One of the much touted key features ‘Pro passing’ seemingly gives you more control over where you're aiming a pass and you now need to weight a pass instead of just tapping the pass button and a perfectly weighted pass being executed, which means the lazer guided pin point passes in Fifa 10 are much harder to pull off. The passing speed I think has been slowed down a bit too much so passing moves don’t have that ‘zip’ which they should do.
The new Personality Plus feature means that players now feel different from one another so player’s abilities are mirrored authentically meaning you now think strategically before launching an attack focusing on certain player’s strengths and utilizing them. For example, fast-paced wingers such as Aaron Lennon or Theo Walcott can burst past defenders with ease, while players such as Wayne Rooney or Steven Gerrard are far more likely to blast in a shot from long range.
It’s less noticeable when you play in the lower leagues as expected but playing with star players the effects of P+ are clearly evident especially when dribbling with a player such as Messi with the ball being kept closer to his feet due to his high dribbling skill.
It is much harder now to break down defences as pace isn’t nearly as effective as it was previously and the defensive AI has been tightened up so you need to relay on patient build-up play, timing and good movement to score goals so this results in a more sophisticated style of football where use of the mid-field is important. Player responsiveness has been reduced with players taking longer to turn so the game play can feel rather stiff at times and not quite fluid.
The AI still seems very inconsistent much like in Fifa 10. They either turn up or they don’t. So far I’ve only played on World Class difficulty. Certain matches they can’t hit a cow’s backside with a banjo and miss numerous 1v1 opportunities yet other matches they’re deadly when they get a goal scoring opportunity and defend like a brick wall. This results is rather dull matches against the CPU because the match doesn’t have any real eb and flow and feels to scripted.
On a positive note, the AI use dribbling to a greater extent, make more intelligent runs and they are better at maintaining possession. The use of AI skill moves is a good addition but unfortunately EA have taken it too far with players in the Npower League 2 now doing 360 spins every 10 mins or so.
The GK’s have improved; most notably no longer does the GK come rushing out every time a player comes near the box inviting himself to be chipped. They still fumble and parry the ball far too often though. A lot of the goals I’ve scored or conceded have been due to the GK fumbling a shot or header out for the player to knock into the net. Given that EA assigned an engineer to specifically work on GK’s for Fifa 11, i would have expected better in this area.
The new re-written Career Mode is a welcome change over Manager Mode which was riddled with many bugs. The new webpage style interface with a news section showing things such as latest player transfers and results makes the presentation look slicker. If you want to play with Mother Nature you can now change the weather yourself before each match and even the time of day.
FA Cup Replays are finally in which is good to see as are other improvements to tournament authenticity such as Norwegian and Swedish team now able to participate in European competitions. Latest scores are shown on-screen during a match which is a neat addition but the commentator doesn’t mention which team has scored in those matches and the goal updates themselves look visually rather bland so there is certainly room for improvement in this aspect
You can even look at all League tables including ones from other countries during your Career which is good for checking which teams are going to be promoted/relegated in your country. The simulation process itself is very slow even more so than it was in Manager Mode, this maybe down to the fact you can view all league’s as all results need to be simulated so an option to not simulate other leagues would be welcome.
Now your Career progresses on a day-to-day basis meaning things such as transfers are more realistic. The negotiating process has been improved, so you now have to talk to the club and the player to make a signing, and then you wait a couple of days to see if your offer has been accepted. Staff upgrades are no longer available so the in-ability to upgrade your fitness coach means you’re likely to need a decent squad to compete as players tire quite quickly.
Graphically Fifa 11 is somewhat disappointing and is really starting to show its age compared to many other NG games. The colour palette looks bright and cartoony and the fake pre-baked lightning gives the game an overall tacky garnish look. On the plus side, the new 8 way HD camera technology used for player facial modelling produces excellent results giving almost photo-realistic facial models, but unfortunately only about 5 or 6 teams in the game have this technology implemented. The new grass textures are also a further visual enhancement over Fifa 10.
On the audio front, Fifa 11 is reasonable but not great. The commentary duo of Martin Tylor and Andy Grey still remain but they’ve added around 7000 new lines to freshen things up ranging from new team names to half time analysis. The script is certainly wearing thin especially for us who have been following the Fifa series for years.
The biggest improvement with the audio is the addition of custom chants and custom soundtracks which are both great additions and add to the match day atmosphere a lot although there are some bugs such as the EA trax still playing whilst your custom soundtrack is being played.
Overall, Fifa 11 is a great football game which features a lot of refinements, improvements and still retains the addictiveness which made Fifa 10 so popular. Whilst the slower pace and responsiveness and level of physicality won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, many purists are going to enjoy it thoroughly.
