FIFA 2011 Review – For the Good of Soccer
Text by Richie Setiawan
When it comes to games, EA -- short for Electronic Arts -- has always become one of the most popular game developers out there whose games are always highly anticipated by fans all over the world. Some popular examples of their games include the Need For Speed series, The Sims Series, Simcity series and a whole lot more to name. The same goes for FIFA 2011, the latest installment to the successful FIFA series developed by EA Sports. This latest sequel in the series has a big bunch of features to offer players around the world with one thing in mind, that is, getting as close as possible to the reality. Yes, the game has plenty realistic features and those features are going to be revealed here one at a time.
The first aspect that gamers will come across when they get into the game is the availability of various gameplay modes. These modes are comprised of the everlasting "Manager Mode", "Be A Pro: Seasons Mode" -- will be referred to simply as Be A Pro Mode -- and the "Tournament Mode". But if gamers simply want to have some fun without having to engage in the storyline of any of those modes, they can simply choose "Kick Off" from the main menu screen.
Besides the gameplay modes, another interesting aspect is the game difficulty settings. In FIFA 2011, gamers will be able to choose from Amateur, Semi-Pro, Pro, World Class and Legendary. Needless to say, Legendary will be the hardest to conquer yet it is in fact the one that offers gamers the greatest deal of fun.
The Manager Mode is something that gamers will have been very familiar with if they have been playing the FIFA series before. In this mode, gamers will be playing both as a manager as well as the players themselves. They can access all menus that include team management, club management and even the transfer window.
In team management, gamers will play the role of a manager and will be able to make changes to their squads such as starting lineups, player roles, desired team formation and so on.
The club management, in comparison, allows gamers to play the role of a manager with regards to the club. The activities gamers can do here include upgrading staffs such as upgrading attack, midfield, defense and goalkeeping along with other bunch of staffs. Other activities to carry out here also include scouting for players from all parts of the globe, paying a close attention to how the board assesses their performances during every season and a lot more but that is for the gamers to explore.
The transfer window itself offers gamers the ability to buy, sell and look for players from whatever club they want to search from. However, the transfer window will not stay open during the whole season. As in real life, there are times when the transfer window will be shut. Therefore, gamers had better make up their mind fast while the window is still open.
Besides the Manager Mode, as mentioned earlier, there are other modes. One of the modes is the Be A Pro Mode. This mode is rather unique. Here, gamers will play solely as a player himself. They can simply choose an existing player or make their own player from scratch.
With the latter option, gamers can even put their real name or whatever they like on the back of their shirt. They can also choose the number they desire. But one thing about this is that there are chances that the player created by gamers will have the same number as other player in their team. It seems that EA has not managed to block such a thing from taking place.
In the Be A Pro Mode, gamers will not be able to access the menus as they would in the Manager Mode. Gamers cannot even access the team management menu unless they have achieved captaincy of the first team of the club they are playing with. But that's about it.
Other than the team management menu, gamers will have absolutely no access to the other menus such as club management or the transfer window. But, of course, this adds to the realistic aspect of the game.
The last but not the least mode is the tournament mode. Here, gamers will be able to create their own tournaments. They can choose whatever clubs or countries they would like to take part in the tournament they create. Yet, one quite funny thing about the tournament is that gamers can include countries and clubs together. As a result, there will be schedules for clubs to fight against countries. Although this may sound somehow funny and not realistic, it is fun indeed. This is like something that gamers won't find within any other soccer games in existence but the FIFA 2011 exclusively. So, it is perhaps better to leave it that way.
The next realistic aspect of FIFA 2011 is that now players have the ability to show off a wide range of their moves after scoring a goal. Better yet, there are rewards for players for doing so. As a matter of fact, doing everything in FIFA 2011 will reward players for certain achievements. Yet, they will have to play at the difficulty level of at least Semi-Pro to unlock all the available rewards.
However, there are some drawbacks to the game as well. One main drawback to the game is when it comes to what controller gamers will use to play it on PC. Using keyboard is always supported, needless to say. However, those that play using keyboard are not likely to have the ability to unlock a lot of things such as celebration traits. This is because keyboard can only perform some but not all of the available goal scoring celebration moves. This is, of course, something that may let down those players that do not manage to get a controller for their PC.
Unfortunately, when it comes to celebrating a goal scoring, things become a little more unreal. Gamers will often find their players running out to the side of the pitch after scoring a goal -- this can be seen more easily with the Tele camera mode. However, after a short while, the camera angle will automatically change and now the players are back on the inside part of the pitch again though gamers have just seen their players standing outside the pitch just the second before. Sometimes, gamers will find their players running to the outside of the penalty area to celebrate their goal scoring. Yet, in no time at all, gamers will find their players suddenly standing inside the penalty area again. This is weird.
The next possible drawback is that sometimes the commentators come too late in commentating something about the game. Ball possession has changed, moves have changed around the pitch, etc. and the comments are still the ones meant for the previous situations leading to inappropriate comments. But one positive thing about commentators is that they can now tell stories or histories regarding a team instead of simply commentating on the match. EA is kind of creative in this case.
Minimum System Requirements:
OS: Windows XP / Vista / 7
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 1.8 GHz / Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5400+ or equivalent
GPU: nVidia GeForce 6800 / ATI Radeon X1600 with 256 MB VRAM
RAM: 1 GB / 2 GB for Windows Vista / 7
HDD: 6.5 GB of free space
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
Recommended System Requirements:
OS: Windows XP / Vista / 7
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.4 GHz / Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5600+ or equivalent
GPU: nVidia GeForce 8800 GT / ATI Radeon HD 3870 with 256 MB VRAM or better
RAM: 1 GB / 2 GB for Windows Vista / 7
HDD: 6.5 GB of free space
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
Wednesday, 6th April 2011
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