Check out the screens below.

The one thing EA’s games have always got over their competitors is fantastic visuals, and MMA is no different. Each of the game’s combatants have been wonderfully recreated and, as far as I can tell, play like their real life counterparts. As good as these guys look, does anyone know who they actually are? One of the big things working against EA’s fledgling franchise is the lack of the UFC license. Fighters from Strikeforce are the most notable inclusions. Guys like Bobby Lashley, Fedor Emelianenko, Ken Shamrock and Randy Coture are the standout names on the roster, none of whom mean anything to be. For fans of the UFC, this could be a problem. Aside from the character models, the visuals are decent enough. The various combat areas look good, as do the arenas, but they lack a certain level of polish that leaves them looking less than realistic. Combine that with a few ropey animations during intros and sub-par announcing.

That being said, I didn’t hear much announcing. Once I got the controls down I was finishing fights in under thirty seconds. Now that’s cool every once in a while, but nine times out of ten I’d have knocked my opponent out before he could even touch me. Towards the end of my, forty fight career, I was dispatching foes with ease after a number of punches, spending most of my time working through menus and being forced to simulate training mini games. Speaking of the career, it’s done well for the most part. A lot of the tedious elements that tend to feature in EA Sports’ career modes have been scrapped or adapted. The training mini games only have to be completed once if you get top marks. After that, you can just simulate and get your desired results. There’s a lot of these training exercises to go through in a variety of real life gyms. This is a cool feature and I even found some exercises fun to complete. The masses of menus became tedious after a while and I decided to do the majority of my training in my original gym.

This didn’t seem to be a problem either. Whilst some of the techniques and special moves I picked up in the other gyms helped me out occasionally, but my fighter was a straight up boxer and the original combos were enough to polish off most foes, no matter what their stats were. I found this to my advantage too. My created fighter was not a great submission fighter, but the amount of fights I won against later opponents by submission makes me think something went wrong here. I shouldn’t be complaining but, if my stats say I’m no good at something, that’s how it should be.

On a gameplay front the game is pretty good. The controls are intuitive, and anyone who has played Fight Night will soon get into the swing of things as far as strikes go. Grapples are a little more complicated and can be a little hit or miss. The way these work is all down to your rhythm and timing, which isn’t the easiest thing to control when you’re stuck in an armbar. Nevertheless, it’s a good system. It’ll just take a while to get used to. However, those who want to pick up and play against a friend should have no problem. Considering this is meant to be a sport with tactics, it usually comes down to who throws the most punches and/or kicks in the end.

That becomes even clearer when watching replays and live matches online. One of the coolest features of this game is Live Broadcast. Fighters are chosen to compete against oneanother in set events and EA have invited the world to come and watch. Live announcers commentate each game and they really go for a TV-esque presentation style. Due to the aforementioned gameplay issues, a lot of fights tended to be very similar, but it’s a cool feature nonetheless.

I think EA Sports MMA is a good first effort. Tiburon’s experience with Fight Night has definitely helped shape this game into a good fighting experience, but it definitely needs work. The career mode is short and it’s lacking a lot of balance. There wasn’t enough times where I felt challenged by the AI and when it came down to multiplayer, simple maths won out in the end.

7.5/10

Year-upon-year iterations can’t always be completely innovative, but EA always manage to throw in a bunch of improvements to make the beautiful game even better. This year ‘Personality Plus’ is the focus. In the past features like this have felt more like a gimmick than a game changer, and I thought that’s where this was going. Making every player play like they would in real life is no easy task, and EA are walking a fine line. However, you’ll be glad to know that all is still well in the FIFA camp, and ‘Personality Plus’ makes a big difference.

In previous games I’ve noticed that a lot of players felt the same, or where more generic representations of their real life counterparts. What ‘Personality Plus’ has done, is made players feel more individual. Playing on real life qualities, the action on the pitch has never felt so realistic. From Wayne Rooney’s bullish, box-to-box play to Lionel Messi’s silky smooth footwork, nothing is missing. As soon as you take control of one of these players, the new addition is clear. That’s not to say that lesser players are left out. A players height, weight, build and attributes help form the kind of player he is and how he plays on the pitch. I have to say, it’s pretty remarkable. The majority of the recreations are spot on. On the whole, gameplay isn’t remarkably different from the World Cup game EA put out in April. The addition of ‘Personality Plus’, alongside other slight tweaks do make it a step up from FIFA’s international outing.

The other big improvement to note is the improved passing system. The amount of times I fell victim to someone knocking a ball from the back along the ground right to a striker’s feet online was unbelievable. It’s just not something you’d see in football. In fact, it’s close to impossible. Passing now has more weight to it and long balls like that are a thing of the past. It means that you have to be more tactical, more methodical and more careful. Get it right and you’ll be playing like Spain in no time.

The ‘Manager’ and ‘Be A Pro’ modes have also received an update. Now combined into a single ‘Career’ mode, players can start out at their club rising through the ranks for club and country before eventually becoming manager of your chosen club. Whilst it’s a cool concept, it’s one that’s going to take a lot of time and commitment. Of course you can play the two modes one their own too, if you so wish. The manager mode has gotten a few smaller updates, but they’re still quite important for die hard fans. Transfers are more realistic, with AI-controlled deals remaining within the realm of possibility. Loaned out players are actually on loan when you start your season. It seems very minor, but it all adds to the realism. The game now operates on a day-to-day calendar, as opposed to the weekly schedule from previous games. This is great during the transfer window, but all the waiting around on loading screens becomes very tedious as the load times can be horrendous.

All the licenses are here and, graphically, it’s the best FIFA game to date. Everything looks as it should and that makes a big difference for me. I want to play a realistic football simulation and when it’s not just right, it’s a big turn off. The stadiums have seen a bit of an improvement this year, with the crowd seeming more animated and, again, realism is the defining factor. Speaking of which, my favorite new feature has to be the addition of custom chants. Hearing some of Man United’s classic chants sung from the terraces at Old Trafford will never get tiresome. ‘Personality Plus’ has also had an effect on player models. With these being made to fit a number of different player styles, every player looks individual. That’s a big plus, for me, right there.

EA Sports have crafted something fantastic here. All the new implementations, however big or small, have improved the game to no end. It’s not the massive leap that it’s predecessor was, but they have done it again. Even with Konami’s good effort, FIFA still takes the title for a fourth year running. Take a bow EA, take a bow.

9.0/10

The first thing FIFA fans will want to know is that a demo for the game will be released September 16th and is likely to feature Arsenal and Real Madrid (judging by the North American cover art). However, a whole host of new details were revealed in the trailer, which can be watched after the jump.

The first major thing is that 11 vs. 11 matches are now possible. That’s right, players will now be able to take on the role of the goalkeeper. How this will work is anyone’s guess, but I know I’ll be wanting to check this out. Hopefully I’ll be more of a Schmeichel than a Taibi.

As with a lot of the current marketing campaign, Personality Plus was a big feature and it seems to suggest that players will have certain special abilities depending on their stats (e.g. one-time passer, playmaker, tackler e.t.c.). New features include AI skill moves and multiplayer celebrations. Whilst the former might not be that big of a deal, the skill moves will definitely make for more of a challenge and add to the realism.

September 16th (and October 1st) can’t come soon enough!

It usually takes a month or so for the worlds biggest sports franchise to hit American shores, so this is a first (I’ll admit I’m jealous). With this, EA also announced a new ‘Creaton Center’ feature for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game. This new feature will allow users to “craft your own football player and create the team of your dreams using a web-based application.” The application is set to launch at the same time as the game.

Previously announced features for this iteration are ‘Personality+’ and “custom audio”. That’s right, England will be shit and fans will be drowned out by the sound of Vuvuzela’s.

Classification for the PS3 version was passed on  June 24th (the 360 version was passed earlier this week). Of course this isn’t an official announcement, but porting this game to HD consoles seems like a good move for EA. I can definitely see this being a massive hit on PSN or XBLA.

EA are yet to comment on the game’s existence.

Source: Joystiq

With each iteration the FIFA games get bigger and better, FIFA 11 is shaping up to be the best yet. In the brief time I played this, half finished, build I noticed so many little nuances that make each year’s title so exciting. With the majority of features currently unannounced, the focus here was gameplay. I can see that FIFA 11 will be another set up for the franchise.

Even whilst using assists, passing felt more natural. No longer can you make a pinpoint pass on a 180 degree turn, no longer will you have Sol Campbell taking on the Chelsea defense and EA are striving to fix all of the problems players have had with previous titles too. The whole thing felt a lot more natural. Players felt like they had weight to them, each of them feeling individual.

Individuality is something EA Sports have strived to etch out in this iteration. Players will be distinguished, not just by their specific look, but how they move on the ball. Take Andrei Arshavin of Arsenal, for example. He is a very quick, nimble player with good ball control. When running he is quick, he can make turns faster and he keeps the ball close to him. Sol Campbell, a large, lumbering defender does not play the same way. His touches are much less controlled and his speed much lower. Alongside the player-specific updates, I noticed a few changes to the way players look, how they hold themselves when idle and, also, a good few new passing, crossing and shooting animations. All of which add to the realism. These little details are what make FIFA so realistic and it looks like EA have hit the spot again.

One of the non-gameplay features talked about was the ability for players to record their own chants (a la MLB The Show) and use them in the game. Finally fans can have their favorite chants sung from the terraces. FIFA being a ‘family friendly’ title, there’s a lot of chants that just can’t be used. With this, I can finally complete my football experience.

I’m certainly looking forward to what EA have yet to announce with regards to FIFA 11. We’ll find out more very soon.

The latest EA Sports franchise was given a release date of October 19th and Randy Coture and Fedor Emelianenko were announced as the game’s cover stars. In conjunction with this, Mr. Moore also announced a new feature called ‘EA Sports Live Broadcast’. Launching with EA MMA, the new service will allow people to be featured in online fights, upload ‘smack talk’ videos and a bunch of other fun stuff.

The demo will allow fans to play as, either, Spain or Italy and check out what EA have tweaked and changed in this stopgap between FIFA’s 10 and 11. For those just getting in to the game/the sport EA have also included an optional control system for newcomers. How nice.

With this announcement, EA also announced the soundtrack to the game. I don’t know if anyone cares, but if you do it’s after the jump.

Of course info like this is subject to change, but it looks like we can look forward to EA Sports MMA and Crysis 2 sometime between the October and December. Alongside these come a, yet to be officially announced, console version of Sims 3, a new Need For Speed (the Criterion one, perhaps?) and another addition to the laundry list of Harry Potter games.