Manual is the easiest it has ever been, but feels about the same as I remember FIFA 12 being. Remember these are the top players in the demo, so the amount of assist is increased by their attributes.
The defensive AI seems roughly the same as 12 too. I haven't noticed anything particularly dumb, aside from their usual passiveness.
I'm not experiencing many fouls. They're short games but it's looking the same as FIFA 12 in terms of fouls committed.
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Playing a few more games this afternoon with some slider edits. Thought I'd share a basic sequence of play in which I picked up on a couple of nuances.
Couldn't upload the replay because I was signed out of Origin at the time - why can't they let you sign back in during a match? Anyway...
Okay, pic 1. Mikel Arteta (circled) has a very high 'Attack Positioning' attribute - this makes him good at identifying space and creating angles to receive a pass. You can see him shuffle sideways and gesture for a pass to feet, placing himself equidistant between three opponents in a little pocket, creating the passing opportunity.
Arsenal's layered 4-2-3-1 also creates matchup problems in midfield for City's flat 4-4-2, so it's difficult for them to get tight to Arteta in an RDM position.
Pic 2: Is this walking dribble animation new? I don't remember seeing it before. Mertesacker had the ball at his feet and I had either released the controls for a moment, or was tilting the stick only slightly, and he entered this upright, slow walking anim with his head up. Looks nice in motion anyway.
The other thing I picked up on here was what EA have been saying about attacking players thinking 'one move ahead' off the ball. The pass is only halfway to Arteta, he hasn't received it yet, but Oxlade-Chamberlain comes alive and is already turning to start a forward run.
By the time Arteta has taken a touch out of his feet, OxC is already near full speed and Kolorov has been forced to react. Unfortunately I slightly over-powered the manual lob, but the opportunity was created by the movement.
Just a couple of subtle things that caught my eye.