With the success that FIFA 10 has given to the series, EA have evolved the sports series with FIFA 11 in both gameplay and features. Apart from focusing on the new feature entry of the Personality Plus where it succeeded in putting the game to a new level, EA have introduced a number of features to the series which should be mentioned. EA have always worked in producing the most realistic soccer games, keeping it authentic and playable at the same time. For this time, EA have also introduced the 360 dribbling which does give you better dribbling options during gameplay so that you can affect you professional passes and dribbles.

The Personality Plus is an innovation on how your players evolve, move, tackle and shoot during gameplay. Something similar was introduced in other version where it was called Virtual Pro, but more featured and realistic. As I said before, the feature isn’t just an update to how the players look, but a whole new update which will make the individual player run, dribble, shoot and react according to the player’s profile. Like example if you play with a great player, his shooting, passing and dribbling will be much more accurate from that of a lesser known player.

The game features a new passing system which will allow you to hold the passing button so that you can reach further players down the field by making a stronger pass. Although it works fine for what it was designed, if you could use the same feature to make a quick, strong pass to a close player, it would have been awesome. Maybe this can be tackled in the next release of FIFA. The game also allows you to perform a bigger variation of bumps and sliding tackle variation where you can knock off the player or moving quicker to make impressive moves by holding the left trigger and move the right stick. The physics behind the physical mechanics in the game is very realistic and authentic.

The overall gameplay of the game is solid and it is strongly based on what FIFA 10 has achieved with the addition of the new features. Although these are great additions to the gameplay, with the Personality Plus, the 360 dribbling and the physical contact of the players, the gameplay still need more polishing in some cases. Mind you, FIFA has the best features which you can find into a soccer game and respecting the realism and authenticity of the real-life experience. Mentioning polishing, the one thing that to be honest was a bit disappointing was the low frame-rate in the Playstation 3 version. During gameplay, the frame rate is great and no issues are visible, but during replays and when the camera gets a little bit close, the framerate decreases. To be honest the best part of the game is when you see a fantastically prepared goal up-close in a replay and seeing framerate issues in that part, it will slightly put down your buzz.

Then again, the newest feature of the play as the goal keeper is fantastic and it feels great in relation to mechanics and controls. It puts the camera behind the goal in a third person view of the goalkeeper. Although it’s a boring role to play as the goalkeeper, not because of the game... but since most of the action happens in the middle of the ground by the mid-field players, the goal-keeper’s role is not that exciting unless he is under siege by the opposing team. Well, if the action is not keeping the goalkeeper busy, you can switch on to the camera-view on your team mates and tease/ encourage them for passing and shooting. Although the feature keeps your buzz in the game and also keeps you a bit busy, you don’t have direct control on your team mates. The feature is quite interesting and of course it shines a lot in the multiplayer mode since you will have the ability to play with 22 simultaneous players in a match. So I say two thumbs up for that. Apart from that, the feature is quite full where you can stretch the goalkeeper to his limits to just force the ball with his finger tips to deviate it outside its trajectory. This, of course adds to the realism of the goalkeeper’s role and making it more interesting by giving a very authentic experience.

Speaking about the online experience, the online option features more than just the uploading of your score replays... but also the leader-board setup with comparisons and accomplishments which you can discuss with your friends. Although the fact that you can play in 22 simultaneously players in each match might scare you for latency and other network related issues, the online play was very good with almost no latency on my 8 megabit internet connection. I think the best feature which has always been popular with every soccer player, is the multiplayer, and this feature will increase it more.

FIFA has gone through a lot of changes and the solid framework which FIFA 10 has settled, helped the series to be more featured. This included the new visuals and user celebrations which are a great touch to the game. The visuals do their right touch especially during the replay, with a number of controls to view your great goals. After every match, the game automatically saves all the highlights which you can then pick and upload in your profile.

Now, going back to the gameplay, the AI should have been slightly improved in the sense of the aggressiveness of the AI players and in some cases they don’t make an attempt to stop a slow rolling ball if it was not intended for them. On the other hand, there was a very good improvement where the AI players are doing a better job in their position in the field.

The Creation Centre allow you to craft you own players, teams and tactics which can be downloaded into your console giving a great opportunity to put up your custom chants and anthems with your own home made audio files and tunes. These chants or sounds can be accessed directly from your storage and the imported in the console for in-game use. This is a great touch since you can customize your favourite teams with chants recorded from real-life games and use them during your play... fantastic feature.

Conclusion

FIFA 11 is a great step forward in the soccer games and it’s a great successor for FIFA 10. The game is full of new features and these make it more personal and these will increase your involvement in the game. Thou the framerate rate issues during close ups and some other hiccups weren’t refined; these shouldn’t affect your in-game experience. If you are looking for the real deal in the soccer experience which to share with your friends and of course battle yourself for being the top in the leader boards, look no further.