Good improvements but once again let down by AI!

User Rating: 6 | FIFA 12 (PS3 Bundle) PS3
While I acknowledge the improvements that EA have made with the physics engine, tactical defending etc. which have certainly helped increase the realism of the game, my review is to draw attention to the ridiculous CPU behaviour when you play a game against the computer. As a few other reviewers have mentioned (and I have to agree), this game was made for online play and it will surely provide hours of fun. But try playing against the CPU in Professional level of difficulty and you will face nothing but frustration. Let me explain what i mean..

It seems so easy for CPU players to nick the ball off you or knock you off. They just know exactly where to position themselves, their timing is pretty impeccable, they can read your next move like a book, their reflexes are quicker than your controlled player and the ball falls nicely to another player on their team!!! But try closing them down and/or winning the ball and some of these things will happen - (a) they leave you behind them to eat the dust, (b) you manage to dispossess them but the ball runs conveniently to another person on their team, (c) you foul them. Whatever team you play against, it's not going to make a difference.

My next point will make this issue blatantly clear. Try tweaking the CPU game customisation by reducing the slider for CPU Marking to ZERO and see what happens. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! You would think that the CPU would at least back off a little and go easier on you but the CPU players will still hound your player with the ball and knock you off, and come at you in twos or threes when they feel like it. Why have the gameplay customisation feature when it doesn't work?????

Long story short, i returned the game after a few days. EA has had so many years to get this simple yet important thing right but i guess they have other priorities...