FIFA 12 Review

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Once you choose your path, during each game of the season, you’ll have the opportunity to play as your Virtual Pro, if you have one. You can, of course, play traditional FIFA, putting you in control of the entire team. It’s a matter of personal preference and you’re welcome to switch between the two options from game to game. The entire FIFA 12 experience is built for customization.

In addition to the aesthetic stuff, by performing well in games, you’ll upgrade your Pro’s statistics. The best part is that you don’t need to wait until the end of the game to see your improvements. There are popups that appear every time you dribble past defenders, complete successive passes and perform skill shots on goal. It’s the type of regular reinforcement that we started seeing with Modern Warfare’s mid-match promotions and Street Fighter III Third Strike’s challenges. Each one provides a little jolt of energy, letting you know that you are on the right path. Also, your player is rated on a scale of 1 – 10 during each match, you’ll see your match rating rise and fall during the game and it’s great to see your assists, jockeying and marking all contribute to your score. It’s not just about scoring; smart play and staying in position are rewarded.

The creation feature also allows you to create or join a virtual club and play online with friends, on the same team. If that’s not your speed, the online features cover friendly matches, of course, but the meat of the online mode comes in the form of head to head seasons in addition to seasons with a group of friends and tournaments. In head to head seasons, you choose your club first (which allows the game to match you accordingly, rather than jockey for best team once matched with an opponent). For every 10 games you play, if you have more points than the threshold, you are promoted to the next of 10 divisions. Even your friendly matches count towards seasons with them, such that every 10 games you play with that friend are considered a season. The commentating is even tuned to address your progress through seasons and divisions.

There are also online Cups that you can play based on your division, with four different awards available for your trophy case (in-game, not Playstation Trophies). The online play is tuned and lag-free. Matching is quick and takes into account your skill, geographic location, the control method you prefer and even your disconnect rate when pairing you with an opponent. EA has done everything possible to connect you to players that will offer you good matches online.

EA knows that many of you are going to be spending the entire year milking every drop of hooligan fun out of the game and, to that end, there are upgrade options available to offer even more customization options. You can purchase additional custom tournament and club spots, and for the diehard fans, you can purchase Live Season subscriptions. Live Season provides regular updates to rosters, injuries and stats based on real games week to week. You can purchase individual leagues (though only the biggest are represented) at 400 msp each or the whole bundle at a discounted price of 800msp.

For those of you that can’t spend 24/7 in front of your TV with FIFA 12, EA was kind enough to build FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT) in the game, which can be accessed from the FIFA Football Club website- when it isn’t at capacity. I was disappointed to visit the site multiple times to find I couldn’t access my team. FUT is a card game that connects to the Football Club’s web portal. You get a starter pack of cards when you enter FUT for the first time and your task is to create the best squad of players from your available cards. Booster packs are available using coins earned from in-game single-player and online victories or, if you want to spend the cash, Microsoft points. Packs range from 40msp to 120 msp. They aren’t exorbitant, but it can add up quickly.

Your FUT team is graded on the statistics of its component players, specifically the starting 11 and the Manager. Your team also has a Chemistry rating that is based on the synergy of the players in the squad. You can see the relationships between the players with colored lines. The strongest links are formed with players in the same club, then same league and, if all else fails, the same nationality. Rare cards can also provide whole-team buffs that boost morale and fitness. By playing with your team, earning coins, and opening more packs, you’ll raise the skill level of your squad and be able to enter bigger and better tournaments. Matches with your FUT are played out using the regular FIFA engine, so you can see and use your constructed team on the pitch.

FIFA Soccer 12 is an absolutely gorgeous game. The stadiums and fans are modeled animations and the way the players interact feels “right.” While there have been reports of some odd results from the Impact Engine, I haven’t seen anything perfectly and, as I mentioned before, the new Impact Engine gives the game a more fluid feel than ever before. The weather effects work very well, not only as a visual effect, but also a way wet or snowy field impacts the ball (and vice versa). Most of the player models look very close to their real-life personas and often avoid the “dead eyes” effect. The celebration anatomically improbable during my play. It’s not that I doubt the reports, just that these things are likely rare (but, nevertheless, humorous).

EA continues to license a diverse array of music for their games. This year’s EA Trax for FIFA is no different and, while there is full control over which tracks you hear during the game, none bothered me enough to delete them from the playlist. For those that simply want to play to their own tunes, or hear their own chants and cheers during matches, FIFA has the customization options to make that happen. The commentary team of Martin Tyler and Alan Smith is extremely well done. The dialog regularly fits the conversation and has a dynamic feel to it. The pair is enthusiastic enough to keep things moving. Of course, should you prefer the team of Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend, they are just a click away in the options menu.

FIFA Soccer 12 is an amazingly robust and complete experience from the moment you load it up for the first time. The game is clearly designed to appeal to the most hardcore soccer fanatics, but manages to remain accessible to even the newest of players. While the options can be overwhelming if you try to do everything at once (especially since there is no printed manual and the in-game manual is too sparse), if you are a beginner and take things slow, you’ll be eased into the deeper complexities on offer. Somehow, EA has managed to create a game that works for everyone interested in soccer from newbie to hooligan, and for that they should be commended.

Review copy provided by publisher. Primary play on Xbox 360.
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