FIFA 11 is by far the most realistic game of the series, but it's also the most difficult.
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GAMEPLAY – 3/5
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FIFA 11 derives the gameplay from previous FIFA games, and each time establishes a greater sense of authenticity from the most popular and frequently played sport of football known across the globe. To meet great demands of the gaming industry and to please the fans of FIFA, EA could not just rely on slight improvements to impress the players and the critics, but add completely new features unused on previous games of the series, again with new re-mapping of the menu layouts and organised structure to the entire game.
The gameplay on-pitch is extremely realistic, with a new passing system that reflects the players' abilities and accuracy, and with the real player personality system, it really gives every player their own unique feel adapted from real-life traits and performances. The individual behaviours of specific players are authentically replicated in-game, so players such as Rooney and Tevez will be strong, aggressive and passionate to win, and a player like Ronaldo will perform various skill moves in and around the penalty box while also having animations that force you to believe who the player truly is without a shadow of a doubt. These features make for interesting and welcome variety to the realistic gameplay, but do feel overused in some cases, where many players start performing high level skills on you even on lower difficulty settings, when you would actually never witness the skill in matches so frequently and especially by players not completely capable of doing the move 100% perfect. Another negative point that can often put you in a frustrated mood is the oppositions defending. They defend seemingly perfectly, man mark everyone, tackle non-stop and never allow you many opportunities on goal which makes for a truly negative mood to the way you must attack. Even passing the ball will get intercepted more often than not, and the other team will attack relentlessly regardless of how good they are or how highly skilled their players are, while your defenders prove incapable to deal with the quickness and the accuracy of the attacks on your goal. For players who were use to the easy, adaptable gameplay in FIFA 10, then you'd be much mistaken to expect that here, and FIFA certainly shows itself as the most difficult FIFA game to date aswell as the most realistic.
A brand new gameplay mode on FIFA 11 is the "Be a Goalkeeper" mode, which lets you command your team from the toughest position on pitch. Save assistance is optional but it's certainly advisable. In theory, being the goalkeeper sounds a like a fun and innovative way to experience football games, but when put to practice on the biggest stage of them all, in front of a large crowd of thousands willing their team on, you'll see just how difficult and boring being the goalkeeper really is. You can do a season being the goalkeeper in career mode, but playing 2 matches in a row will usually prove enough for one day, as you'll quickly find yourself getting agitated and awkward when you aren't required to perform a save for the whole match. There are 3 ways to play career mode – Player, Player manager, and Manager, however, player and player manager are virtually identical to each other, and manager isn't much different to the middle option either. It seems careless to make 3 optional careers with plenty of noticeable similarities, but whether it was intended or unintentional is a question only EA could provide an answer for. An edit mode is also available, so you can edit players abilities to how you see it (EA certainly have given some players more credit than they deserve, and also the opposite to many aswell).
Overall, the gameplay in FIFA 11 takes a step forward in realism, but this jump forward proves that realism isn't always the way to approach developing a game, and that a higher fun factor is a much more respectable and pleasing quality to see.
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GRAPHICS – 3/5
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With small tweaks to the in-game visuals, FIFA 11 is perhaps the most visually impressive football game to date, with further enhanced ball physics that take effect in weather conditions such as rain and snow where the ball's movement is realistically unpredictable to both you playing it, and the players in game where all manner of shots, passes and crosses are affected by the conditions on the field of play. Various pitches show increased wear and tear to the grassy surface as the season progresses, and the animations in which players shoot, pass and cross has had considerable work done to them so as to improve your awareness to the realistic features implemented, and the smoothness to all the animations and the unique animations given to legendary status players makes for a true representation of the sport.
However, a downside the graphics is the up close shots of players and objects, which is an issue which still hasn't been addressed and improved from previous FIFA games. Most players have a distinct ugliness to their features and definitely look odd in comparison to their real life facial profiles.
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SOUND – 3/5
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Just like all football games, the track list on FIFA 11 composes of a mixed variety of tunes from around the world, some likeable, and some downright unlistenable. Fortunately you are given the option to turn the ones you don't like off, and can even import your own music into the game if you burn the songs from a CD into your PS3 and then upload them to your FIFA profile found by navigating the main menu. The commentary still needs some work on, and despite two respectable commentators from Sky Sports, a change to more familiar commentators would be nicely received in my opinion, or even a selection for you to choose from before a match commences. Some commentary during the course of a match seems misplaced on some occasions, like if you hit a shot low across the floor and score, the commentator will say something completely the opposite saying at how close it was to hitting the bar. Misplaced commentary is regular throughout the course of a game, and there are also times when a conversation is taking place, and because of a foul or a shot, the commentary about a particular subject associated with the team or an individual player is abruptly concluded.
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CONTROLS – 4/5
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If you are a FIFA fan, then the default controls will no doubt feel the same, and the configuration familiar to the predecessor, but the control options are also user friendly to new comers to the series and at the start up screen on your first play of the game, there are options to customize a set of controls that suit you best to make you feel more comfortable. Navigating the menu layouts is still suffering from slowness however, which many gamers who played FIFA 10 will definitely remember, and while the brief stutter before moving up or down is faster than before, it still isn't the smooth navigation you'd expect to see.
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ATMOSPHERE – 2/5
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Football is staged in front of a large crowd every match. There are always keen supporters taking a seat somewhere around the field of play to cheer their team and hope for victory. Unfortunately, FIFA 11 doesn't come close to replicating an atmosphere featuring avid fans hungry for their team to score, and its the same story in every football game made so far. The crowd are compiled with stiff replicas of identical people that move inconsistently, react unpredictably and fail to capture the true nature of a football-like crowd everyone knows and loves to see. Everyone is always seated, and nothing is ever taking place outside of the painted lines outlining the field of play. Cameramen, police and substitutes and many more, are all doing nothing. They never produce an animation and are constantly static throughout an entire game. Though it may be difficult, it would be nice to see some activity going on around the stadium, people getting up, moving around, police marching backwards and forwards, and substitutes warming up at the sidelines just to add some enthusiasm to an otherwise dull atmosphere that is incomplete. Even the commentators fail to liven up the tension when the game is coming to a close and its all tied up with nothing between the teams, and when you score in the last minute, you would never guess you did because of the failed piece of commentary that is so simplistic and so unenthusiastic that real sense of tension can never be generated.
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OPPONENT AI – 2/5
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To put it blunt and honestly, your opponents, regardless of their skill level, are too good at their designated job on the pitch. Defenders are ruthless and allow no leeway for you to expose a gap to produce an attack, and if you give the ball away to the opposition, they can punish you in one swift attack time and time again because of how accurate and consistent they are. FIFA 11 proves itself far more difficult than any other FIFA game to date, not only because of juggernaut defending where tackles and interceptions occur far too frequently, but the goalkeepers are super intelligent too, and predict even the most awkward of shots and retain the ball in their possession with ease. The same cannot be said for your defence though, who allow all kinds of gaps that you yourself cannot always maintain closed, and before you know it, and even have time to think about what is happening, the opposition have split your defence and are heading one of one with your keeper, who is noticeably never as capable to make good saves like the opposing team's keeper.
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LENGTH – 5/5
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There is no limit to how long FIFA 11 will take you, as there is unlimited options to keep progressing in some way - 15 seasons to develop and mature players within one team, where you can choose who stays, who goes, and who is introduced into the team, various true to life tournaments, and of course, competitive online to challenge your friends or anyone else from around the world. Through the course of your FIFA 11 playing time, you will encounter many forms of glitches, some minor, which don't interfere considerably with the game, and some major, which can often cause you to have to reset the game and load up all over again. Just recently the online statistics have been reset for some unfortunate people (including myself), a problem which no doubt EA is trying to solve. But my point has been made clear, FIFA 11 is a football game that is always one of those games available to come back to anytime.
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REPLAY VALUE – 5/5
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As in real life, every game of football unfolds different from the last, every wrong pass has its consequences, and every perfectly weighted pass has its rewards, and that happens all the time in FIFA 11. It's a game anyone can pick up and play anytime you want a challenge (and believe me, you'll get one) and it's also a game if you would like a rewarding experience, because FIFA 11 steps ahead of any competition in the market with the most authentic football experience available. Despite proving a difficult experience and introducing other means of unfortunate hiccoughs on your way to becoming a legend among the greats of world football, FIFA 11 dominates any other competition on the market yet again.
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OVERALL SUMMARY – 8/10
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Good Points: The most authentic football experience available, Lots of well presented modes that can keep you playing for hours, Player personality system that realistically replicates behaviours in game, Improved animations, Good edit system, Realistic ball physics.
Bad Points: Being the goalkeeper proves boring and difficult most of the time, Player facials look ugly up close, Frustrating opposition that are too good, Occasional misplaced commentary, Recycled commentary from previous games.