FIFA 11 graces the PC with its excellent gameplay, beautiful visuals and realistic AI.
+ Wonderful visuals and stadium atmosphere
+ Refined, realistic player behavior and reactions
+ Improved AI provides a lot of challenge
Negative
- Superior AI makes it too difficult to win headers in their box
- Frustratingly ineffective defensive play
- Disappointing faults in some modes
The long running soccer franchise hits the PC with FIFA 11; a deep and realistic soccer game that rivals the console counterpart in many fields. The FIFA franchise has evolved from the previous decade and its results are the incredibly realistic player behavior and much improved AI that doesn't allow you to play your own game but forces you to think how to set an attack rather than charging head-on like how it was possible in previous installments. These major improvements alone grace the game from its lack of modes and limitations but anyone in need for a soccer game without buying a new console should be grateful that EA gave the PC version some extra love.
The last version of FIFA I have played was FIFA 08 on the PC and from there never played 09/10 and skipped directly to FIFA 11 and the advancements made are striking. Like always, FIFA 11 offers a wide range of licensed teams and 31 leagues (including secondary divisions) from around the globe. What most disappoints is the amount of modes. Every time you enter the main menu, the game puts you in a one-on-one training situation against the keeper which opens the Practice Mode that lets you practice set pieces, all but penalties which is a total bummer. The main modes are the classic Manager Mode (classic for the FIFA series), Tournament Mode and the Be a Pro. The Manager Mode lets you be a manager and control and team through its season and meet expectations in order to increase your prestige and at the end of the season the chance to move to another team. The objectives are over-demanding really; is it real possible for a real-life team to win their League, their National Cup and the Champions League without fail? It's possible in this game but it's not realistic. Also, the board is over-expectant, they expect you to keep winning or else their confidence in you lowers. Even if you draw, this important bar decreases. The board likes to put pressure on you, and infuriatingly enough when the team above you plays a match before you and wins without allowing you the chance to surpass them. You can still stream through with the easiest difficulty to obtain every cup and win every match, but there are no Challenges this time around so the satisfaction is greatly diminished
The Be a Pro Mode lets you create and control one player out of the eleven on the field. In this mode, you'll play through four seasons and evolve your player to be a star, and meeting objectives in each match gains you EXP that can be spent on attributes. These objectives rarely change much, but there are some objectives such as scoring hat tricks against a five-star team which are inconsistent and unreasonable. Can Arsenal really beat Manchester United 5 goals to none, with you (Be a Pro as a striker in this case) scoring a hat-trick. Like as mentioned in the paragraph above; with the lowest difficulty it is possible, but can't EA expect that most players will play at Professional difficulty and above? So, it is important only to somehow nail 5 goals with little attention to how you scored or whether you did any assist? For some reason, there are no Cups other than the League aside from International matches. Why? You can only play twice against all teams in the League, as long as you are a part of the first team. This is lack of effort by the developer.
The Tournament Mode gives you the chance to take existent leagues and cups with your favorite team and even changing teams and entering teams from different leagues. There is the option to create your very own tournament and allowing only a selected number of teams to enter as well its format; from league only, to knockout only or group and knockout. There is the Online Mode that pits you with other players in a match. A disappointing factor is that you can't easily create a team. There must be some option somewhere, but you can't skim through the menus and find a 'Create a Team' which is a tragically missed opportunity. Luckily the Create a Player is improved and creates much more realistic players than any of its predecessors, although some of the deeper facial customizations are difficult to get grasp.
If any FIFA game before it was great, FIFA 11 is an improvement over that in all aspects. The soccer game feels realistic and faithful to the real thing, in terms of graphics and gameplay. Players react more naturally and show believable movements: when failing an opportunity, receiving a booking and falling from a charge. The AI is vastly improved, no longer allow you to just run along the line and cross to find an attacker's header and score. This kind of strategy never works, not even on Amateur difficulty. The AI is so good that scoring with a header in the box is often an unthinkable task, making corners useless in this case. Furthermore, the AI is aggressive and the referee rarely punishes tough charges but is quick to punish stronger sliding tackles. The referee now allows continuous play when the side inflicted with the foul takes the ball, but the referee backstabs with a later booking which is such a normal occurrence that is becomes infuriating. The main reason being that the AI is too good with the ball at their feet, and the defensive play leaves you at their mercy. You can't hold down the shot button and chase the player with the ball to no end, but you have to follow them with the controlled player and taking the ball this way is more miss than hit, unless a lucky AI controlled comrade manages to take the ball. Defensive play almost plays itself at times, and while this is your often saving grace, it is disappointing that there is no effective way to defend. On harder difficulties, defending is crucial and moving the inappropriate player from his side can easily allow the AI to find a breakthrough. The improved goalkeeper AI for both sides is welcoming. Unlike before, the AI rarely manages to score the same exact goal with seemingly incredible luck on their first strike. Likewise, the opponent goalkeeper will make your life harder, although there are ways to exploit the goalkeeper AI. The referee sometimes gives the final whistle when the ball goes out which is kind of strange and fails to notice obvious hand balls, aside from the fact that the referee is too soft in punishing tough charges from the AI on the highest difficulties. Your players' passes are occasionally not as accurate as they should whenever the opposition's players are around, trying in some way to deliver a through pass inside of a regular. This system, while flawed is realistic but gets the ball lost too many times.
After you manage to put the ball into the back of the net, the goal celebration is initiated. The game allows you to press one of the four action buttons to perform a minor action of celebration, before the scorer crosses goal's line or the outside line to activate the real celebration. The fact that you have to score a line to activate the real celebration is ridiculous but the real celebration rarely comes in a few seconds, without stepping outside the field. And a lot of celebrations are from before, with new and cooler camera angles. What truly suck are the cup celebration which is plain awful that only show 6 players celebrating without displaying the cup, I mean WTF? The substitution animation first gives you a far off view of the crowd and then displays the players changing. This animation is so repetitive that is verges on painful to wait as the opponent AI makes this action. For some reason there is no 4th assistant, despite the referee and line's men are always present and diligently perform their duty. Why so disappointing cup celebration and substitutions have been used raises the question, because shockingly the celebration and substitutions from previous years were better.
If you want to consider this the ultimate soccer experience, think again. There are a few things that don't mirror the real thing. There is surprisingly no hands ball, something which existed in the franchise before, and there is still no fair play and the advantage rule and overused and abused. Commentary, especially the familiar English one, complement the referee each time for the advantage rule and agree with the referee for each booking. Defensive play is truly infuriating of higher difficulty. The keyboard is efficient, but opponents turn quickly, making you unable to quickly turn, and you'll often miss. This is the aspect that diminishes the fun the most aside from the seemingly not-so-like-the-real-thing modes. Unlike Pro Evolution Soccer, the Champions League and Europa League are not officially licensed, which is clearly indicated at how these are described in the Manager Mode; as Champions Cup and European League.
The gameplay is more of a focus for this kind of game but the visuals and atmosphere should be there. Graphically, FIFA 11 looks great. The stadiums look real and the crowd looks somewhat better than in previous installment. Whether it's at night, or sunset, under the rain or whatever, it feels real and believable, even if the snow sometimes goes upwards when substitutions play. The stars are the players and they move realistically, as stated and emphasized on. Commentary comes in multiple languages, including English and Italian. The English voices feature the same commenters, sometimes repeating lines that go back to FIFA 07, the least. Fortunately most of this is good stuff, despite rarely nailing whether the game is in its first or second leg, and uneven comments on offside positions. The Italian commentary compliments victory for Porto at the end of the first half if they are in the lead. The soundtrack is just average, which raises eyebrows to how stellar FIFA 06's soundtrack was in comparison. The crowd's cheers settle the atmosphere perfectly.
Whether soccer is in your blood or just a casual hobby, FIFA 11 is a good purchase especially to those who stayed away for a few years from the prestigious franchise. The PC version stays close to the console masterpiece, despite lacking the finishing touches. The disappointing celebrations are not going to haunt anyone looking at how the game has improved from its predecessors. Graphically impressive, precise and strong AI and refined gameplay mechanisms make this one of the best FIFA games to date, yet just a stepping stone for the next FIFA installment.
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Graphics = 8.7
Realism is evident. Player animation is swift and believable and no FIFA before it comes close to it in terms of visuals. Substitution and cup celebration animations truly suck.
Sound = 7.8
The stadium feels alive due to the lively crowd and background sounds, and it's good to have multiple languages for commenters which are great. A few extra lines and deeper analysis would have been appreciated. The soundtrack is a disappointment.
Presentation = 7.5
The menu design's change from previous years isn't so good, not exactly handy. XBOX controller not required, but the controls use that controller's button and it's really annoying.
Gameplay = 7.8
The AI's improvement is impressive despite their rough nature. This is the best soccer experience you can play with kicking a ball. Referee allowing continuous play and later books you is annoying but the game is undoubtedly realistic. Defensive play can be frustrating.
Modes = 7.0
The Manager Mode has taken a step back from its debut year (really?), the Be A Pro is good but needs further refinements and the Tournament Mode is plain. Still there is Online Play. No team creation is a letdown.
Fun = 8.0
Sometimes I really love and sometimes I really hated FIFA 11. The referee easily punishes your sloppiness and rarely punishes the AI's charging and defensive play can make things dangerous. Nonetheless a really enjoyable game, but I must admit I miss playing the older installments.
OVERALL = 78 / 100
FIFA 11 graces the PC with its excellent gameplay, beautiful visuals and realistic AI.