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Product Description
Platform: Xbox 360
Amazon.com
FIFA Soccer 12 is the 19th game in Electronic Arts' popular video game soccer series. Continuing with the franchise's unique blend of realism and innovative features that bring the authenticity to the video game pitch that fans crave, FIFA Soccer 12 is an exciting title for longtime and existing fans of console sports gaming. Game features include: 500 officially licensed clubs and more than 15,000 players, improved self-awareness and aptitude of AI players, a redefined defending mechanism, more true-to-life injuries, precision dribbling and new commentary teams.
Love Soccer - Play Soccer
FIFA Soccer 12 brings to the pitch the game-changing new Player Impact Engine, a physics engine built to deliver real-world physicality in every interaction on the pitch. Revolutionary gameplay innovations inspired by the real-world game make FIFA Soccer 12 deeper and more engaging. All-new Precision Dribbling delivers a higher fidelity of touch on the ball for attacking players, while Tactical Defending fundamentally changes the approach to defending by placing equal importance on positioning, intercepting passes and tackling. Plus, AI players have been infused with Pro Player Intelligence, the next generation of player intelligence and performance.
Hit the pitch in one of the best reviewed Sports games of E3 2011.
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Key Game Features
- Pro Player Intelligence - AI players have been infused with self-awareness and aptitude, enabling them to make decisions based on their own skills as well as the strengths and attributes of their teammates. Players who possess exceptional vision, for example, will see opportunities for through balls that other players won't. Real Madrid's Kaká will be more likely to pick out a run from a teammate farther away than a player with poorer vision. Additionally, teams will vary their attack based on the strengths of their players on the pitch, and the weaknesses of opposing players, creating a more authentic experience and greater variety of matches.
- Tactical Defending - Redesigned defending mechanism fundamentally changes the approach to defending by placing equal importance on positioning, intercepting passes and tackling at the right moment. Tactics and timing are crucial.
- True Injuries - The Player Impact Engine monitors contact between players in real-time, analyzing the force of the collision and impact on the body to detect real injuries, creating a deeper more challenging Career Mode. Manage new types of injuries and the risk of sending a player onto the pitch who isn't fully healed.
- Player Impact Engine - Two years in development, the new physics engine is built to deliver real-world physicality in every interaction on the pitch. Experience an infinite variety of natural and believable outcomes in every contact. Players feel more resilient on the ball, push and pull during the fight for possession, and recover from light challenges more easily, preserving their natural momentum.
- Precision Dribbling - Enjoy new ways to take on opponents, more time on the ball to make decisions, and complete control of the pace of the game. Utilize close dribble touches in tight spaces, on the wings, and even while fending off an opponent.
- Complete Authenticity - Over 500 officially licensed clubs and more than 15,000 players.
- New Commentary Teams - For the first time ever, two broadcast teams will be featured - Martin Tyler and Alan Smith and Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend. Fans can customize audio to their preferred commentators for any matches.
Additional Screenshots
 Battle improved AI Intelligence. View larger. |  500+ clubs and 1,500 players. View larger. |  Redefined defense mechanism. View larger. |  System recognized true injuries. View larger. |
Product Description
FIFA Soccer 12 brings to the pitch the game-changing new Player Impact Engine, a physics engine built to deliver real-world physicality in every interaction on the pitch. All-new Precision Dribbling delivers a higher fidelity of touch on the ball for attacking players, while Tactical Defending fundamentally changes the approach to defending by placing equal importance on positioning, intercepting passes and tackling. Plus, CPU players have been infused with Pro Player Intelligence, the next generation of player intelligence and performance. Finally, introducing EA SPORTS Football Club - the heartbeat of FIFA Soccer 12 - a live service connecting players to the real-world game with fresh, new content all the time, enabling them to support their favourite club and connect and compete with their friends, rivals and millions of other players around the world.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 32 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
I'm going to write this review quickly because I want to get back to playing FIFA 12 asap
September 27, 2011
By C. Boeshaar
Platform for Display:Xbox 360|Amazon Verified Purchase
Fun:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I am a lifelong soccer/football fan and player, both in reality and in the video game world. Topping FIFA 11 was not going to be an easy task, but it seems FIFA 12 has beaten its predecessor with flying colors.
The graphics, sound effects, and control are all top notch and are an improvement over FIFA 11 overall, so there is no reason to spend much time talking about them.
What is significant are the new changes to FIFA 12, and how they have affected the gameplay. The most noticeable two are the 1) Tactical defending and 2) Player impact engine.
I will explain both briefly to give newcomers an idea of what to expect.
1) Tactical Defending: Arguably the biggest and most significant change is the new defending system. No longer can you hold down A and B and watch as your defense swarms the hapless attacker automatically
In FIFA 12, you have to position properly and time your tackles well (as in reality) in order to gain possession of the ball. Mis-timed or poor tackles will often result in the attacker blowing past you or a foul and/or booking.
I MUST WARN YOU, that this can be VERY FRUSTRATING at times when you are learning the new system as it is not very forgiving. For those of you intimidated by this there is an option to revert to the old system called "Legacy" (Identical to FIFA 11's system). But I HIGHLY recommend you take the time and effort to master the new defensive system, because it is highly realistic, extremely rewarding when you do that perfect tackle, and required if you want to master online play.
2) Player impact engine: No more ghost players going through each other, players collide with each other when in the same physical space (shocking I know!). This can also result in injuries, some which are horrific and others which are just plain hilarious as your players fly around like ragdolls.
The system isn't perfect and I've heard of a few bugs about it, but I haven't encountered any yet so I can't confirm. It is a welcome change though and, for the most part, adds to the realism of the game.
OVERALL: 9.5/10
This is by far the best soccer/football game out there, and even if you're not a big fan of the sport, chances are that you will enjoy this immensely fun and well designed game. Just about everything has been improved, and the extras (such as support your club) are just icing on the cake.
Now if you'll excuse me, writing this review has already taken enough of my precious FIFA 12 playtime!
The graphics, sound effects, and control are all top notch and are an improvement over FIFA 11 overall, so there is no reason to spend much time talking about them.
What is significant are the new changes to FIFA 12, and how they have affected the gameplay. The most noticeable two are the 1) Tactical defending and 2) Player impact engine.
I will explain both briefly to give newcomers an idea of what to expect.
1) Tactical Defending: Arguably the biggest and most significant change is the new defending system. No longer can you hold down A and B and watch as your defense swarms the hapless attacker automatically
In FIFA 12, you have to position properly and time your tackles well (as in reality) in order to gain possession of the ball. Mis-timed or poor tackles will often result in the attacker blowing past you or a foul and/or booking.
I MUST WARN YOU, that this can be VERY FRUSTRATING at times when you are learning the new system as it is not very forgiving. For those of you intimidated by this there is an option to revert to the old system called "Legacy" (Identical to FIFA 11's system). But I HIGHLY recommend you take the time and effort to master the new defensive system, because it is highly realistic, extremely rewarding when you do that perfect tackle, and required if you want to master online play.
2) Player impact engine: No more ghost players going through each other, players collide with each other when in the same physical space (shocking I know!). This can also result in injuries, some which are horrific and others which are just plain hilarious as your players fly around like ragdolls.
The system isn't perfect and I've heard of a few bugs about it, but I haven't encountered any yet so I can't confirm. It is a welcome change though and, for the most part, adds to the realism of the game.
OVERALL: 9.5/10
This is by far the best soccer/football game out there, and even if you're not a big fan of the sport, chances are that you will enjoy this immensely fun and well designed game. Just about everything has been improved, and the extras (such as support your club) are just icing on the cake.
Now if you'll excuse me, writing this review has already taken enough of my precious FIFA 12 playtime!
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Platform for Display:Xbox 360|Amazon Verified Purchase
Fun:
4.0 out of 5 stars
FIFA has been my favorite game for the past couple years, so pre-ordering the latest version was a no-brainer for me. I've played roughly 15-20 hours of FIFA 12 since release and I'm pretty pleased with my purchase overall. Here are some quick notes from a hardcore FIFA player about what's new in this year's game:
- Precision Dribbling - EA touts this as some sort of significant advancement in the series, but from what I can tell so far it is nothing but a useless control feature that allows you to (very slowly) dribble in tight increments. Basically, it gives your players great close control, but it's so slow that it's useless. Anyone can steal the ball from your player as soon as you activate the precision dribbling controls.
- Tactical Defending - EA has revamped the defending system by removing the pressure buttons and forcing you to do more of the defending work on your own rather than relying on your CPU defenders to come in and make tackles for you. This has been a pretty controversial feature. Some love it. Some hate it. If you relied on automatic pressure buttons in previous FIFA games then you probably won't like tactical defending at first. Personally, I never used pressure buttons in the first place, so this change suits my style. Having said that, defending against the CPU can be very frustrating, but I blame this more on unrealistic AI than on the defending system itself (more on that later).
- Player Impact Engine - This is a new feature intended to improve the game physics so that player collisions are more realistic. I can safely say that it is still very much a work in progress. At its best, it does exactly what it's meant to do. At its worst, it creates ridiculous collisions that are unintentionally hilarious because they're so strange looking and unrealistic. Just look on YouTube for some of the laughable stuff you'll see. I wish I could say that the moments of comedy were rare, but you see something "off" almost every match. My guess is that this feature won't be perfected for another year or two.
- Head-to-Head Seasons - The Head-to-Head Ranked Matches feature from the last few seasons has been overhauled and replaced. Rather than just playing an endless sequence of matches like in years past, this year FIFA has introduced the idea of Head-to-Head Seasons. The basic concept is pretty simple. There are 10 tiers of competition. Everyone starts in level 10 and tries to work their way up to level 1. If you win a match, you get three points. If you draw, you get one point. If you lose, you get nothing. Promotion and relegation depend on the number of points you accumulate in a season (which is 10 games long). The number of required points rises as you move up the different levels. So while it's very easy to get promoted from level 10 to level 9, it's significantly harder to get from level 8 to level 7. This is partially because the required amount of points is higher and partially because your opponents tend to be stronger as you move up the levels. If you get enough points to avoid relegation, but you fail to earn enough points to win promotion to the next league, you stay at your same level and get another chance with a new 10 game season. Please note that there isn't a real "league" to speak of, meaning you don't play against the same 9 teams as everyone else in your league. Rather, you play random opponents within your general level range and your promotion/relegation status depends solely on your point total.
I'm enjoying this new system so far, though I still think they should've left the old ranked matches system in the game as an option. If you want to play a conventional ranked match without any concern for promotion/relegation, you're out of luck. The game mode has been completely replaced by seasons.
One last note on this. The match-making system has changed so that you pick teams BEFORE the CPU matches you up with your opponent. There's no more musical chairs at the team selection screen. This time around you pick your team, make whatever changes you want to make to your lineup, and then press search. The system automatically matches you with an opponent. You don't get to see what team you're playing against until the game has already loaded.
- EA Sports Football Club - There's a whole host of new features related to your general progress in all modes of FIFA. You now get a type of experience points (EXP) for a variety of minor achievements within the game, such as completing a virtual pro accomplishment or winning a promotion in seasons. You can compare your overall EXP level with your friends. Also, the first time you run the game you will be prompted to choose your favorite team. All of the EXP you gain in the game will go towards your team's total within a competition consisting of all FIFA players. So for example if you are an Arsenal fan then your points will count towards Arsenal's global total. This seems like a cool feature on the surface, but it's really pretty pointless unless they provide some sort of incentive to care.
- Challenges - As part of the Football Club, EA has introduced a challenges feature. The basic idea is that you have a chance to re-write history by assuming the controls of a scripted match scenario from a recent real life match. For example, yesterday's challenge involved recreating Dortmund's recent comeback victory against Mainz. If you chose to accept the challenge, you played as Dortmund against the CPU starting in the ~60th minute down 1-0, needing to come back and win at least 2-1 in order to successfully complete the challenge and collect the EXP reward. This game mode is kinda fun, but nothing special really.
There may be a few other new features that I'm forgetting, but these are the big ones.
As for some of the holdovers, I have some thoughts on those as well...
- Career Mode - So far it doesn't seem quite as in depth as FIFA 10's career mode, but it's a big improvement over the awful career mode of FIFA 11. EA seems to have taken a few pages out of Football Manager's playbook. As manager of a team, you once again have the ability to send scouts around the world to find those future stars for your club. The transfer system has been improved and the news feed has been revamped to provide more interesting stories. The overall presentation is better and the silly loading speed of the calendar seems to have been improved. I thought career mode was a huge disappointment in FIFA 11, but it's been improved significantly this year.
- Ultimate Team - This year EA is giving away Ultimate Team for free on launch. If you aren't familiar with this feature, it's a trading card game where you build a custom team from "packs" of players that you earn through match coins or by spending real money. The best aspect of this game mode is that it lets you play online with unique squads that you wouldn't otherwise get to use (i.e. Ronaldo, Messi, Llorente in the same front line). There are some downsides though. Ultimate Team features a "chemistry" system that restricts your ability to build truly unique teams. For example, if you put players from different leagues and national teams in the same Ultimate Team then your chemistry will be low and your performance will suffer. So while the game sells itself as Ultimate Team, you really can't build your dream squad. And then there's the $$$ issue. While it is technically possible to assemble a great Ultimate Team without spending any real money, it's very difficult. The game is designed to STRONGLY encourage you to spend real money on packs. Personally, I would resist the temptation. It's not worth it, especially with the game destined to be obsolete in a mere 12 months.
- Virtual Pro - Virtual Pro is back again. You have the opportunity to create one player that you can use online and offline in a variety of game modes. As your player completes various accomplishments in the game, his stats gradually improve. If you played FIFA 11 then you know everything you need to know about Virtual Pro. It hasn't changed much at all in FIFA 12. Neither has the Pro Clubs feature or the Pro Ranked Match feature, although both modes seem to be working smoothly on launch this year unlike in FIFA 11.
And finally some general thoughts on the gameplay for people who played FIFA 11.
- After being absurdly overpowered last season, crossing has been nerfed. It is still effective in certain situations, but not nearly as reliable as it was last season. Offensive players still seem to possess an insane ability to win the ball over clueless defenders who inexplicably stand still. The main difference this year seems to be the difficulty of providing good service. I'm finding that my crosses into the box are much more erratic and prone to missing the area completely.
- The CPU AI has been overhauled. Assuming that you play on one of the higher difficulties, CPU players are GODLY defenders who have psychic abilities to anticipate your movement and intervene with a perfectly timed challenge 100% of the time. They block shots and dispossess you like it's going out of style, and they almost NEVER get called for fouls. You can go 3...4...5 games against the CPU without getting even a single free kick in a dangerous position. They can crash into you and bowl you over without drawing a whistle. Annoying. What's even more annoying is the offensive AI. If you play on one of the higher difficulties like World Class or Legendary, scrub players from fourth tier English sides will suddenly acquire world class field vision, touch, and dribbling skills. It's like playing against Barcelona...except it's really Dag & Red. With a bit of experience you can learn to compensate by anticipating their anticipation, but it's just annoying at times and nowhere near realistic. Read more ›
- Precision Dribbling - EA touts this as some sort of significant advancement in the series, but from what I can tell so far it is nothing but a useless control feature that allows you to (very slowly) dribble in tight increments. Basically, it gives your players great close control, but it's so slow that it's useless. Anyone can steal the ball from your player as soon as you activate the precision dribbling controls.
- Tactical Defending - EA has revamped the defending system by removing the pressure buttons and forcing you to do more of the defending work on your own rather than relying on your CPU defenders to come in and make tackles for you. This has been a pretty controversial feature. Some love it. Some hate it. If you relied on automatic pressure buttons in previous FIFA games then you probably won't like tactical defending at first. Personally, I never used pressure buttons in the first place, so this change suits my style. Having said that, defending against the CPU can be very frustrating, but I blame this more on unrealistic AI than on the defending system itself (more on that later).
- Player Impact Engine - This is a new feature intended to improve the game physics so that player collisions are more realistic. I can safely say that it is still very much a work in progress. At its best, it does exactly what it's meant to do. At its worst, it creates ridiculous collisions that are unintentionally hilarious because they're so strange looking and unrealistic. Just look on YouTube for some of the laughable stuff you'll see. I wish I could say that the moments of comedy were rare, but you see something "off" almost every match. My guess is that this feature won't be perfected for another year or two.
- Head-to-Head Seasons - The Head-to-Head Ranked Matches feature from the last few seasons has been overhauled and replaced. Rather than just playing an endless sequence of matches like in years past, this year FIFA has introduced the idea of Head-to-Head Seasons. The basic concept is pretty simple. There are 10 tiers of competition. Everyone starts in level 10 and tries to work their way up to level 1. If you win a match, you get three points. If you draw, you get one point. If you lose, you get nothing. Promotion and relegation depend on the number of points you accumulate in a season (which is 10 games long). The number of required points rises as you move up the different levels. So while it's very easy to get promoted from level 10 to level 9, it's significantly harder to get from level 8 to level 7. This is partially because the required amount of points is higher and partially because your opponents tend to be stronger as you move up the levels. If you get enough points to avoid relegation, but you fail to earn enough points to win promotion to the next league, you stay at your same level and get another chance with a new 10 game season. Please note that there isn't a real "league" to speak of, meaning you don't play against the same 9 teams as everyone else in your league. Rather, you play random opponents within your general level range and your promotion/relegation status depends solely on your point total.
I'm enjoying this new system so far, though I still think they should've left the old ranked matches system in the game as an option. If you want to play a conventional ranked match without any concern for promotion/relegation, you're out of luck. The game mode has been completely replaced by seasons.
One last note on this. The match-making system has changed so that you pick teams BEFORE the CPU matches you up with your opponent. There's no more musical chairs at the team selection screen. This time around you pick your team, make whatever changes you want to make to your lineup, and then press search. The system automatically matches you with an opponent. You don't get to see what team you're playing against until the game has already loaded.
- EA Sports Football Club - There's a whole host of new features related to your general progress in all modes of FIFA. You now get a type of experience points (EXP) for a variety of minor achievements within the game, such as completing a virtual pro accomplishment or winning a promotion in seasons. You can compare your overall EXP level with your friends. Also, the first time you run the game you will be prompted to choose your favorite team. All of the EXP you gain in the game will go towards your team's total within a competition consisting of all FIFA players. So for example if you are an Arsenal fan then your points will count towards Arsenal's global total. This seems like a cool feature on the surface, but it's really pretty pointless unless they provide some sort of incentive to care.
- Challenges - As part of the Football Club, EA has introduced a challenges feature. The basic idea is that you have a chance to re-write history by assuming the controls of a scripted match scenario from a recent real life match. For example, yesterday's challenge involved recreating Dortmund's recent comeback victory against Mainz. If you chose to accept the challenge, you played as Dortmund against the CPU starting in the ~60th minute down 1-0, needing to come back and win at least 2-1 in order to successfully complete the challenge and collect the EXP reward. This game mode is kinda fun, but nothing special really.
There may be a few other new features that I'm forgetting, but these are the big ones.
As for some of the holdovers, I have some thoughts on those as well...
- Career Mode - So far it doesn't seem quite as in depth as FIFA 10's career mode, but it's a big improvement over the awful career mode of FIFA 11. EA seems to have taken a few pages out of Football Manager's playbook. As manager of a team, you once again have the ability to send scouts around the world to find those future stars for your club. The transfer system has been improved and the news feed has been revamped to provide more interesting stories. The overall presentation is better and the silly loading speed of the calendar seems to have been improved. I thought career mode was a huge disappointment in FIFA 11, but it's been improved significantly this year.
- Ultimate Team - This year EA is giving away Ultimate Team for free on launch. If you aren't familiar with this feature, it's a trading card game where you build a custom team from "packs" of players that you earn through match coins or by spending real money. The best aspect of this game mode is that it lets you play online with unique squads that you wouldn't otherwise get to use (i.e. Ronaldo, Messi, Llorente in the same front line). There are some downsides though. Ultimate Team features a "chemistry" system that restricts your ability to build truly unique teams. For example, if you put players from different leagues and national teams in the same Ultimate Team then your chemistry will be low and your performance will suffer. So while the game sells itself as Ultimate Team, you really can't build your dream squad. And then there's the $$$ issue. While it is technically possible to assemble a great Ultimate Team without spending any real money, it's very difficult. The game is designed to STRONGLY encourage you to spend real money on packs. Personally, I would resist the temptation. It's not worth it, especially with the game destined to be obsolete in a mere 12 months.
- Virtual Pro - Virtual Pro is back again. You have the opportunity to create one player that you can use online and offline in a variety of game modes. As your player completes various accomplishments in the game, his stats gradually improve. If you played FIFA 11 then you know everything you need to know about Virtual Pro. It hasn't changed much at all in FIFA 12. Neither has the Pro Clubs feature or the Pro Ranked Match feature, although both modes seem to be working smoothly on launch this year unlike in FIFA 11.
And finally some general thoughts on the gameplay for people who played FIFA 11.
- After being absurdly overpowered last season, crossing has been nerfed. It is still effective in certain situations, but not nearly as reliable as it was last season. Offensive players still seem to possess an insane ability to win the ball over clueless defenders who inexplicably stand still. The main difference this year seems to be the difficulty of providing good service. I'm finding that my crosses into the box are much more erratic and prone to missing the area completely.
- The CPU AI has been overhauled. Assuming that you play on one of the higher difficulties, CPU players are GODLY defenders who have psychic abilities to anticipate your movement and intervene with a perfectly timed challenge 100% of the time. They block shots and dispossess you like it's going out of style, and they almost NEVER get called for fouls. You can go 3...4...5 games against the CPU without getting even a single free kick in a dangerous position. They can crash into you and bowl you over without drawing a whistle. Annoying. What's even more annoying is the offensive AI. If you play on one of the higher difficulties like World Class or Legendary, scrub players from fourth tier English sides will suddenly acquire world class field vision, touch, and dribbling skills. It's like playing against Barcelona...except it's really Dag & Red. With a bit of experience you can learn to compensate by anticipating their anticipation, but it's just annoying at times and nowhere near realistic. Read more ›
36 of 45 people found the following review helpful
By H. Crosland
Platform for Display:Xbox 360
Fun:
5.0 out of 5 stars
There is always that love/hate that people have with EA Sports games. People love it because they know that when EA makes a game, you are going to get almost everything you could ever imagine in a sports game. The license, the players and so on. And then, there are the things that you HATE about EA games. With them scooping up licenses, they tend to keep their competition (Yes Madden I am looking at you!!!) down unfairly and make their games unplayable, they change game elements and sometimes they even take small things out (how much is it to ask for to get a decent halftime show, ask 2K Sports to educate you on how to make a proper sports presentation) that really immerses you into a game.
FIFA 12, like Madden 12, represents all of the love/hate that fans have had for the franchise over the years. Because truthfully, most of the changes in this year's FIFA iteration are small tweaks.
Let's start off with the fact that if you bought EA's Season pass (20 bucks) you get the entire game downloaded to your PS 3 or 360 for nothing extra. The entire game, not a demo. You are then free to go in and start your career mode, download your game face etc. It lasts right up to the point of the actual day of release. If you are a hardcore EA Sports gamer, this will be up your alley because for 1 year you can get any EA Sports title and if you feel like it sucks, you lost nothing except money for the access and a few hours. Your miles may vary.
As for the game itself, the presentation screens remain largely unchanged from last year's presentation short of the menu bars scroll at the bottom as opposed to the left side like last year and for some it really feels at this point that you paid money for a roster update, but wait, here is where the small stuff kicks in that will determine your value of the game.
The EA Sports Football Club has been implemented that gives you XP for things you do within a game and it levels you up accordingly and also if you support a particular club everything that YOU and all of those supporting it does, goes into the pot and everyone levels together. Another side of this is that you get challenges to complete that earns you XP and unlockables. The challenge this week was to bring Chelsea back from their 1-3 deficit against Man Utd which starts you off at the 49' mark. After 3 tries, I still haven't gotten past because there is so much I want to see and do.
The Career mode was where I really enjoyed myself on this game and again it looks largely unchanged except now, if you choose to be a player - manager, it's a little bit more involved. Some of the transfers are indeed a bit more realistic (not to mention that the rosters are already updated to current status) and as an added touch, you get tips and warnings similar to FIFA Manager about how to go after players; if you go after players that play with your rival, you will get told that it will cost you a bit more. Also, the AI is a bit more aggressive about coming after players and that is one thing that was lacking from last year's iteration. You may receive more that 3 or 4 offers for a particular player, but what I wished for is that if a team really wanted my player, is that if they were denied, they would come back with a higher offer.
Also during the course of the season, players will tell when they are unhappy or feel good about the team so pay attention to the morale of the team. The one thing that this lacked as opposed to FIFA Manager was the ability to talk to a player and have it affect their morale. The only way right now that you can get it up is to simply get them into the game. One other like I have is that as news articles are highlighted, you can click on them to read the full story. Also by using the right stick you can highlight which story you want to see. The press conference is a bit forgettable whereas a question may be asked about a match, you answer it, and...that's it. Nothing else. FIFA Manager handled this a bit better showing you if morale went up or down or if your popularity with fans went up or down. The press conference is just another tacked on extra that should have been fleshed out as good as if not better than FIFA manager.
So with all that said, how is the gameplay? It's fine but there's one last bug I have to talk about and then I can get to it. The biggest little bug I have encountered so far is that the AI may have the game scheduled at one time but the lighting effect shows another. I had a game scheduled for 8pm. Once the game started up, the lighting effect was 1pm that afternoon which threw me off simply because it was a minor annoyance, but after seeing this happen 2 more times, it was irritating. I am hoping that this is fixed with the game disc release but who knows.
Gameplay itself is mostly unchanged but one thing I did note is that there are additional sliders in the game settings you can set to control the pace of the game. You can change yours or the AI's sprinting speed, pass control, shot power and more. Otherwise it's the FIFA game everybody knows. As far as the tactical defending, it's definitely a game changer. And this is the small addition which is the biggest and most noticeable difference in FIFA 12. When using the Tactical Defending controls, it actually allows you to do your best to contain a player and force passes and keep attackers from easily pushing up and down the pitch. If I didn't say so before, play the tutorial at the very beginning of the game to get a feel for it, you won't regret it.
Also I have seen possessions won and lost based on how hard players play on the ball because of the push/pull button; there is definitely a lot more jostling and shirt pulling this year and it's not as simple to just take a ball away from someone like last year's edition. Also I do like that if you hold a bumper button another player can be called over to help contain an attacking player. If you don't like the tactical defense, supposedly it can be turned off but I haven't attempted to yet because it feels a bit better.
I haven't experienced any of the graphical glitches so far that has been reported to have cropped up but one thing I have noticed that a lot of player models haven't been changed or aren't 100% correct. Patrice Evra is still a bit too dark considering his skin tone and David De Gea is clean shaven and I wish I had a way to edit that! Wayne Rooney of course is sporting his weave and Bacary Sagna sports his 2 tone short locks. There are of course many new animations added because of the new engine involved and yeah....the game does move well and the dribbling has improved also. You will notice more realistic tackles and tangles because of it, even if you run into your own player. I feel like I do have a little more control over moving the ball around and not losing it simply because someone got close enough to swipe it away from me it may have something to do with them moving the dribble button off of the face button onto the left bumper which gives users an easier way to get to it.
This year you have 2 choices for your commentary team and I have used both and so far, not bad but EA still needs to take notes from 2K Sports on how to do commentary. 2K games such as NBA 2K11 had a dynamic system where the commentators could take stats from a previous game you have played and inject them into the game that you are currently playing. Why for the life of me can't EA do this for Madden and FIFA franchises? Laziness? Wouldn't it be nice to know that your player who shot 60% on target on a team he faced twice last season could do it again today, how many clean sheets he had or that critical yellow card and you know this because of the commentary? Wishful thinking, I know, but then I won't rant on about the static looking and sounding crowds either.
I think the only other minuses I still have is the exclusion of the UEFA Cup (why EA just simply couldn't rename it something else is beyond me) and many of the stadiums are still not in the game.
I have not played any games online as of yet, nor have I been able make time to try Football Ultimate Team but I will do so upon release of the disc on Tuesday, so obviously I cannot comment on that aspect.
In the end however, FIFA 12's minor changes especially those in the Career mode and tactical defending is what will keep you playing. There are a lot of minor additions to the GUI and menu interface that gamers wanted and getting but probably wanted more control out of. But, the only ones who will be hard pressed to buy this are the same ones, who like myself, get sick of the minor updates for 60 bucks (like Madden Football) and are hoping for more. At least for futbol fans, you do have an alternative: PES 2012. As long as you can live without the licenses, you are ok.
Otherwise, FIFA has a good game on its hands, the minor stuff goes a long way to making it a better game but it's some of the larger issues, that keeps it from being a great game.
FIFA 12, like Madden 12, represents all of the love/hate that fans have had for the franchise over the years. Because truthfully, most of the changes in this year's FIFA iteration are small tweaks.
Let's start off with the fact that if you bought EA's Season pass (20 bucks) you get the entire game downloaded to your PS 3 or 360 for nothing extra. The entire game, not a demo. You are then free to go in and start your career mode, download your game face etc. It lasts right up to the point of the actual day of release. If you are a hardcore EA Sports gamer, this will be up your alley because for 1 year you can get any EA Sports title and if you feel like it sucks, you lost nothing except money for the access and a few hours. Your miles may vary.
As for the game itself, the presentation screens remain largely unchanged from last year's presentation short of the menu bars scroll at the bottom as opposed to the left side like last year and for some it really feels at this point that you paid money for a roster update, but wait, here is where the small stuff kicks in that will determine your value of the game.
The EA Sports Football Club has been implemented that gives you XP for things you do within a game and it levels you up accordingly and also if you support a particular club everything that YOU and all of those supporting it does, goes into the pot and everyone levels together. Another side of this is that you get challenges to complete that earns you XP and unlockables. The challenge this week was to bring Chelsea back from their 1-3 deficit against Man Utd which starts you off at the 49' mark. After 3 tries, I still haven't gotten past because there is so much I want to see and do.
The Career mode was where I really enjoyed myself on this game and again it looks largely unchanged except now, if you choose to be a player - manager, it's a little bit more involved. Some of the transfers are indeed a bit more realistic (not to mention that the rosters are already updated to current status) and as an added touch, you get tips and warnings similar to FIFA Manager about how to go after players; if you go after players that play with your rival, you will get told that it will cost you a bit more. Also, the AI is a bit more aggressive about coming after players and that is one thing that was lacking from last year's iteration. You may receive more that 3 or 4 offers for a particular player, but what I wished for is that if a team really wanted my player, is that if they were denied, they would come back with a higher offer.
Also during the course of the season, players will tell when they are unhappy or feel good about the team so pay attention to the morale of the team. The one thing that this lacked as opposed to FIFA Manager was the ability to talk to a player and have it affect their morale. The only way right now that you can get it up is to simply get them into the game. One other like I have is that as news articles are highlighted, you can click on them to read the full story. Also by using the right stick you can highlight which story you want to see. The press conference is a bit forgettable whereas a question may be asked about a match, you answer it, and...that's it. Nothing else. FIFA Manager handled this a bit better showing you if morale went up or down or if your popularity with fans went up or down. The press conference is just another tacked on extra that should have been fleshed out as good as if not better than FIFA manager.
So with all that said, how is the gameplay? It's fine but there's one last bug I have to talk about and then I can get to it. The biggest little bug I have encountered so far is that the AI may have the game scheduled at one time but the lighting effect shows another. I had a game scheduled for 8pm. Once the game started up, the lighting effect was 1pm that afternoon which threw me off simply because it was a minor annoyance, but after seeing this happen 2 more times, it was irritating. I am hoping that this is fixed with the game disc release but who knows.
Gameplay itself is mostly unchanged but one thing I did note is that there are additional sliders in the game settings you can set to control the pace of the game. You can change yours or the AI's sprinting speed, pass control, shot power and more. Otherwise it's the FIFA game everybody knows. As far as the tactical defending, it's definitely a game changer. And this is the small addition which is the biggest and most noticeable difference in FIFA 12. When using the Tactical Defending controls, it actually allows you to do your best to contain a player and force passes and keep attackers from easily pushing up and down the pitch. If I didn't say so before, play the tutorial at the very beginning of the game to get a feel for it, you won't regret it.
Also I have seen possessions won and lost based on how hard players play on the ball because of the push/pull button; there is definitely a lot more jostling and shirt pulling this year and it's not as simple to just take a ball away from someone like last year's edition. Also I do like that if you hold a bumper button another player can be called over to help contain an attacking player. If you don't like the tactical defense, supposedly it can be turned off but I haven't attempted to yet because it feels a bit better.
I haven't experienced any of the graphical glitches so far that has been reported to have cropped up but one thing I have noticed that a lot of player models haven't been changed or aren't 100% correct. Patrice Evra is still a bit too dark considering his skin tone and David De Gea is clean shaven and I wish I had a way to edit that! Wayne Rooney of course is sporting his weave and Bacary Sagna sports his 2 tone short locks. There are of course many new animations added because of the new engine involved and yeah....the game does move well and the dribbling has improved also. You will notice more realistic tackles and tangles because of it, even if you run into your own player. I feel like I do have a little more control over moving the ball around and not losing it simply because someone got close enough to swipe it away from me it may have something to do with them moving the dribble button off of the face button onto the left bumper which gives users an easier way to get to it.
This year you have 2 choices for your commentary team and I have used both and so far, not bad but EA still needs to take notes from 2K Sports on how to do commentary. 2K games such as NBA 2K11 had a dynamic system where the commentators could take stats from a previous game you have played and inject them into the game that you are currently playing. Why for the life of me can't EA do this for Madden and FIFA franchises? Laziness? Wouldn't it be nice to know that your player who shot 60% on target on a team he faced twice last season could do it again today, how many clean sheets he had or that critical yellow card and you know this because of the commentary? Wishful thinking, I know, but then I won't rant on about the static looking and sounding crowds either.
I think the only other minuses I still have is the exclusion of the UEFA Cup (why EA just simply couldn't rename it something else is beyond me) and many of the stadiums are still not in the game.
I have not played any games online as of yet, nor have I been able make time to try Football Ultimate Team but I will do so upon release of the disc on Tuesday, so obviously I cannot comment on that aspect.
In the end however, FIFA 12's minor changes especially those in the Career mode and tactical defending is what will keep you playing. There are a lot of minor additions to the GUI and menu interface that gamers wanted and getting but probably wanted more control out of. But, the only ones who will be hard pressed to buy this are the same ones, who like myself, get sick of the minor updates for 60 bucks (like Madden Football) and are hoping for more. At least for futbol fans, you do have an alternative: PES 2012. As long as you can live without the licenses, you are ok.
Otherwise, FIFA has a good game on its hands, the minor stuff goes a long way to making it a better game but it's some of the larger issues, that keeps it from being a great game.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Say good bye to your kids
Say good bye to your kids because they are going to lock themselves up in their rooms for a couple of weeks playing this one.
Published 14 days ago by Todd Kinsey
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great game.
Love the game! Graphics are great. Love the fact you can play against your friends online! Really good game overall
Published 21 days ago by Derek J. Butler
5.0 out of 5 stars
Soccer player loves soccer game - big surprise!
My son has always played soccer so it was no surprise that he wanted this game. He's really enjoying it so far and I decided to get this one since it had better reviews than FIFA... Read more
Published 23 days ago by Dublin mom
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome Game
FIFA 12 is much better than 10 and 11. I like to buy last years game because its cheaper and people still play it online. Great gameplay
Published 24 days ago by Nick
5.0 out of 5 stars
love it
my nson loves this game he and his uncle just plays it every day love it and it keeps them in the house
Published 1 month ago by Shawna Morrison
5.0 out of 5 stars
love it
I am not much into games, but this has now become my favorite time pass. its so nice that people around me like to watch, if not play !
Published 1 month ago by Prakash
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excelente juego
FIfa como siempre dando buenas experiencias en juegos de deportes. este juego cumple con todos los requisitos para pasar horasss
Published 2 months ago by Misael
5.0 out of 5 stars
love it
great game and quality! really accurate description and shipped quick! would love to do business again! Thanks again for the product.
Published 2 months ago by Erik Lassen
5.0 out of 5 stars
el mejor
sin duda fifa ya no tiene rival , , , , , . . . . . . . . .
Published 3 months ago by oscar luis astudillo
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome
I may even like this one more than FIFA 13 simply due to the ability to be both a Player and Manager of a team. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Matthew Nolin
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Platform: Xbox 360
- Video Games > Xbox 360 > Games > Sports > Soccer
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