Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Best in series"

If you played FIFA11, and thought football gaming couldn't get any better, than you were wrong. FIFA12 is awesome, simply awesome, improving on a lot of areas FIFA11 went wrong. A better manager mode, more realistic mechanics. Its fun, single player, and multiplayer.

The Manager Mode has changed a lot compared to FIFA11. Its more realistic where you actually have to think before buying players, and top players can't be as easily bought as in the previous versions. The scouting/youth system has changed too.

The game now offers 3 types of career choices. One is to play as the Manager (the classic Manager mode), another is to play as a Player (the old player coop mode) and a brand new Player-Manager mode where you get to manage your team, as well as play in matches you chose. Like the famous player-manager of Liverpool way back in the 1980-1990s, currently managing Liverpool, King Kenny Dalglish!! (Yea, I support Liverpool)

One new thing I noticed during the transfer period, the last day has been brought into focus. With all the tension and drama surrounding the last few hours of the transfer period, you could pull off a record transfer on the last hour of the transfer window!! The game also shows you latest news regarding your team, transfer season and international news, which is fun to read. You can also speak to the media before any important game like vs rivals and top competitors, using the option to taunt enemy players/teams/coaches and even put in a praise here and there, if you feel they deserve it.

A few things I don't like about the game.. is the user/CPU skill customization option. Its really stupid and unbalanced if in legendary mode, the enemy team can't pass and tackle accurately enough. Also regarding player skills.. I feel Messi is totally overrated. He doesn't deserve the skill rating and price tag. Separate Messi from Xavi and Iniesta and he can't play anything. Look at his statistics for Argentina. That says it all. He simply is one of the most overrated players in football who is only famous cause Maradona backs him.

And seems like they really hated some teams. Suarez who is obviously Uruguay's best forward, has a less score than Cavani. Lucas who is a regular starter for Liverpool and Brazil, doesn't even touch 80 to begin with. Messi who fails with Argentina, has a rating of 95. Torres who has been a total flop in the last few months, has a higher rating than many other deserving players.

All in all, its a brilliant game. Way better than the previous FIFA versions. You should give this a try. Only reason I haven't rated this as a 9 is well, last time I rated FIFA11 as a 9, I was forced to change it back to 8.5 after some time playing the game, I noticed that legendary mode was a bit too annoying. And since I just started with FIFA12, I haven't seen many flaws..... yet..