I do really like the game, I haven't played this many matches in FIFA for about 8 years and I'm only 10 games into career mode. I did play a kick off game before that and won 2-1 Millwall Vs West ham and I thought oh dear the game is going to be too easy but career mode difficulty seems much harder.
I play OS sports sliders, 10 minute halves and slow speed on World Class, I used to play FUMA on PES but haven't quite got the hang of it on FIFA so sticking with semi for now.
None of this will be new to you but I thought I'd give my observations anyway:
- the
game speed is fantastic and I think reflects the pace of real football more than anything else I've played. I am tempted to increase the slider for acceleration however as I think it is only lacking that quick speed burst to get round a defender, I feel like if I try that now it looks and feels like my players are running in treacle a bit.
- the
passing seems slightly inconsistent in terms of power bar and output, especially when you get those cannonball rolls that go nowhere and act as if the pitch is waterlogged, this might be down to the fact there are modifiers that I simply didn't know about (why is x + x a slightly higher pass??) affecting what happens with the ball but it can be odd at times regardless
- talking of the modifiers, i do enjoy the depth in the
control scheme although it's going to take a lot of training to actually use the variations properly and learn the buttons, i was thinking about mapping to PES controls (shooting already changed though naturally) but there are so many modifiers i thought there was no point really. it's also a good way to train yourself out of secondary press because i am still pressing square to bring a player over only for my controlled defender to do a stupid standing tackle and let the opponent past
- the above really doesn't help that i have no idea what i should be doing for
defending, it feels like whatever i do the AI just has an instant response and can get it to the penalty spot fairly easily to fire it in while my players just stand around, especially the ones that are not user controlled. they are so slow and lazy. the best example is when the ball is out wide, the AI defenders simply do not track back properly and mark the opponent arriving in the box. I am sure that i maybe need to learn how to defend a lot better, the only thing i can think of is that i need to be constantly switching player and moving them like it's subbuteo?
other than that it seems fairly solid, the shooting seems varied and it's nice that the AI can miss the target high and wide. found it a bit hard to understand the menus and the tactics and team sheets stuff but i think i've got it now. overall i'd give it.... oh hold on a minute, let's go to alex scott to hear the latest from Pride Park, Alex?
