EA seem to have created a franchise that at this stage it is quite difficult to beat it. Last year was a great release of FIFA but this year, EA have released the new FIFA 12 on the playground of our homes and they cannot stop surprising us with their innovative ideas to evolve the game and the player’s experience. If you want to live the experience of a great football match or a success of a team, you probably have to look no further and indulge yourself in this great game.

As you start off the game, it does a great job in its tutorial to get you comfortable in mastering these new skills and if you are new to the series, it will get you up to date with the new and existing features of the game. Apart from how to move your players, you will be illustrating with the online features of the game, which to be honest are the features which attracted my attention.

A new introduction to the game is the tactical defending which is a much sophisticated way to defend your goal rather than going straight on the player’s leg or having the same controls. In FIFA 12, the defending is more authentic with the ability to use your still to contain or jockey the attack to your opponent to make mistakes and gain possession of the ball. Also while containing the attack of your opponent you can ask for assistance from another player by hitting the R1 button. Another addition to the gameplay is the Precision Dribbling which will make allow you to control the ball during close encounters. When mastered, you will be able to make great use of this feature while adding more to the realism and your skill of the ball to gain that extra space to make the perfect shot in the goal.

Also EA have introduced the Player Impact which after going into a two year development it has been implemented into this year’s FIFA release. It’s a complex system which simulated the player collisions and takes action depending on the scenarios. If a player hits another while running, depending on the momentum and how they are hit, the game will add some realism to the game and there isn’t a pre-defined way of how the player will fall or react while falling on the grass or bumping into another player; this is all done in real-time. The players are not robotic and this time they add to the authenticity of the sport while giving a fluid movement to the players apart from removing those clipping parts from FIFA 11 where you could see a hand going through the torso of another player while replaying a nice shot. This is one of the features of the game that makes the player’s experience more exiting.

But the most exciting part of the game is that it isn’t just a football match game which you can play solo or with your friends. The EA Sports Football Club will add XP points to your status which will gain from playing games in solo and multiplayer. Also whenever you play with a football team and you win or lose, apart from gaining your personal XP points you will also add XP points to the team that you win by. This is then added to the global points of the team and it can be viewed in a nicely crafted presentation which you can see how your favourite team is doing globally. I know what you will say, the biggest teams will always be on top and the smaller teams can never reach such levels, ok… granted, but this not what the mode does. The scores of each team are only based on averages, so that smaller teams are not disadvantaged by the top teams such as Milan, Manchester United and other top teams. Also the scores are reset for another league each week… although the original score is still shown on the statistics; the weekly league is restarted every week to get the fight going again. Whichever mode you play, you will be presented with a great interface and experience that only EA give.

The presentation of the game is superb having everything at the right place with the right effects. The menus of the games are brilliant and well-polished while filled with the official FIFA stuff which adds to its authenticity. The team players and their movements are fluid and the likeness of most of the top players is great. Apart from that the stadiums are spectacular with the lighting effects, the crowds and the whole effect of the stadium while playing is an exciting experience. Although, when you have a close look at the crowds, they are very similar to each other in likeness and movement, but from a distance it’s ok.

Conclusion

EA have established a great name in the football world and with FIFA 12, they have increased their popularity. The innovative ideas and the experience of FIFA 12 is one of a kind. The involvement of the player in the EA Sports Football Club was a great inclusion and the presentation was spectacular. The game is a must have if you want to experience an authentic football experience.