is nice (but a bit of a shock when defending after 11!), while players seem to accelerate at a slower pace.

Some other positives I noticed were that there seemed to be a greater variety in goals scored, which was desperately needed, although many of those seemed more a result of me sucking at defending than anything else. I noticed more directional error in passing and more error in first touch, and plenty of instances of improved offensive AI, although multiple times I found myself frustrated a player did not make an obvious run. Overall the CPU offensive AI is more lethal, which is a big improvement over 11.

Ultimately I'd say I have a far better feeling about FIFA 12 going forward than I did this time last year (I never particularly liked 11) but right now I'm finding myself out of sync with the game more often than not, and I'm struggling to understand some design decisions, namely the purpose of contain and the reason for having both Precision Dribbling and Close Control. There's also many other traditional annoyances still present, like lack of inertia, AI not being that great, etc. but I'll wait for the full release to get back into those things.
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gameklip said:
this post was on GAF:



LOL nailed it. Either they get it out or put in inertia next year, i'm betting. There's no way i'm playing against Barca in CM mode with tactical defending on. Fuck me :LOL:
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I only tried it for a single half, but Legacy Defending seems like it might be what they should have done - it's basically the same as last year but without the crazy easy tackling and over-powered jockey.

Tactical Defending got a lot easier for me once I moved the buttons around and played less aggressive. Barca did still destroy me though!
 
Is it just me or 90% of Milan goals are from crosse with Ibra having 100% success in headers ?

I find tatical defending a bit too confusing atm, and semi passing is a bit too unbalanced compared to cpu passes. I'll play more tomorrow to have a deeper impression.

Graphically the game is very good. The ligting is great. The only problem is players skin, it's too plastic.
 
DuduBR9 said:
Is it just me or 90% of Milan goals are from crosse with Ibra having 100% success in headers ?

I find tatical defending a bit too confusing atm, and semi passing is a bit too unbalanced compared to cpu passes. I'll play more tomorrow to have a deeper impression.

Graphically the game is very good. The ligting is great. The only problem is players skin, it's too plastic.
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And their palm not animated enough in most occassion, mostly open. Looks odd in goal celebration, running, falling, shooting and when clapping :P
 
mfmaxpower said:
Just posted this in the Gamechangers forum:
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Yeah this pretty much sums up my experience of the demo too. I'll wait to see what, if any effect, the sliders will have on passing, particularly ground passes but at the moment it is far too lightweight for me. Its weird as sometimes when shooting the ball seems to go from being a beach ball to a medicine ball.

Tactical defending is a bit hit and miss. Finally tackles need to be timed correctly and this has had an instant impact in seeing me not diving in too quickly. However, Contain just feels a bit of a nothing feature in all honesty. As for the impact engine i can only shrug my shoulders here as i am not sure what contribution this has made to actually improving the gameplay experience. Seems a little bit like the usual surface glitter feature marketing that EA unfortunately loves to indulge in.

Not passing full judgement yet as i have played too few games but my first impressions were a little bit underwhelming and far, far from the 'revolution' that it was promoted as being.
 
The unfortunate thing is that I see what EA are trying to do in their attempts to rebalance attack and defense, it's just that their ideas are, once again, band aid approaches to fundamental problems. Precision Dribbling in particular feels like a gamey, unnatural, and somewhat awkward solution to FIFA's dribbling woes - and Messi still doesn't feel like a god as he should and dribbling against the CPU on anything higher than Professional difficulty is still unbalanced.

But if there is a silver lining, it's that the devs are definitely trying to make gameplay more realistic and have made some nice changes. For example, I'm noticing that stats matter more than they ever have before in FIFA by a wide margin - the difference in pace, defending, and dribbling abilities in particular are pretty big. And even though Tactical Defending feels a bit like fitting a round peg into FIFA's square hole, it certainly is a move in the right direction, if only in intention and not implementation. And I'll take it any day over last year's mindless defending and ridiculous tackling animations.

Going forward I imagine the two top prorities need to be fixing unrealistic player movement (can it even be fixed this gen?) and upgrading the barely adequate AI (does the CPU know any other way to attack other than crosses or cutbacks from the wings?).
 
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If FIFA 12 had more of the momentum/inertia of FIFA 08 (the first FIFA that actually caught my attention) and had it perfectly balanced with Jockeying, FIFA 12 would be an excellent addition to the franchise and a big step forward.***

I have no doubt however that EA will give in to the whining children and yet again speed up the gameplay to FIFA 10 levels and probably add more pressuring back into the game. Mark my worlds, comrades, mark my words...

*** At least for 2 player games (the AI is still pretty damn bad)
 
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What they should have done with the tactical defending is make you press the current button to contain but let go of the button to tackle, still keeping the timing important. The secondary button press is just overkill and un-natural. I've only played 6 or 7 games on the demo.

I did like the lighting, new camera angle, volleys, more variable shooting and closer dribbling. Also was good to see the players keep the ball in on the touchline instead of letting it go over.

Impact engine was good during on the ball tussles but off the ball it leads to players falling over each other when in reality they would have avoided each other or just bumped off each other, NOT tripped each other over or fell like they'd been shot.
 
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