FIFA 12 Demo impressions

totalbiscuit said:
FIFA 12 is horrible, utterly horrible. Anyone that thinks this is a good football game doesn't understand football. The players move like they are completely weightless. Time for Rutter to pass the reigns imo.

Downloading second PES demo in the hope they fixed the shooting/collisions/keepers but I suspect it's another year without a football game, which I called ages ago.]
Click to expand...

It's astonishing what some people seem to expect from a football videogame. This is not a real life simulation. You will never be able to move in a videogame like you could move in real life, it's simply not possible (at least not for the next couple years). How could you say, that everyone who thinks that FIFA 12 is a good football game doesn't understand football?!

If you're waiting for the footie-videogame-Jesus to come down and miraculously pulling out the perfect game then you gonna have to wait a loooong time. There will never be a perfect football game on any console ever. Period. Deal with it.
 
Last edited:
Tactical defending is really really odd in my opinion.. so i start pressure... then i have to apply pressure of my CPU defender, then i have to time the tackle.. how can i hold 2 buttons + make tackle with 3! Also i have to speed up if defender runs away..

So i end up constantly pressing + assist, or run fast and tackle myself..

REally odd system!

Other thing that got me worried, no pressure on my defenders.. i can pass ball around like on practice.. they start pressure only when im closer to half field.. ill test today with other team.. maybe it Marseille tactics...

Animations look good, impact engine mostly works great, super great commentary..

Not bad, but i dont understand that defending yet... :S
 
As I said before, I think it would have worked a lot better if they kept the shoot button for seconday pressure instead of mapping it to RB/R1. And then made you hold the pass button to contain within a close distance and you release it when you want to tackle. But still make it so you have to time the tackle properly.

I only had time for a few games last night but I think we'll have to get used to playing without the ball for a while and being "tactical" about when to try and tackle. Not because it's the best approach always but because the system has been made fairly complex.

They could have even just made us use the current jockey button to contain and then press the pass button to try and tackle. They added extra buttons which weren't necessary!
 
Had a few more games last night and the shine might just be wearing off a little. Going between this and the PES demo (playing the same teams) and each time I played FIFA, the more I found my enjoyment going down that bit more whereas I put PES on and it just felt better.

Inertia. That's the key word that's damaging FIFA. If that was sorted (and the constant crossing and heading from the AI), then FIFA was be a very good game. It's still a good game but those issues just spoil my enjoyment quite a bit.

As Enzo says, the control system is knackered too. It's like some crazy puzzle game trying to hold down the necessary buttons to defend. I know these can be configured but the implementation of the defending just doesn't work.
 
DagsJT said:
Had a few more games last night and the shine might just be wearing off a little. Going between this and the PES demo (playing the same teams) and each time I played FIFA, the more I found my enjoyment going down that bit more whereas I put PES on and it just felt better.

Inertia. That's the key word that's damaging FIFA. If that was sorted (and the constant crossing and heading from the AI), then FIFA was be a very good game. It's still a good game but those issues just spoil my enjoyment quite a bit.

As Enzo says, the control system is knackered too. It's like some crazy puzzle game trying to hold down the necessary buttons to defend. I know these can be configured but the implementation of the defending just doesn't work.
Click to expand...

Agreed mate.

The other thing that I was trying to work out is the push/pull. So if you're front on that button will make a tackling animation, but if you're behind the player or side on it will try to push/pull. I found it hard though to catch up to the forward so you were actually close enough to use that feature.

I can see people trying to pull the shirt and being slightly in the wrong body position and tackling instead, causing a foul when they only wanted to give the player a bit of a nudge.
 
Maybe it's my rubbish skill (I'm not that bad) but I can't even get near to the CPU to use the push/pull as it doesn't keep hold of the ball, it just passes it around.

In fact, I can't really remember the CPU running at me with the ball. I'm sure it must have, surely. But the fact I can't remember it and I can just remember constant pinging passes says a lot to me. I like the push/pull idea though.
 
Don't see what's so difficult about defending. Use either the Contain button or the L2 jockey to stay goalside of your opponent, keep your shape, and force him into a mistake.

You can't fly in and win the ball back instantly? Oh noes.
 
Who said anything about flying in? Trying to stand off with LT, then having to chase with RT, whilst thinking you'll try to double up on that player so you then need to hold RB, and then you get close enough that you want to try and pull the player so try to press X as well.

Overly complicated for the sake of it. Sometimes you do, you know, actually want to make a tackle rather than stand off the player. Can't remember the last match I watched on TV where teams just stood off attackers and didn't put in a tackle because they were waiting for a mistake.

As a comparison, and I hate to bring it up, but I've got no problem with the defending on PES 2012. I love the new defending system and jockeying is fine, and when I want to tackle I just let go of the jockey button and he tackles. Far simpler and more effective than FIFA's crazy fingers defending.
 
DagsJT said:
Had a few more games last night and the shine might just be wearing off a little. Going between this and the PES demo (playing the same teams) and each time I played FIFA, the more I found my enjoyment going down that bit more whereas I put PES on and it just felt better.

Inertia. That's the key word that's damaging FIFA. If that was sorted (and the constant crossing and heading from the AI), then FIFA was be a very good game. It's still a good game but those issues just spoil my enjoyment quite a bit.

As Enzo says, the control system is knackered too. It's like some crazy puzzle game trying to hold down the necessary buttons to defend. I know these can be configured but the implementation of the defending just doesn't work.
Click to expand...

It´s really exactly what is happening to me. When I downloaded the first PES 2012 demo it was good.... well, enough I may say, but I was eager to taste this FIFA 12 demo. First impression was EXCELLENT, presentation, intros, graphics.... I played more de 20 matches on FIFA 12 demo and then... I decided to play just a single match on PES 2012 demo.... BUFFFF... And that is, I began to think and most important TO FEEL that FIFA 12 was not so good, a good game of course, but only good and a good choice, but FIFA 12 was not so good and PES 2012 was not so bad. The atmosphere of PES 2012 is something that is quite atractive and gameplay may be even improved in the second demo.
To sum it up, the decision I took about playing FIFA 12 this year and forget PES 2012, now it has gone and I´m in the big doubt of what to do.
 
Defending takes a bit of getting used to but its how i defended in FIFA 11. I tried where i could not to barge into people so this new system is great for me , no issues with it at all
 
One other thing I'll say is, as expected, FIFA completely and utterly blows PES out of the water with its presentation. The start of the match where it shows clips of the teams, the commentary, the crowd, it's all fantastic and PES doesn't even come close to that quality.
 
Ouch, Adam (got review code) says

"Right. Played a few games of FIFA 12. It's pretty much review code, apart from one thing. Shooting. On assisted, more accurate in demo"

Defending feels broken. Not 1v1 Jockey is perfect, lack of pressure is brilliant, but with player switching being so crap and the tracking of runs, i conceded loads of goals yesterday that i felt there was nothing i could do to stop. In fact i know there was nothing i could've done but put All out defence and counter attack on. That shit we've had for 3 years.

Online its going to be horrendous. 6-0-4 formations because AI defenders cant be trusted to follow runs etc.

So close again. :-(
 
johnny_on said:
Ouch, Adam (got review code) says

"Right. Played a few games of FIFA 12. It's pretty much review code, apart from one thing. Shooting. On assisted, more accurate in demo"

Defending feels broken. Not 1v1 Jockey is perfect, lack of pressure is brilliant, but with player switching being so crap and the tracking of runs, i conceded loads of goals yesterday that i felt there was nothing i could do to stop. In fact i know there was nothing i could've done but put All out defence and counter attack on. That shit we've had for 3 years.

Online its going to be horrendous. 6-0-4 formations because AI defenders cant be trusted to follow runs etc.

So close again. :-(
Click to expand...

Well, I'm an offline Career Mode player, but that shit won't wash well with the online gamers.
 
I'm still looking forward to Clubs, strangely. It's always been 'fun', just never realistic in the way we'd like.

Am I crazy?
 
I don't understand how people are struggling to defend, or get to grips with the new system. The tutorial makes it pretty obvious and IMO, simple. If the ball is close to your defenders leg while the opposition has it, press the A button (or whatever it is). Simples. If you're not in the right area, he'll stick his leg out and won't connect with the ball. So you try again or just press the B button to slide and hack them down. Then you've got X to pull and shoulder barge and holding the triggers or A down will contain the opposition player.

I haven't found it difficult at all. I'm maybe doing something wrong...

If all else fails, simply switch back to Legacy Defending in the settings, which is the same as Fifa 11. Obviously ranked online matches have a mandatory Tactical Defending setting, though.

As for the game itself, I'm enjoying it. I'm playing on World Class, as a few folk have claimed that's the best setting for playing the AI, as they will tend to make mistakes whereas on Legendary they will do everything almost perfectly. I've definitely noticed the opposition giving the ball away and knocking it out of play on a few occasions. Very refreshing.

It certainly seems more difficult trying to keep possession and working space to strike the ball. Well, I say that, but the AI do give you room to work. It's getting into shooting positions and getting the shot away that I'm finding harder. Infact, the only goals I've score in the games I played were from a corner with a header, and playing a lovely chipped through ball in behind the defence, which Aguero ran onto, holding off the chasing defender, before drilling it low into the bottom corner. I like the strength thing, too. I could power forward with Yaya Toure and once he picks up pace he's really difficult to stop. Ibrahimovic is great for Milan, too. Very strong on the ball and if you use precision dribbling you can hold off the opposition players. Didn't like playing as City but was just keen to use their attacking qualities. Gotze and Barrios are lethal for Dortmund. Got stung a few times playing them.

Can't wait to play as Spurs, though. For me, that seperates a good demo from a great game. Fifa 11 demo was decent enough, but finally getting the full game with all the features unlocked seems to open up a whole new world. Much better, so that's what I'm looking forward to more than anything.

As it stands though, very pleased at the moment.
 
Scutch said:
I don't understand how people are struggling to defend, or get to grips with the new system. The tutorial makes it pretty obvious and IMO, simple. If the ball is close to your defenders leg while the opposition has it, press the A button (or whatever it is). Simples. If you're not in the right area, he'll stick his leg out and won't connect with the ball. So you try again or just press the B button to slide and hack them down. Then you've got X to pull and shoulder barge and holding the triggers or A down will contain the opposition player.

I haven't found it difficult at all. I'm maybe doing something wrong...

If all else fails, simply switch back to Legacy Defending in the settings, which is the same as Fifa 11. Obviously ranked online matches have a mandatory Tactical Defending setting, though.

As for the game itself, I'm enjoying it. I'm playing on World Class, as a few folk have claimed that's the best setting for playing the AI, as they will tend to make mistakes whereas on Legendary they will do everything almost perfectly. I've definitely noticed the opposition giving the ball away and knocking it out of play on a few occasions. Very refreshing.

It certainly seems more difficult trying to keep possession and working space to strike the ball. Well, I say that, but the AI do give you room to work. It's getting into shooting positions and getting the shot away that I'm finding harder. Infact, the only goals I've score in the games I played were from a corner with a header, and playing a lovely chipped through ball in behind the defence, which Aguero ran onto, holding off the chasing defender, before drilling it low into the bottom corner. I like the strength thing, too. I could power forward with Yaya Toure and once he picks up pace he's really difficult to stop. Ibrahimovic is great for Milan, too. Very strong on the ball and if you use precision dribbling you can hold off the opposition players. Didn't like playing as City but was just keen to use their attacking qualities. Gotze and Barrios are lethal for Dortmund. Got stung a few times playing them.

Can't wait to play as Spurs, though. For me, that seperates a good demo from a great game. Fifa 11 demo was decent enough, but finally getting the full game with all the features unlocked seems to open up a whole new world. Much better, so that's what I'm looking forward to more than anything.

As it stands though, very pleased at the moment.
Click to expand...

Pretty much how I feel at the minute.
 
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.

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.
Click to expand...

What format are you playing on? I've played about 10 games now of the PC version and not really expienced any of what you've described. The pace is slower than Fifa 11, AI generally stands off and makes timed tackles rather than running in to you full pelt like in Fifa 11. I only conceded 2 headed goals, and scored one myself.
 
I've not conceded any headed goals yet. Most of them seem to be really nice finishes off into the bottom corners. Remy scored a belter penalty past me for OM, smashing it in off the post. Like I say though, I'm doing pretty well against the better teams (stats wise), but Dortmund can literally rip you apart with Gotze and certainly Barrios, who hit a hat-trick against me in one game.
 
My first impression, hmm..
Awesome game, to say the least, It's difficult to defend, some errors against Barca especially with Messi & Sanchez, but on the whole I'm coping well. I'm downloading Konami's second demo, and I'll decide which one to buy. Most probably this year I'll opt for FIFA. Bye Bye PES...
 
DagsJT said:
Who said anything about flying in? Trying to stand off with LT, then having to chase with RT, whilst thinking you'll try to double up on that player so you then need to hold RB, and then you get close enough that you want to try and pull the player so try to press X as well.

Overly complicated for the sake of it. Sometimes you do, you know, actually want to make a tackle rather than stand off the player. Can't remember the last match I watched on TV where teams just stood off attackers and didn't put in a tackle because they were waiting for a mistake.

As a comparison, and I hate to bring it up, but I've got no problem with the defending on PES 2012. I love the new defending system and jockeying is fine, and when I want to tackle I just let go of the jockey button and he tackles. Far simpler and more effective than FIFA's crazy fingers defending.
Click to expand...

I find I have the best of both worlds with defending. I can "contain" but also just move my man myself and get close to the player and tackle whenever I want. Not always successfully as it needs timing and I for one am happy with that. I don't find it complicated at all tbh. I'm not good at it yet but I liek what they've done.
Where this new system will come into it's own is online v double pressure bellends. They can't do it anymore. They can obviously still tackle me but at least they can't just home in on me and barge me over anymore.
 
PU6HY said:
Where this new system will come into it's own is online v double pressure bellends. They can't do it anymore. They can obviously still tackle me but at least they can't just home in on me and barge me over anymore.
Click to expand...

This. It's going to be a brilliant change for human games and it'll show up a lot of the kids online who just relied on the old system, they'll get ripped apart now :D
 
I think the easiest way i can put it when playing the A.I:

It feels like playing another human who is on all assisted and ping pongs it up the field whilst you are on sluggish manual. Infuriating.
 
By the way for those who haven't noticed it, you may play as a goalkeeper in the Arena :)
 
Scutch said:
I don't understand how people are struggling to defend, or get to grips with the new system. The tutorial makes it pretty obvious and IMO, simple. If the ball is close to your defenders leg while the opposition has it, press the A button (or whatever it is). Simples. If you're not in the right area, he'll stick his leg out and won't connect with the ball. So you try again or just press the B button to slide and hack them down. Then you've got X to pull and shoulder barge and holding the triggers or A down will contain the opposition player.
Click to expand...

Well problem for me is my CPU team mate pressure:

Player controlled by me starts closing down the defender with sprinting, when i catch up i release sprint and start to pressure with X, while i pressure i have to execute tackle on A, ok thats doable.. i can even easily start sprint if he start a burst run away from me. But i cant sprint and make team mate pressure at same time.. i cant hold two tab buttons at once...

Where do i fit team mate pressure, when i have to worry about contaiment,tackle, sprint...

So if i want to defend myself and apply team mate CPU pressure i have to use:

X,A, and two tab buttons... its quite hard for me.. maybe im just too used to PES.. ill try to play more games today.

Legacy defending is a breeze tho..

I play PES on top player so im not a complete noob..
its not that my hands are from my ass :) But tactical defending seems... awkward!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom