Well I've had a game with dad and he said the same thing, straight away he barked "this is nowhere near as quick to react as the demo". And being 60-odd, he takes no shit and tells it like it is. He would chew up fanboys and eat them for breakfast.
First thing I did mate.
First thing I did mate.
Seriously, I knew that would instantly show the differences, and it did. More realistic speed but slower reactions. You could say it's more realistic like this, and I'm sure I will adapt to it. It is a disappointment to me but you can see the thinking behind it and I can't complain too much. It's a better game than FIFA and I've had some great games so far.
Might keep hold of FIFA now then
Well I've had a game with dad and he said the same thing, straight away he barked "this is nowhere near as quick to react as the demo". And being 60-odd, he takes no shit and tells it like it is. He would chew up fanboys and eat them for breakfast.
Im going to give the demo another whirl, I dont like being the only one to think the reactions are perfect, it wont do me justice when FIFA 09 comes out
I'm always praising the game like mad at first, so this bucks the trend actually.
Been playing it for an hour and a bit, see TT 2006's gamercard for evidence.
To be honest I'm not blown away, it's a better game but not as good as I was hoping. I can understand now why a few reviews have said "if you have FIFA and you're not a hardcore fan then hold off" - but I am a hardcore fan, so I'm glad to have it.
Mini review:
Positives...
+ Reaction times are slightly faster than FIFA 08.
+ Pace is slower than the too-fast demo.
+ Games aren't goalfests like I'd imagined, had two 0-0s already.
+ Graphics are much improved, some faces are just brilliant.
+ Weather is great - not just the graphical effects but the gameplay effects.
+ Gameplay is tweaked and is overall less frustrating than before in a lot of situations; shooting is better, you can score some great goals that the keeper would have saved every time before, the players and the ball feel "weightier", etc.
+ Defence / attack balance is now perfect IMO; this will of course be down to personal beliefs, but from what I know about football and from the years that I've played it, this is spot on. You make a tackle, you miss, you let the striker in. You make a tackle and get the ball, you feel like you've saved the day. I think this is by far the biggest and the best change and I think the realism is perfect.
Neutrals...
> Default match time (and ranked match time) is now six minute halves, I like this but some won't.
Negatives...
- Some faces are terrible. Owen and James spring to mind - from the front they look alright, from an angle they literally look nothing like them. Which is bad when they've got 100s and 100s of teams less to concentrate on.
- I notice you can't choose "rain" at every stadium, which is a bit strange? They've obviously done a different graphic for each seperate stadium's pitch, clear, clear night, muddy etc.; and they haven't been arsed to do it for every stadium in the game.
- Slowdown is evident in places, usually during a set-piece. Shouldn't be acceptable in this day and age.
- Reaction times are (I would say) nowhere near as good as in the demo, and it's most noticeable when you've got a player on you - which is where you need better reaction times the most. They've obviously had thousands of complaints about the game being too fast, so they've slowed it down a lot; including the reaction times. I am completely against this, I would have much rather had it the other way around. A lot of online matches are just the same as FIFA online matches. Put it like this; I was getting ready to trade FIFA 08 in for it, now I'm thinking I might as well have both if the reaction times are like this in online matches. It's not every single one, but it's a lot.
Overall I'm happy with the game, it is better, but I can't help but be a bit disappointed.
