Here we go again, new season, new game, and from what I have seen so far, a whole new football gaming experience. One week away from release and it’s the word ‘new’ that is a daunting one here. Yes we love the updated teams, players and graphics and whatnot, but with the majority of the big changes made to the actual gameplay mechanics, should we be biting our nails at this stage?
Maybe the more hardcore FIFA players will be biting their nails over the changes made this year, but then maybe you’re just not as hardcore as you thought you were after all? See, the changes made to FIFA 12 this year are ones that force a more tactical and in turn more realistic sense of football simulation. Gone are the days of simply holding A and X (Xbox 360) in order to sandwich the ball holder into submission with two defenders. No more automatic jockeying, jostling and tackling with one button, because now it’s all about Tactical Defending (TD).
From the very tutorial-oriented start of the demo it is clear to see that this year EA Sports have set out to try something very different. No more than two minutes into the demo I am told that FIFA 12 has a very different method of defending which I would need to be taught prior to continuing. At this point, admittedly, I did shit myself slightly. Big changes such as this worry me, particularly for a game such as FIFA which is one that has come on leaps and bounds in recent years in terms of gameplay (and I say this as a former Pro Evolution enthusiast). Honestly though, in the back of my mind I knew that holding one button to press, jockey, jostle, contain and tackle an opponent was a bit of a cop out.
Defending tactically with a sliding impact...
TD is made up of a number of tactical methods which range from holding a player up goal-side to containing and taking the ball from the opponent. I firstly had the opportunity to try the Tackle Drill, aiming to take the ball from my opponent. This immediately reminded me of the FIFA games pre-2009, in that you had to press the B button to perform a standing tackle or block. The slide tackle doesn’t seem to have changed much, but it is just a sliding tackle. One noticeable feature when sliding however is the new Player Impact Engine which helps the sliding tackles feel more heavy and realistic upon impact with the opposing player or the ball. Jockeying is now not as simple as it used to be. It has been split up into numerous tasks working towards holding up an attacker, moving in to contain him and finally attempting to secure the ball with a tackle. This makes the defending tougher but more challenging. The ball carrier must be pressured to a certain degree and any mistake made defensively will more than likely be a costly one.
The new defending system is a son-of-a-bitch to get used to at first after having grown to playing the same way for the past 3 years or so, but I can’t help but feel that the change should be welcomed as the old method has become out-dated and much too simple. We all know it’s a bit too simple and quite frankly annoying when you get beat by a 7 year old kid online (the shame…).
Jockey, contain, jostle, tackle... all in that order...
The Player Impact Engine (PIE) looks to be a neat addition allowing real world physicality upon player contact. Two years in development this new physics engine has managed to provide FIFA 12 with a much more realistic feel on the pitch and ties in beautifully with the True Injuries feature whereby the PIE monitors contact between players in real time and evaluates each collision accordingly to decide if an injury has been done and if so, where.
In addition to the new gameplay features, there are new modes such as Online Friendlies, Head to Head Seasons and an all new Career Mode which all seem like promising additions to the game from both multiplayer and single player perspectives.
The full game is available from September 30th, until then the demo is available now for download. Check it out and let us know what you think.
