FIFA 10 Review - Xbox Gaming in South Africa

Every year around this time, the two juggernauts of football games, EA Sports' FIFA and Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer, go head to head for your gaming dollar. FIFA's strength has always been its treasure trove of licensed teams and great presentation, but over the past year or two it's managed to add excellent gameplay to its arsenal. With this in mind, let's see if the latest iteration, FIFA 10, has enough improvements to take the crown yet again.

If you're coming from FIFA 09 then you won't see any major changes in this year's edition. There's the new 360 degree control scheme, which means that players no longer run in diagonal and straight lines, but the affect isn't as great as one would expect. It definitely is a welcome change though, especially when you're in the middle of a goal mouth scramble trying to dribble through 5 defenders. The other change that EA Sports has sprawled on the back of the box is the new Virtual Pro mode. Virtual Pro takes last year's Be A Pro mode and introduces it into almost all of the game's offline modes. So your created player can now play for you in friendlies, tournaments and manager mode games. You improve your player's skill by achieving accomplishments which can range from playing your first game to getting several hundred goals throughout the course of your player's career. It's very addictive and a great improvement on last year's mode.

The actual gameplay is still the main highlight of FIFA 10, with a feel that mimics the ebb and flow of a real football match. The ball physics have been tweaked a bit so that cross field passes and shots are more realistic and crosses now have a curve rather than the unerringly straight trajectories of previous years. There are also a plethora of new player animations that make the action look even more realistic with acrobatic clearances, better tussles for the ball and a larger variety of passing animations. In FIFA 09 you could usually pass to your team's fastest player and know that there was no way they could stop you. This year it's different though as stronger players such as Vidic can easily push lighter players such as Messi or Ronaldo off the ball and break up any attacks. Skilled players can of course counter this with some of their trick moves and it makes for an interesting and fun battle with friends. It all means that defending in this year's game is much more enjoyable than previously.

In terms of modes you're spoilt for choice with the usual Manager Mode, exhibition games, tournaments and online leagues all vying for your attention. Manager mode has received a makeover with an improved transfer system forming the basis of EA's three year plan to remake manager mode into a slicker experience all round. The online side of FIFA is just as great as ever with close to no lag being experienced with local players. You've also got the ability to form teams with your friends using your virtual pro players and forming custom leagues to battle for the title with your friends.

There are a few negatives that begin to show up after a while for those hardcore football fans out there. Teams still have no sense of individuality to them and play the same regardless of their players or formations. Take a team such as Notts County for instance. They're sitting in the lowest rung of the professional league system in England and have very few talented players, so you'd expect them to be using long ball tactics and trying to get the ball in the box as much as possible, but when you play them they play exactly like Everton or Chelsea or Real Madrid. The different teams just seem to have no individual style or tactical approach to set them apart from each other.

The commentary from Martin Tyler and Andy Gray is as fun to listen to as it's always been, although it's starting to show its age a bit with phrases being repeated from the previous games a bit too much for my liking. The crowd chants and ambient stadium noises are exceptionally well done and manage to add to the match day feel of games whether you're fighting it out in the bottom of the lower leagues or scoring in the final of the FA Cup.

Graphically FIFA 10 hasn't had much of a makeover with players still ranging from being unerringly realistic to downright scary. As mentioned, the animations for player movement are a joy to watch but the actual player models themselves can use a bit of a spruce up which EA will hopefully look at doing next year. The menus are still as slick as ever and easy to navigate.

FIFA 10 has taken a great platform that was FIFA 08 and 09 and built upon it. While there are no revolutionary changes, there didn't have to be, as the core gameplay is as close to actual football as you'll be able to play on an Xbox. It's a game that rewards casual fans and die-hard supporters alike and doesn't require you to memorise intricate controls to perform cool looking moves making it the perfect football game for multiplayer evenings with your football loving friends. That being said, if you've got 09 and you're not too bothered about having the latest teams and rosters you can skip FIFA 10 and feel none the worse for it. For anyone else this is the greatest football game you can get for your money. We'll just have to wait and see how Konami's PES 2010 plays to see if FIFA 10 can hold onto the top spot.

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