Customer Reviews

FIFA Soccer 10

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

 

 

Soccer, like hockey, is something that I've watched only occasionally (usually in international competitions). I've almost always enjoyed it and thought I could at least pick up on who was dominating who, but any semblance of strategy was definitely lost on me. So it is with this mindset that I am reviewing FIFA 10 for the DS.

I've never played a soccer game on the DS, so I did not know exactly what I might be getting into, but I have played a previous EA Sports title on the DS (Madden 09, see review) and this does help provide some frame of reference to this game. EA Sports has a knack for putting out games on the DS. They always get a solid version of the actual game in place (football for Madden, futbol for FIFA) and then cram an insane amount of other things into the cartridge that add extra replayability.

In this case, the actual game of soccer is really enjoyable to a novice like me. You can pick up and play on the easiest level and usually win a match 3 to 0. I've turned the difficulty up one to Semi-Pro though, and have probably won 2 games and lost 7 since then. I just can't seem to muster any offense, though I am getting better with the offensive and defensive strategy options available via the touch screen. Is your defense too slack when the ball is in your territory? Just move your thumb over and change your strategy to "press" and your guys will clamp down. Are you not getting enough chances on offense (my problem)? Use the touch screen to change your strategy to "overload" and throw more guys in the box. It's a fun and fairly easy to use addition to what is already a fun game of soccer.

In addition, there is the Be a Pro mode, where you choose one guy and are locked on him the entire match. It's not as good to me as the actual game and it has a weird camera that is always focused on the goal, but it's nice for a change of pace if you want to take a break from the usual soccer game.

The other modes consist of Multiplayer (Single Card play available), Manager mode (sort of a franchise mode where you build points managing a team), Training mode, a Penalty Shot mini game, and Cup play, which is a tournament mode that can be played in any of the several leagues in this game (US MLS included, choose International League for World Cup). Like I said earlier, there is a ton in this game.

The graphics are pretty good in my opinion, but more importantly, the game plays very fluidly with absolutely no slowdowns ever, which is really important in a game that requires split-second decision making. This game is definitely a 5-star game to me, and I would highly recommend picking it up if you are looking for some good soccer on the go.

***Update*** After playing a little more, Manager mode is actually a real franchise mode, where you can play through 5 seasons with any team on the game (or a custom team). I originally thought it was only a place for you to make managerial decisions and simulate games.

Also, Be A Pro mode lets you change the camera so that it follows the ball and is not ultra-zoomed in on your character. I find it easier to play with the "End to End" camera which shows you a behind the ball view with a pretty good zoom level. You can't always see your guy on the screen, but it's much easier to follow what's going on and allows you to pull yourself a little out of position in order to make a play. That's all, still 5 stars.

I've gotten into soccer lately because of the world cup. I'd previously downloaded REAL SOCCER '09 through DSiWare and liked it but was looking for something a little deeper with better AI and control. I hoped FIFA SOCCER '10 would be exactly what I was looking for but after playing through a season of "Be a Pro" mode and a couple of tournaments in normal mode I was left disappointed.

Many of the flaws I saw in REAL SOCCER (like lack of control over who you pass to, lack of control over high power shots, ridiculously difficult opponent AI and ridiculously stupid friendly AI, etc.) were present in FIFA as well. I'll go in-depth on the most egregious flaws.

The biggest flaw in the game is that its way to easy on the lowest difficulty setting (Amateur) and its way too much harder on the next difficulty level up (Semi-Pro). I think there are three harder difficulty levels beyond that too, but I've never played them because I couldn't ever play consistently well on Semi-Pro. This actually relates to another one of the game's flaws, the passing. On Amateur the opponent AI is like playing against a bunch of 1st graders, they hardly pass and getting the ball back is usually as simple as running right up next to the player with the ball and pressing the steal button. On Semi-Pro the opponent AI passes how you'd expect good AI to pass except they have one distinct advantage over you that they fully exploit: the AI knows who's open regardless of whether they are in the visible playing area or not. Well, duh right? Of course the AI wouldn't be limited in who they pass to by who is visible on the game screen, the only problem is that YOU are limited in many cases by who you can see on the game screen. On Semi-Pro the AI makes passing look like cake and you become the 1st grader when you try passing. There is an overhead map view on the bottom DS screen that shows the location of all the players on the field, but its too difficult to try and look at that screen for an open dot while avoiding the approaching AI on the top screen. On Semi-Pro I usually just guessed where to pass and got lucky or eventually just turned off "offsides" and played a bunch of long balls. It definitely got boring quickly. The only other option was to switch back to Amateur but that was so easy that it got boring even quicker.

There are other things I'd like to comment on, but I don't feel like writing anymore. cI liked the game at first and probably would've given it 4 or 5 stars the first few weeks I played it, but after having played it for longer and having been burned by its flaws enough, I really couldn't recommend this game to anyone seeking a fair yet challenging game that really feels like soccer.

Best Soccer game ever for Nintendo DS.
My 10 year old grandson says it rocks!

My two sons, ages 11 & 7, got this game for Christmas and love it! The soccer games are their favorites. We are pleased with it.