Customer Reviews

FIFA 2010

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This game is the same as FIFA 09, the gameplay hasn't been updated much and it is surely not running on anything like the new FIFA 2010 engine that debuted on FIFA 2010 Xbox360 and PS3. It is claimed that there is 360 dribbling, this is a farce, the players don't move nearly the same as the console versions and the physical play is lacking. Furthermore, the passing is not nearly as crisp and still players will pass directly to opponent players. The list of problems, glitches and other issues continues, this is a series in need of a complete overhaul on the PC.

The graphics are horrid, the 'widget' system is still intact and the team customization options remain bland and sub-par at best. EA has continue to release lackluster PC incarnations of the FIFA series and it continues this tradition here. Avoid this game and either buy it on the Xbox360 or PS3, the true versions with 360 dribbling, physical play, and everything else, or Pro Evolution 2010, whose PC version is actually quite excellent.

Do not give EA money for this disservice to its customers, they need to be punished and see that more than a passing effort needs to be made in the PC port.

I fell in love with the Fifa based football game when I bought the 08 version about a year ago. I was missing home and since it's nigh on impossible to get a rugby game here in the USA, I decided a soccer game would substitute.

08 was not bad, a bit clumsy in terms of player behavior and of course there were the physics of player movements etc, which were a little mediocre. Enter the hype of Fifa 10 and I couldn't wait.... Having drooled over the development videos and the eye candy of all the new features on EA's website, I was eagerly looking forward to an improved product. Alas, alack, it was not quite to be.

Definitely there have been some major strides between the 08 version and 10 - 10 is an immensely better product. The collision system is pretty awesome and the physics is handled quite well. The replay movies and up close renderings of the players' features is quite amazing. The graphics on the PC are a little less spectacular than I imagined, and many 09 fans complain that the graphics engine is little more than a re-hash of the 09 game. The blistering features seen in the Xbox 360 engine are not apparent in the PC game and that was disappointing.

Now, I confess I'm still a newbie to the platform, but a quick analysis of the Fifa 10 forums page revealed a bitter stand-off between the PC community and the developers. The console is where this game really shines and was likely intended...such is the nature of many sports franchises it seems. I have read too, that EA Sports toned down the game in PC form to accommidate the weaker PC platforms generally available in South American countries where the sport is huge, but this seems hard to believe.

In short, if you're expecting the game play seen in much of the advertisements, you'll be disappointed.

On the positive side, this is still a really fun game. There are several modes to chose from, including "be a pro" in which you can create your own player and represent your national team. The traditional manager mode is available and delivers a little more information and detail than 08. It's the development of players that I find the most addictive, along with the purchasing of upgrades and more players. It is easy to make mistakes and if you loose too many games and not meet the board's expectations, you may find yourself out of a manager's job. EA Sports also gave your a manager's mode without all the fiddly manager's expectations, so you can simply enjoys playing with your favorite team.

The professional difficulty level is generally challenging enough for me. I've played this game a lot and I've noticed the more team harmony there is the better the team plays. There are still quirks where players make stupid decisions or block each other's shots or passes, often with catastrophic results...defensive play is often mindblowingly annoying. You watch in frustration as strikers glide past your defenders who've bumbled into each other, and I've noticed it's often impossible to select the correct player to make a defensive maneuver to negate an attack.

The team play is generally smarter and teams will operate more complicated attacks and exploit the wings etc, rather than plug their way through the middle of the paddock. This means finding the right strategy to combat even lesser teams.

You need a handheld controller, like a logitech dual action, but I have to confess skill moves using the "trick stick" is not easy to get right. When it comes to beating teams, you need to have a good awareness of player positions using peripheral vision sometimes and be quick to pass and through pass where possible. Once you get a handle on this and can get some acendancy on an opponent, generating a win gets a smidge easier. However, fall behind and it becomes bloody hard to crack an opponents defense.

Sometimes it feels the other team simply shuts up shop and floods the box with so many players there's absolutely no space to attack. That gets furstrating.

The commentary is a little cyclic and generally works...there are some quirks, Clive Tillsley repeats a player's name twice when he threatens to score and there are othe minor bugs in the coding regarding when and where the right comment should fit. It's the same in the 08...

Overall, if you love soccer, this won't disappoint, it just won't blow you away. There are other franchises out there, the PES platform is arguably pretty good too. I can't justify having both. Loads of fun, just not as spectacular as the console version...

Unfortunately, despite the universal praise we have to knock FIFA 10 down for the complete lack of attention paid to the commentary. Once again, Martin Tyler and Andy Gray provide the punditry, but anybody who has played FIFA 09 will instantly spot the same lines being used again from last year's outing. It's not that it's particularly bad, but if football commentary wants to continue to improve beyond the two-part dialogue between the pair - which it certainly can - then you feel Rutter has to be willing to take a few more risks and show a little more innovation than evolution. Otherwise FIFA 10 is exemplary in the sound and overall presentation. Players call 'man on' and 'down the line'; announcers are heard over the Tannoy and crowds get behind the team with authentic chants. Visuals are once again beyond any competition, with stunningly detailed player models, sublime animation and a nice added depth-blur on close-up scenes.

I bought this as a gift for my son for Christmas. He had been asking for this game for a long time. He was really excited when he opened it on Christmas morning. . . and then the trouble began!

The installation was fairly straightfoward. The game installed and he was able to play it the first time. Since then, an error message about installing DirectX keeps recurring everytime he inserts the disc and clicks "Play".

The user is then guided to either reinstall DirectX from the Microsoft Website - for which there is NO link from the hyperlink on the CD, or Copy the DirectX setup file to the Local Disk of the computer. Since the link indicated for reinstalling DirectX from the CD (technical help options) does not provide a "Download DirectX" option as indicated, I searched and loaded DirectX from another site. This did not help either!

I then copied the setup file as indicated on the disc. This too did not work. Clicking on technical help gets the user absolutely nowhere! I also tried uninstalling and reinstalling the game . . . this too did not work! It is very frustrating when my son inserts the CD only to realise the it is not loading. The process to find DirectX, reinstall DirectX and then run the game again has to be repeated sometimes as much as FIVE times before the game loads correctly.

Clicking the "Update" option also does not help. It simply takes the user to a webpage to download other games like this (updated versions e.g. 2011 etc.). I am neither interested nor willing to update, given the experience thus far.

I am seriously contemplating returning this game. The only thing stopping me is that my son really enjoys the game when it does in fact load!!

This is by far the best-ever title in the FIFA series.

Improved graphics and player movements are the key.

Is this FIFA 2010 or just a re-vamped 2007?
After playing all the FIFA games since 1996 I missed 2008 and 2009 and stuck with 2007 until now.
I only ever play against the computer. I just use a basic MS Sidewinder gamepad so don't get to do all the fancy stuff. I got good enough in 2007 (world-class play)that whatever team I chose to play, I would win the league or competition. So it was time for a change.


I immediately noticed the return of the Season. Don't know anything about 2008/9 so don't know if it was in them. I can't remember the year but I missed the version that allowed you to start in the 4th division of the English league and spend money on training and buying new players and be able to get promoted up thru the divisions. This is not quite as extensive but better than nothing.

After playing about 5 seasons, albeit at semi-pro level as it does seem to be more difficult than 2007 so far (although, after the forth season I was able to win the Premier league, League Cup and EC and may have won the FA Cup if I hadn't been "knocked out" at the semi-final stage even though I won both legs), I've notice some annoying similarities to 2007 which I hoped would have been fixed. Although, by the sound of the other reviewers 2009 wasn't much better.

Right off I see we have the same commentators with the same (quite often) disconnected commentary that makes you wonder if they are "watching" the same game.

One of the most annoying things is a pattern of play I noticed starting in 2007 and, unfortunately, it's still there in 2010.
I've always played by choosing whichever team seems to be the worst in the league. Before I started doing that with 2010 I chose my old hometown team of Leicester which is pretty much just as bad :-)
What I've noticed is that as you get really good with one of these "poor" teams, you are top of the league and can beat the likes of Man U, Chelsea etc with no problem but as soon as you play a team that's down at the bottom of the league it's as if your team is a totally different team or that the characteristics of the teams have been swapped. Suddenly, your passes are invariably intercepted; you can never win a tackle - the other team virtually always comes away with it even with three of your guys around the player;direct free kicks outside the box which you always scored would go high or wide even though you are hitting the "power" button so fast it barely registers on the power display; penalties are invariably saved; they score easily and basically play like you would expect a top team to play against a poor team. No matter what style of play you choose you get the same result.
But, the only time it changes is if you quit the game and don't save it, re-start FIFA and play the same game again. After that, or second time you do that, your team seems to play like it did before and you beat the heck out of them or at least win. It's so frustrating and it's still doing the same thing in 2010. Whenever you hear something from the commentators at the start of the game like "well they ARE at different ends of the table" or "....David and Goliath...." you know you are in trouble.
I have never played with a top team so don't know if it happens like this then or it's just because you are playing with a team that should be at the bottom of the league and maybe this confuses FIFA?

One of the other things that I've found really annoying is the one-touch passing play. Maybe it's just a matter of getting used to it but I've lost more games and missed sitter goals because of this. Whenever you want to pass to someone and for them to immediately shoot or clear the ball, that one-touch comes in and the player passes the ball back to the passer instead.I had one laughable occasion where the ball was virtually on the line and just needed a tap in. The attacker wasn't being challenged but he kicked it out to someone outside the penalty area instead!

How come no whistle when there's a throw-in? Only the occasional whistle when there is a corner, also.

I've never seen so many "hand ball" fouls! At least 4-5 a game.

The Cup competitions are messed up. Just drew a 4th round FA Cup game at home 2-2 against Everton. I won the second leg at Everton 1-3 but Everton go through to the next round. The next season I won the two semi-final legs of an FA Cup game only to find my opponent was sent to the final.

As in 2007, the extra time quite often goes on way past what is indicated. Sometimes to the equivalent of 15 minutes of play. It doesn't show you the extra time countdown.

I can't count the number of times that I've gone into Custom Team Styles during a match and changed a setting only to realize that the reason my team isn't playing like it should is because the setting had been changed back to what it was previously.

As in 2007, when a player gets injured, unless you managed to hit the ESC key the exact instant it happens so you can make a substitution, you have to wait until the ball goes out of play for the sub to be made. OTOH, the pc can make the sub as soon as the player is injured.

I'm waiting to see if I can win the Premiorship with Leicester in semi-pro mode. Then I'll go to the next level and see how it is then.

I recently graduated from playing FIFA 07 on a gamecube to FIFA 2010 on a PS2, a little behind the times, but the price was good. The FIFA 2010 graphics are much better and the action more sophisticated. The player liknesses are improved and there is more variety in the "generic" players. You can design and play using your own custom formations, and can take over the body of a player and play the game at eye level with the player's view point. This makes the game more entertaining than it was. The gameplay seems more sophisticated. It is possible to draw opponents out of position to create space and other tactical moves. Here are some things that should be corrected in the next version: The video shakes when the game action gets intense around the edge of the box (sort of like the camera man is getting excited about the game). When playing agaist PS2, the PS2 teams rarely are given assists. On a recent 38 game season, the ratio of goals to assist was something like 50 goals to 1 assist. No PS2 represented player had more than 1 assist for the entire season. The PS2 Keeper picks up the ball 90% of the time when it was last touched by a team mate, without any penalty. There seem to be more blown off-side calls (maybe it's more realistic now). The camera angles and zoom can't be adjusted. While playing in Tele mode you are often throwing or passing the ball to a player who is off the screen. FIFA07 was very adjustable, and allowed you to see more of the field.
It would be good to be able to change a players height and weight in the edit player mode, so that rookies can replace retired players in the current season.
In conclusion this game is excellent and in most cases a big improvement.

FIFA 10 will have the same visual quality as FIFA 09. EA decided to take this step because on average the hardware isn't able to handle better graphics. Console players on the other hand can hope for increased visual quality. PC games Hardware checks the difference.


FIFA 10 [Source: view picture gallery]
PC gamers haven't been very happy to hear that the PC version of FIFA 10 won't be visually enhanced. EA will offer the same graphics that have been used in FIFA 09. The console version on the other hand the visual quality has been adjusted and the overall presentation was improved.

That EA would take this step began to show weeks ago. The publisher justified the decision by noting that the average PC hardware isn't everywhere on a level as high as it is in Europe for example. FIFA 10 is sold in South American countries and there the average hardware equipment of the players is said to be of noticeably lower performance. In order to make the PC version available to as many players as possible it is not visually enhanced. The console graphics on the other hand can be adjusted because every gamer has the same hardware.

EA gave a brief, top-level overview of what to expect from FIFA 10 in our visit to its booth. The first thing David Rutter, producer at EA, pointed out was the new dribbling system. In the previous FIFA, players only had eight directional movements, but in FIFA 10, players have full 360-degree movement, which enables them to move with the ball in a much more realistic fashion. Rutter pointed out that previously you had to use limited motions to move the ball up the field and avoid defenders, but the refined control makes that unnecessary. "The cool thing about 360 dribbling is that you can push the ball anywhere you want on the pitch," he said. "Previously, you might spot a gap between two defenders, and you'd have to sort of zigzag to get there. This gives you a lot more freedom."

Seeing this in action onscreen definitely revealed more articulation with ball movement, and a quick contest from a defender on the field showed another improvement made to the game in the form of enhanced physical play where a defender can muscle out the ball with a bit more finesse. Along those same lines, slide tackling has been modified to better reflect individual player skill, as well as his position in relation to the ball.

Rutter also revealed the new urgency system, which realistically portrays a player's behavior away from the ball. "When players aren't involved in the action, they're a little more relaxed, but as soon as they see a threatening position, they'll run with a lot more urgency," he explained. "That works for both defenders and attackers." Defenders also do a better job of covering the field, thanks to some reworking of the threat analysis system--if there's a gap somewhere behind the defenders, then they won't switch out their positions. Likewise, attackers push up the field in intelligent ways, attempting to get open and spread the defense to open up passing lanes.

In addition, you'll see an all-new trapping system, which shows that players will recognize when they're not being immediately threatened by a defender. "What was happening was the ball was coming in, and the player would get into the first possible position to intercept the ball," said Rutter. "The ball usually bounced on his chest and then he would get it under control. In nonthreatening situations, you'll actually see players back off to take the ball on their feet." The goalkeeper has also been the focus of similar changes for FIFA 10. "We have some new reactions in there. He's able to tip the ball and guard more effectively on crosses," he said. "We've also added an ability to scramble back to the line and scoop the ball off the line in emergency situations, which wasn't there last year."

The Practice mode is another big aspect of the game, and it's something that fans of the game have demanded. In this mode, you can have as few as four players on the field, but if you want to have a full squad on the field, that's also possible. But the main focus of the Practice mode is what it implies--to work on your skills for certain situations so that when a real game is on the line, you don't mess up.

Another major sticking point for the fans of previous games has been the over-the-top ball where a defender launches the ball toward the opposing team's goal in the hopes of clearing the area and going back on the offensive. "We tried to adjust the frustrations with the game that fans have reported," said Rutter. "A lot of the time, we saw things like [the over-the-top ball] being too powerful, so we had to adjust not just the defensive AI, but also introduce slightly more error on those balls."

Lots of other tweaks and additions have been made to other facets of the game as well. The improved momentum system brings a greater risk-versus-reward element for being aggressive on offense or defense, essentially making it difficult for aggressive players to recover if they miss their intended target. Also, changes have been made to the Manager mode. Match simulations in this mode are now based on the skill of individual players and on a per-minute basis, so the outcomes should be a bit more realistic. Transfers now take into account the prestige of a club, as well as opportunities for player growth and opportunities for money. For example, if a star player is fielding offers from other teams, he may be less likely to join a team that already has another star player or simply doesn't have enough money. We've only scratched the surface of FIFA 10, so we hope to get a peek at some of these and other refinements in the near future before the game is released this fall.