Impressions: FIFA 10

By now most football (soccer) fans will have gotten their hands on a small portion of FIFA 10. The public demo was released on the PlayStation Store last Thursday and, already, after this small chunk, I have started to see hate mail.

That’s right, I hadn’t even expressed my views and I was already getting the “OMG FIFA IS CRAP PeS FTW!” emails. First of all, I would like to point out that, in the past, I did like Konami’s game. However, in recent years FIFA has grown leaps and bounds and the people mentioned above should, at the very least, give this demo a try.

Ok, rant over. Let’s talk FIFA 10. As with all EA Sports titles, a graphical upgrade, however small, seems to be a requirement each year. FIFA 10 is no exception. The player models have, certainly, seen improvement since last years iteration making players look more akin to their real life counterparts. There’s been a few minor changes to player faces, but nothing major. All in all, you would be a little hard pressed to find any massive graphical changes. It’s nice to notice the smaller ones though.

It was FIFA 08 where EA fianlly rose above Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer series and it’s continued on from there. The gameplay was fantastic, just a few little tweaks here and there had made FIFA king once again. The latest of these is the addition of 360 degree player control. This allows you to move your players 360 degrees, rather than the usual eight directions. This addition is fantastic, not only does it make the game look more realistic, it also affects how you play. You can now quickly escape your opponents with a quick turn before making a run into the box. All of this seems more dynamic than in previous FIFA titles and certainly makes for a great, realistic, experience.

On the whole, I think FIFA 10 will be one that, once again, will please the fans and attract a bunch of new ones. Personally, I can’t wait for October 2nd.

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