Fifa 12 News Thread (No Discussion)

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Finally PC users can kick back 'n' relax! PC Fifa has finally been given equal treatment just like its PS3 and 360 sisters. Here's the proof:


Electronic Arts announced today that EA SPORTS has developed the Player Impact Engine for FIFA 12 on PC, delivering a new physics engine, and the award-winning gameplay and features to PC fans around the world. For the first time ever, FIFA 12 on PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system, and PC will have the identical game engine and feature set when the game launches September 27 in North America and September 30 worldwide.

"This is the moment all PC gamers have been waiting for, as they are finally going to fully experience the award-winning FIFA gameplay on their preferred platform," said Kaz Makita, Executive Producer of FIFA 12. "PC fans are going to enjoy the highest quality gameplay, deepest game modes and truest graphics ever developed for the platform, including our new live service EA SPORTS Football Club."

FIFA 12 on PC brings to the pitch the game-changing new Player Impact Engine that delivers real-world physicality in every interaction on the pitch. Fans will experience the way real-world players challenge each other for the ball, win possession and test each other physically. Enjoy an infinite variety of natural and believable outcomes in every collision. Players feel more resilient, push and pull during the fight for possession, and recover from light challenges more easily.

Revolutionary gameplay innovations make FIFA 12 deeper and more engaging. All-new Precision Dribbling creates a higher fidelity of touch on the ball for better control in tight spaces, more time to make decisions on attack, and more control over the pace of the game. Innovations in attack are balanced by a re-designed defending mechanism, making it as skilful and meaningful as the real-world game. With all-new Tactical Defending, positioning and intercepting passes are as important as tackling. Tactics and timing are crucial. Plus, CPU players have been infused with Pro Player Intelligence, a self-awareness that enables them to behave and make decisions based on their own skills and tendencies, and gives them the aptitude to understand the strengths and weaknesses of teammates in every situation.

EA SPORTS Football Club—the heartbeat of FIFA 12—is a live service at no additional cost, connecting players to the real-world game with fresh, new content all the time, enabling them to support their favourite club and connect and compete with their friends, rivals and millions of other players around the world.

Transformed to look and feel fresh and new from pre-match to final whistle, FIFA 12 delivers an all-new Career Mode driven by the storylines from the real-world sport, an authentic match day experience, faster and easier navigation with a brand new menu system, and more than 500 officially licensed clubs. To pre-order FIFA 12 visit http://www.easportsfootball.com.

For the latest news on FIFA 12 join more than six million fans in the EA SPORTS FIFA community at http://www.facebook.com/easportsfifa or follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/easportsfifa.

FIFA 12 will be available in stores September 27 in North America and September 30 worldwide for the PlayStation®3, Xbox 360®, PC, Wii™, PC, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, Nintendo 3DS™, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, iPhone®, iPad™, and iPod® touch. The game will also be available for digital download on PC at origin.com. Additional feature details will be revealed in the months ahead.The game has not yet been rated. Screenshots are available at http://info.ea.com and on the EA SPORTS FIFA Flickr channel.
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Thanks Cesc Fabregas!
 
Fifa 12 will have 2 sets of English commentary to choose from! I believe this is a first in football gaming history. The more variety the better.

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Thanks Scorpio

Correction: Apparently something similar happened in Fifa 99, according to member Placebo.
 
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More on the Fifa 12 commentary,

Alan Smith replaces Gray as FIFA 12 colour commentator

EA has announced this morning that Sky Sports colour commentator Alan Smith will become the new co-commentator for FIFA 12 alongside his Sky colleague Martin Tyler.

Smith replaces ex-Sky Sports commentator and pundit Andy Gray, who was sacked from the company after sexist remarks earlier this year.

EA remained quiet at the time of his sacking over if he’d return for this year’s game. Here’s the answer; it’s no.

“The natural chemistry that Martin and I have developed working live matches for TV has transferred very well to the virtual broadcast booth,” said Smith.

“I’m really looking forward to FIFA fans hearing our work this fall as we bring all the match day emotion and excitement to this year’s game.”

A second commentary team that consists of Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend of ITV will call tournament matches in the game.

FIFA 12 releases on September 30 in Europe.
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Thanks jaygrim
 
FIFA 12 pre-order swag detailed

Those willing to stump up for a FIFA 12 pre-order will net themselves some complimentary Ultimate Team packs, EA has announced.

Commit to the PS3 or Xbox 360 version of FIFA 12: Ultimate Edition through GAME or Gamestation and you'll receive 24 FIFA 12 Ultimate Team Gold packs (four per month for six months) for use in this year's edition of Ultimate Team.

If you instead plump for FIFA 12: Special Edition from any other UK retailer you'll get 18 FIFA 12 Ultimate Team Gold packs (three per month for six months).

FIFA 12 launches on 30th September, with FIFA 12 Ultimate Team following in October.
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Thanks jaygrim
 
New Fifa 12 screens emerged. Some CM pics in there as well :D Thanks Cesc Fabregas for posting them here!

Now all pictures in full size ;)
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FIFA 12: Turning Defending Into an Art Form

"You're now getting twice the game for your money," says FIFA producer David Rutter.
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Thanks lothario
 
FIFA 12: A closer look with EA’s David Rutter

FIFA is back and this year’s version is without a doubt the best yet, as we can testify to after going hands on for a whole day last week. There are changes aplenty, all of which enhance the game and make for the most realistic experience yet, which after playing last year’s excellent title, proves that EA Sports is not resting on its laurels.

Starting from the menu’s the changes begin immediately. One of my criticisms of past FIFA games was that there was just so many options that the menu system became complicated and quite hard to navigate, however Lead Producer David Rutter explained to us that this is one area in which the development team looked to improve.

“We’ve changed the user interface menus and now have a faster navigation bar which everyone seems to love, so I’m happy about that. We’ve also tried to help streamline things with a new quick access substitute menu, where you press the Y button and can flick between the players rather than having to scroll up and down.” What this means is that you no longer have to pause the game to make a substitute, making things flow a lot better.

One of the other areas changed is in the look of the game, when a match begins you would honestly be forgiven for thinking you were watching Sky Sports; all of the on screen graphics and atmosphere that you would expect from a live broadcast is present, and this is something that EA Sports have been extremely determined to replicate.

Every year when a new FIFA game is released it’s generally tough to spot at first glance what has actually changed, as Rutter explains though, this year you should notice the changes almost immediately.

“A lot of people feel that there are generally not a lot of changes to the look of the game, but it’s massively different. We have changed all the lighting, done a lot of work on the player heads and have also dropped the camera down, which gives a lot more depth to the pitch and allows you to see the scale of the game.”

“It’s obviously frustrating for myself and the Art Director that people say things don’t look a lot different, however when you put this game side by side with last year’s they are a lot different.”

I have to say that the change to the camera is a welcome one in my opinion, it really does give you a better sense of players positions and the space around you. This comes in particularly handy with the new sense of control you have over players. Pressing the left shoulder button allows you to slow your player down, however in turn it gives you more control, allowing you to turn sharply on the spot, which is very useful for opening up space or shaking off an opposing player. This is probably one of the biggest changes in terms of gameplay, however it’s a good one and once you get use to it, you will wonder how you ever managed to play without it.

Everything on the pitch just feels a lot more streamline and tighter. The defensive qualities of players have improved significantly, making passing the ball essential. There is literally no way you will be able to cut through the opposition without using some sort of skill or by opening them up with a killer pass. This is the way football should be and with each passing year EA seems to be closing the gap between video game and reality.

Away from the pitch and back to the menus, one of the modes which David Rutter went into great detail about on our visit was the improved career mode, which was first introduced last year. Rutter told us that “a lot of the work done this year was around the management side.”

“Career mode allows you to play as a Manager, Player Manager or Player. As the Manager you can buy and sell players, manage the squad, scout for youth players, as well as dealing with the aspects of other clubs bidding for your players or the players you want to buy.” To me it seemed like a FIFA version of Football Manager, to which Rutter responded that it was “very similar, although not quite as in depth.”

Career Mode certainly seems like it will be a popular mode, it supports all leagues and looks very polished and innovative. Anything you do is career mode is linked to what happens in the game. An example we were shown was that a player was returning from injury and the manager had to decide whether to play him in the next game or not, the press picked up on this, showing headlines stating the manager was taking a risk, then when the game was done and won, the headlines showed how the risk paid off. This is just one example of how things link though, for example, if a player is out of contract you will have other teams bid, which in turn will make player negotiations more aggressive as they try for a better deal should you be trying to negotiate a new contract.

There are just so many changes to FIFA 12 that we could only scratch the surface in the time we had with the game. Being a huge football fan it seems to me that EA are trying to cater for everyone, no matter what team you choose and this is no more evident than in the Career Mode which has online league tables for each team involved.

It’s very impressive seeing how well each team is doing based on the players who have chosen them as a favorite. If, for example, you choose Barcelona as your team, each time you or anyone else who has chosen this team wins or loses a game it will affect Barcelona’s overall online ranking, and with real life stats and scenarios also being pulled into the game, this will affect whether your team reaches the top of the league or props up the bottom. This just seems like a fantastic way to keep people playing the game and we are really excited to see more.

So what of the online modes? Unfortunately Rutter would not be drawn into this, only saying that this is something which will be revealed later this year, although he did promise that it’ll be a “massive package” and that it’s something the team are very excited about.

We love football and after playing FIFA 12 it’s been very difficult to go back and play the previous game in the series. Before we left for EA’s studio we thought FIFA 11 was the best football game we had ever played, but after testing out the next game in the series we realise just how far things have more on.
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Thanks jaygrim
 
Rodelero's Fifa 12 impressions are here! Read below:


I know some do read the official forums, but for those who don't, here's a copy of my impressions.
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So for those who didn't know, on July the 11th a small group got to go to Guildford to playtest FIFA 12's career mode and gameplay. We had opportunity to play the PC, PS3, and 360 games, with almost any team in the game, and were given freedom to alter the assistance and gameplay options. The build we were playing with was a few weeks older than the builds we'd played before (we'd actually played Career mode at the same time as the last test but this was embargoed), so there is a fair amount of new information. I won't go over stuff which hasn't changed unless I feel it is particularly warranted, so my previous gameplay hands on is here: <a href="http://forum.ea.com/uk/posts/list/711510.page">click here.</a>

I'd like to once again thank EA for their hospitality and time. This time around David Rutter (line producer) and Ian Jarvis (PC) were present, so it gave us some opportunity to discuss things directly with people at the head of FIFA. Hopefully then, things we passed on will get listened to. In terms of getting feedback regarding gameplay and career mode passed on, I think we did pretty well. The ball is certainly in EA's court with that one and I feel that we represented this communities' feelings pretty well.

DISCLAIMER: Everything played is from an alpha build from mid June of FIFA 12. There is no certainty that things in the build I played will be in the demo and final build, though will try to estimate how I feel things will turn out in the end, as that is really what matters.

Gameplay

It's safe to say that I wasn't overwhelmed with the gameplay on display last time. Aside from a host of bugs and glitches, I didn't feel that some of the new additions quite hit home, but more importantly far too many things which were problematic in FIFA 11 were still present in all their glory. Unfortunately (and perhaps not surprisingly) not a huge amount has changed since then. Polish has generally improved considerably and there is still a long way to go with that.

Impact Engine
In June I left fearing somewhat that the Impact Engine could well release as a badly buggy addition - there were considerable problems with glitchy interactions, and occasionally shocking refereeing decisions. The improvement over the last couple of weeks (a lot of the glitchiness had been eradicated) renews my confidence and while there were still some odd refereeing decisions it looks well on track. The only major concern with this is that the off the ball collisions are still happening all over the place. The potential exploitability of this in OTP/Clubs is tremendous, so EA really need to come up with a solution to this fast. Ideally we need to move to a situation where players who are off the ball don't try to stand strong against eachother - and rather brush past eachother.

Flair Passing
Unfortunately, the biggest change between June and July was something I cannot praise at all. The new flair passing, activated by the left trigger and the various pass buttons, causes your player to do the same kind of skill type passes that used to happen with only players with the flair trait, in specific contexts, and with not a huge degree of predictability. The new flair passing on the other hand has almost no restrictions whatsoever. Any player, any context, immediate and ridiculous flair passes, with seemingly similar accuracy as normal passes. It sounds like this is caused by a bug - I suspect it's meant to be only for players with the correct traits, but even so, I really don't want to see half the Barcelona team doing this stuff for every pass, and that's what this will turn into. The error needs to be tuned up even for the best players. I should feel that a flair pass is risky, regardless of who it is with - the advantage is one of style, or, one of fooling your opponent, and that needs to be balanced. These are things which happen a few times a match with the creme de le creme - it must not be every pass.

It is not just that it seems to be completely unaffected by error, or the player doing it, there is also something deeply questionable by design. The left trigger is used for far too many things for it to be a modifier like this - for anyone trying to an intricate pass and move game, the left trigger is critical. It acts as the trap/turn button, so that as you get the ball you turn on it without moving, and the slow movement modifier. It's therefore very difficult to be letting go of LT as you pass when you don't want to do a flair pass (which would always be most of the time). I don't see the point of it. It seems to be put in there to please those who want to replicate the antics of Hjerpseth et al. but even if they radically reduce the ability for lesser players to do this, I feel the use of the left trigger button is really naive, especially given that for direct/through passes the RB button is spare. The left trigger button is also used to indicate you want to volley, and that seems fine from the small number of times I tried using it. It's really quite good to finally be able to remove the ambiguity of whether you want to volley or head.

AI, Passing, Movement
The problems I outlined in my original hands on with AI, passing, and movement mechanics remain, so make sure to read/reread as appropriate if interested in those areas. However, David Rutter did enlighten us somewhat in regards to AI. Firstly, we had ample opportunity to make our feelings about the AI's hyper-reaction and almost mind-reading like ability to David Rutter, so hopefully that will get listened to. If it isn't, however much career mode comes on this year, it will be let down entirely by the unrealistic, personalityless and dull AI which simply feels like it's not playing the same game to you.

In terms of the defensive and attacking team AI, David Rutter informed us that this is one of the absolute last things which they dial in, so hopefully it will be improved quite a lot before release. I still think it's a bit concerning that EA aren't doing this at an earlier stage - it's not like the AI has been a strong suit over the last few years (FIFA 12's AI currently is pretty much FIFA 11's afterall), but given that we have a pretty solid promise that there will be considerable change in this area, we just have to trust that and hope.

Vision AI is still more or less invisible, perhaps this is something which isn't properly tooled into the game at this stage, but as one of EA's bigger gameplay announcements it is fairly disappointing to not really sense this on the ball or off it. I am still not entirely sure whether Vision AI is actually intended to have an effect on the controlled player, but I'll hopefully find the answer out to this soon. Certainly, if it doesn't, I'd be fairly disapponted as at the very least I expected this to eradicate some of the 180 degree pass accuracy that still plagues FIFA. So far, I don't sense it, and, I'm not sure I'd notice Vision AI had I not been told to look for it.

Sliders
Sliders are indeed going to make their appearance in the game for FIFA 12, which will please a lot of people. On the face of it a lot of the things which I feel are somewhat wrong with FIFA do have sliders so you can fiddle with them. I suspect that this area of the game may see some quite big shakeups before release and now, as they do feel unfinished to a large extent. I do have some concerns though, first, as a matter of usability, it feels quite clumsy. There are a good 20 or so sliders, from error sliders and speed sliders to power bar charge speeds and acceleration, but none of these have any reference to them. You have a bar with maybe 50 settings on them, with the default stuck directly in the middle. The sliders at the moment have such considerable play in them, and it's difficult to guess what the effect of the sliders will be (with some it's not obvious which direction on the bar will correlate with an increase/decrease in the effect too). You can set each slider differently for the user and the AI - but unfortunately these are done on two seperate menu with no 'mirror' function, so it's awkward to replicate the settings for both you and the CPU.

Unfortunately at this moment, these sliders are not going to realise the dream of allowing one to fix FIFA or make it more realistic. The sliders do not give you enough control over enough areas to affect things in the way you'd want. For example, if I wanted to alter the passing error, I can only increase/decrease the amount of error. I have no way of dictating what is causing the error, or how that error is represented, and thus if I try to increase the directional error on the passes as I believe should happen, what it tends to mean is that passes become more lethargic and more bouncy long before you get the desired directional effect. There are some tweaks and touches you'd be able to improve, but it's minimal so far, and currently I feel that a lot more thought will have to be put into how these sliders work (or, a massive increase in the sliders available) if they are going to supply the potential for a simulation. I'm also slightly worried that there are a few different sliders right now which affect things like defensive AI (line depth, width, full back positioning and so on). These feel like they should not be gameplay sliders so much as tactical settings. At the moment, these will be things you can use to improve FIFA a smidgeon here and a smidgeon there. They will not open up the possibilities some have hoped for in terms of setting trading to perfect a simulation of the game.

Some of what these revealed was also quite worrying. The passing error slider only affects ground passes, and the shooting error slider does not affect finesse shots. This not only means that the two areas which are probably most wrong (lobbed passes and finesse shots) are not slider-alterable, but it perhaps also implies that the way error is handled on these works in a different way to how it is for normal shots/passes. As both finesse shots and long passes/lobbed through balls are far too accurate, that perhaps is reason. The simple question of why 180 degree clearances with the long pass button seem to land at the strikers feet every time may be answered very simply by that: there is (basically) no contextual error on long passes and chipped through balls.

Shooting
Ball physics are generally really good, though finesse shots are still the clear exception, and shooting has a good ping to it. The goalkeepers still having over-the-top reaction times means that far too many unstoppable shots get saved with far too much predictability - and I'd still suggest that AI move to reduce shooting accuracy (in particular for assisted/semi) while at the same time reducing goalkeeper reaction, to keep the goal scoring in balance while hopefully radically increasing the enjoyability and variety of goals (as well as having the nice side effect of balancing the assisted-semi-manual issue).

Heading feels good, but still deeply flawed by the fact that it seems that just one player on each team is allocated to go for the ball, and this could well mean that heading will be overpowered again (and I think crossing is still looking quite over-accurate, there are still remarkably few occasions of crosses going long, and they all too often seem to be perfectly aimed onto the attackers head. It still feels preordained, and out of your control. The winner of the header is usually dictated primarily by the luck of which defensive player is picked to head the ball. A striker surrounded by four defenders seems no less likely to win the header than one who is marked by just one, such is the problem with this one on one system.

Tactical Defending
The new defensive system could still do with a little work in terms of its intuitiveness, but I think people will grasp it within time. I hope that by FIFA 13 they will manage to remove the contain system too, but until they make considerable alterations to the way the CPU AI reactions work and to the player weight/momentum/inertia, it would probably be somewhat disastrous. The system thus far just doesn't quite feel natural, but it's a big step in the right direction, and worlds better than the pressure fest of FIFA 11, even if it is still a long way from being perfected. Frankly, I still think it could feel better if they swapped the buttons around a bit. Having the tackle button as X/A, contain as R1/RB, and secondary contain as B or O, would be an easy way of removing a part of the learning curve. It is a pity, but EA seem to have once again caved to the fear of a casual revolt by putting an assistance option to revert back to the old defending style. Online I suspect this will be forced off, like with pro passing assistance, but it's another sign of EA not having the confidence to push people to try something new which takes time to get used to on the grounds that it's better.

and finally
Tactical and strategic setup is still a real weakpoint, but is patently something which will have to be for FIFA 13 at the earliest - nothing has really changed in this area, so the sluggish and clumsy tactical side of FIFA, which should really be at the heart of the gameplay, still remains one of its weakest areas. Having said that, there is a small but nice addition here where, instead of swapping players on and off the bench by scrolling up and down endlessly, you can press triangle/Y on the player you want to swap out, and then you can press left/right (which brings up a compare) to show alternative players to put in that spot. Really neat, and definitely saves a lot of time.

At the end of my last hands on I listed a bulleted list of what I thought needed to be changed, though the game has improved since last test, the list remains identical to previously, with one big addition, and one small.

Priority Changes which need to be addressed

• Flair passing – so arcadey
• Defensive AI – simply gamebreaking
• Attacking AI – lacks of variety
• CPU AI Psychic Nature –severely damaging to single player
• Momentum/Inertia/Touch –key issue in FIFA’s lack of realism
• Passing – lethargic when it should be simple, still far too possible to make ridiculous passes

Other Issues

• On-the-ball movement penalty needs to be decreased
• Heading needs to be less of a 1 on 1 event
• Shooting accuracy needs to be decreased
• Goalkeeper reaction speeds need to be decreased
• Some work really needs to be done to long pass and finesse shot accuracy
 
Rodelero's Fifa 12 impressions cont.:


Career Mode
We were able to play career mode and though no-one got hugely far into it, between the two days I've had time to play CM I feel quite positive about what I've seen. The consensus amongst the group was that, while FIFA 11's CM was severely below satisfactory, the new attempt is more than passable. It's not FIFA's strongest point, but it's certainly not its weakest anymore, and in fact I feel that the gameplay is probably letting CM down more than the mechanics specific to CM. I'm not a massive CM buff (as simply put the last few efforts have kept me from getting interested in it), so I won't go into too much depth.

For the first year in a while, I could actually envisage playing this years CM, at least, if the CPU AI gets to the point where I could enjoy playing against it long term. The new interface is mostly really smooth, but let down badly in some specific areas. The email screen is as boring as you could imagine and could really do with some optimisation, as far too much time is spent going in and out of messages and the email itself. The way news stories are represented though is excellent, and, assuming that the stories do not become repetitive, they should make sure that you feel part of a football world, rather than slogging through match after monotonous match. The commentary is at its absolute best here too - the new commentary team(s) seem to have quite a lot of lines which refer to how the career is going, and it benefits quite a lot from an increased attention to man management, as players will make their feelings known to you regarding your management and their position in the squad.

Form and morale return, and player stats have been made massively easier to interpret and compare as they are now colour coded. The new 'squad report' screen allows a much more in depth look at each player, all his attributes shown on one page, and on another page it details his current form, morale, and how he's doing on the pitch. It's a huge pity that this way of showing all stats on one page has not been replicated across the game, and most of the time you are looking at player stats, it is still a case of scrolling through many pages. FIFA is still a game which struggles when it comes to screen space management, and slow menus - a lot of space is still not used around the edge of the screen, and FIFA is in desperate need of a better way of quickly showing you a players stats. The hexagon/pentagon based representation which is used in PES, is something it could definitely do with, and this is something which has been passed on, so hopefully next year it shall be there.

The transfer/loan system has been improved, with you now being able to offer to loan players who aren't listed as loanable, and, being able to stall on decisions. Unfortunately there is still no option to offer players + cash, nor player swaps, and you cannot demand a particular price from clubs who are looking to buy either. A lot of work has surrounded transfer deadline day which is presented wonderfully, and now allows you to go hour by hour to make some last minute deals, and it's great to see so many visual touches similar to real world transfer deadline day on the TV (like the player in/player out for each club which rotates throughout the day).

The youth scouting function will be your way of getting in on new players, and the youth players you find will be randomly generated. You can select a region to scout in and specify what type of player you want to search for, and you can have up to three scouts at the same time. Every so often the scouts will come up with some suggestions of players you can pick, who can be as young as 14, who will then join your youth academy. You get an estimate of their overall, and over time you start getting estimates of their statistics, which hone in over time as you get the decision of whether to take them on or ditch them. There is no normal scouting system however (though there is still the scout picks on the transfer search), and hopefully this is something they'll look into for next year.

The biggest let down right now is certainly the sluggishness. The amount of time it takes to fiddle with your formation, to receive bids, to go through the days (especially in the transfer window) is frustrating, and simming games is as minimal as it could possibly be still.

But what FIFA 12 represents is a satisfactory manager mode. One which, in itself, is enjoyable, and lively enough to make it feel like more than a series of games against the CPU. When it comes to the enjoyability of CM, I feel that the CPU AI is more likely to be a problem than the mode itself, which is solidly made though there is still a lot further to go. It does give me a lot of confidence in next years version too - EA are on the right track and from a couple of conference calls with Humber and others on the CM team, I think FIFA 13 could have a very good career mode indeed. CM will not be the gem in FIFA 12's achievements, nor is it the quality of Football Manager, but it's getting there.

Conclusion
There is still time for FIFA 12 to go from being a game which is better than FIFA 11 to being a really great football sim. The career mode is coming along nicely, and even though there is simply no way it's going to be 'great' this year, it's looking that it may well manage to be 'good'. The gameplay problems are primarily AI based, so hopefully the AI will improve once they start working on it towards the end of the cycle. It's always difficult to estimate how much people will like something, but I'll give it a go, splitting it dependent on how people feel about FIFA 11:

Someone who is still enjoying FIFA 11
Will find that the game they like has improved, but not in any drastic way. It's still FIFA, but hopefully some of the frustrations have been removed, and hopefully the new defensive system will revolutionise the way people have to play in defence. The precision dribbling and impact engine will likely give you a lot of extra fun.

Someone who is finding FIFA 11 frustrating
Is likely to still find some of their frustrations in FIFA 12 - some have gone, but many remain. The newness of the title may give a few months of joy, but after that I suspect it will be back to feeling the frustration.

Someone who is teetering between FIFA11 & PES 2011
May well find that another year of slow change in key areas is a bit of a last straw

Someone who prefers PES 2011 to FIFA 11
Likely to not have their mind changed a huge amount. Still lacks in key areas

So that's it really - some may find this pretty depressing, but it's only an estimate from an eternal pessimist. Naturally I'll be happy to answer questions as best I can, on career mode, and gameplay, and I'll make sure to add anything I've forgotten to the thread if I remember. I'm not really into discussing boots and hair though, so you know.
 
Nick's Career Mode (CM) playtest is here!

Career Mode 12 July build test..

As I made my mammoth 5 1/2hr drive to Guildford, thanks to the damn traffic leaving Silverstone and the hell that is the M1/M25. I was feeling a little nervous as I sat there getting intimate with the back end of a VW camper in the outside lane of a sweaty M1. The May test had been a little flat culminating with a conference call to Vancouver and a chat to Simon Humber and the team, where we all agreed the CM, as it is now was a 3-4/10. Repetitive, dull, we all know the problems and issues with the game, as for the may build, we begrudgingly gave it a 5-6 and came away with a swathe of gripes and moans.

After playing that May build the first thing that hit me was that the core model still remains the same. Now those that play the CM with the same religious zeal as myself, will know this is one of the main issues with the mode. Anyone playing PES11's ML and having become used to the fluid and intuitive way the whole team tactic's and selection works, will feel they have stepped back in time when confronted with that small green rectangle of unruly and inflexible dots. This and the fact the same basic split screen set up still prevails, instantly gave me that, "here we go again," feeling..

So this is no ground up rebuild, the only thing to remind you you're not playing 11 as you create your new CM, is the fact the main screens and menus have grown up. These are now far sharper and easier to navigate, the main options also remain; Player, Manager and Player Manager.

Given the restricted time (I did, as always asked to home test a disk, I got the usual “yeah right” look) I chose straight Manager Mode..

Once through the familiar menus of board level selection and your objectives, along with signing on the bottom line, you are greeted with the main screen. This at first glance all looks very familiar but on second glance, you'll find it’s sharper and far more colourful. Club logos and colours are used throughout and the main news screens in the centre now have far more to them. They are now split into 4 sections, Breaking, World, Club and Transfer. These can be accessed and shuffled through via the shoulder buttons. You can as before select the news item you want or let the game slip through the three or four shown on each page and even go into more depth by expanding on some of the stories..

Your next two games are shown in the bottom left and the familiar league and player table alternates on the right. Here again the club crests are in use and there are nice subtle touches, such as the colour separation on the league table showing the play –off and promotion places. One of the things we asked for from 10.. Tick..

Advancing also brings down a drop window showing your next calendar week, this has also had some polish to and now gives you up to four days before a game to talk to the press. This is all new in 12 and gives you the chance pre game to gee up your team or a player; you can also even try to unnerve the opponent’s manager or comment on one of their players..

During your CM you will be greeted by pop up windows from time to time, with messages from players and staff, these could be anything from a players demands for more game time or letting you know his legs just can’t take the pace anymore and he’s calling time on his career. As you will find, the game is far more proactive this time around. In our pre play presentation from the man himself, Mr D Rutter, he claimed “the game will throw you curve balls this year.” Now that I’m looking forward to..

Squad Report...

There are lots of familiar menus and tables here and I’ll skip the familiar and dive right into the juicy bits. First on the list is Squad Report, this replaces the growth menu and shows you everything you need to know about your teams players and how they are growing, or not as the case may be. This was one of my favourite screens in the revamped mode and shows promise for the future, showing all your players stats on one screen as well as their record in all competitions on the next. This gives you all the goals, appearances and infractions including for once, a grand total. Which due to the menu and screen hungry set up, in the talkSPORT or Sky menu options elsewhere in the game, made it impossible to compare your player overall..

The whole growth system has been overhauled (much to the joy of many a CM’er) and just like other features which could and do effect your team or players, the development team are keeping the way these are quantified very close to their chests. An obvious addition here would have been some form of training or defined development but that will have to wait for 13..

We broke for lunch and a chance to get together, especially the Game changers’. This was a chance to give our immediate feedback and issues, such as the strange introduction of the L2 skill spam, which had Burton’s keeper, Kevin Poole, out tricking Ronaldo on a good day. David Rutter was also there for those wishing to obtain interviews or just bend the big mans ear..

Transvision vamp...

Next we come to the re vamped Transfer section, again at first glance all will look very familiar, the menu list has had a slight adjustment but apart from a trebling of your returned searches to 150 nothing seems vastly altered. The main changes come in the very welcomed addition of an unrestricted loan system, a blessing to us lower league managers, who come to rely on them. And given the vastly improved injury and recovery system, more players may find a quick loan signing could plug those holes left by a busy Physio’s table..

We were also happy to hear the glitches from 11, making the resigning or purchasing of existing loans impossible, have also been addressed, as well as now having the option to take out a first refusal option on the player you are loaning. Unfortunately given the limited play time I was unable to really test the changes out and things like part exchanges are still missing, but a nice touch is the last search parameters you use are saved and the players stats, now being colour coded are easier to compare. Hitting R3 now gives you the option to scroll up and down through all the other listed players and compare him to your selected transfer target..

One new big change that everyone loved in the test is the Transfer Deadline Day feature, where the last day is played out TV style. With plenty of media reports and stories, as well as a running total of the money changing a hands and a list of all the transfers. This now gives you the time to make that last minute splurge or tie up that drawn out star signing. You can now even stall on a signing to give you time to unnerve the other club, tie up other deals or free up funds..


Young Guns...

All new is the Youth Scout system. Here you can hire up to three scouts to search differing continents for the best youth players available. The scouts are of differing value levels and set up their networks to find the best young (as young as 14) talent they can. You then get the choice to take on the more hopeful kids and then glean more information on their stats in your academy, before you make the decision to bring them into your first squad..

Movers and shakers...

Another new feature is Squad Ranking; this is a hit list of your players showing those improving and those dropping faster than a Barcelona forward. All your players are shown in descending order and the listings are Rank, Position, Overall, Form and Played. To the side you get a little reminder screen of your top ranking player and it’s a nice way to instantly spot an under achiever or a rising star..

I have to add here how impressed everyone I spoke to was, with the PC version of the game. I never got more than a 1v1 on there but it did look very pretty. The jump in the CM on the PC will be the kind of leap the jump from 10-11 on the console’s should have been.

Break a leg son...

We then come to a personal Hail Mary moment, the new Injury List. Four years of bleating on about the lack of any real injury implementation in the mode has finally paid off. The great new Impact Engine now makes real time injuries’ a reality and things like anterior cruciate ligament damage and Metatarsal Fracture’s are abound. Not only that but rushing a player back can, as does often happen, lead to more long term damage or a connected injury. Your Physio will keep you informed on your player’s treatment and sometimes the player himself may come back to you saying he feels happy to return..

Up a bit...

The last major new inclusion was the much alluded to sliders. These are available to tweak certain parts of the games mechanics for both the User and CPU players and teams. These cover things from sprint speed and pass error, to defensive line height or
injury frequency or severity. This will allow for almost infinite tweaking in these areas to personalise your FIFA 12 experience. They’re not all encompassing, but they are a good starting point to the introduction of allowing the end user to develop the game, to suit their ability and style. This has to be better than the blanket 4 of 5 game levels, which make huge leaps at times in abilities, often leading to players stranded between the two..

Our last meeting of the day was a conference call with the dev’s in Canada, this was our chance to put some gripes and questions we had from the testing along with some of the questions I and others had from the guys on the forums. It made a change to get a real sense the guys in Canada are genuinely interested and listening to us. We were very pleased to see some of our issues and wishes from the May build were already addressed and added in the July build..


So there you have it, a brief but info heavy review of the next instalment of the Career Mode. Is it the CM we are hoping for, well, no.. Until the core of the mode is addressed any changes will be overshadowed by the stymied tactic and squad selection system. It is however a very good step in the right direction of a mode that had stalled so badly... :PIRATE:
Click to expand...
 
One new Fifa 12 screen. Better than nothing, I guess.

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Thanks Cesc Fabregas
 
2 New Fifa screens.

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inter.jpg

Thanks Ronaldinho_23
 
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