GS AU: FIFA 10 Preview: A-League in the spotlight

Go Perth! 1.5 stars, I don't mind because the teams are all basically the same rating. But, they should add some of the other Asian leagues or put them in rest of world, and make Asian Champions League.

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Whats the point in playing manager mode with any A-League side if when you finish on top the year before you wont be playing in the Asian champions league the following year? and i really hope that EA have fixed the manager mode problem wear you can go to a club like leeds in Div 1 for 3 years Get them into the Premier league build a great team with all the staff upgrades on 10 and then go to another club for a few years then go back to your old club and realize that the staff upgrades are all back down to 4 and that the COM has sold your 4 of your best players who were contracted for 5 years and then the money they would have got for selling them isn't even there. And then of course there's always the manager mode freezing half way through your 6th year.

I might actually give a league a go in manager mode, previes years ive only stuck with the premier league.

awsame just seeing the a-league in fifa 10 is sick i too couldn't care less about the rating. But we all know sydney rule and are better than 1.5

couldn't care less about the star rating, because as soon as i get my hot little hands on the game, i can gaurantee the star rating will go up once Gold Coast sign Joe Cole and Cristiano Ronaldo.....or stay the same once they turn me down on my offers!

Fair enough. I love the A-League but it's small potatos in the footballing world.

I couldn't care less what the teams are rated so long as it's actually enjoyable to play in the A-League this year as the article sort of implies. The last couple of years have been a bit lame when the team gets fatigued after 2 minutes of play and no player can hit the broad side of a barn from 10 yards out.

This is exactly how it should be. Watch 1 or 2 games of A-league and you can see why they are 1-1.5 star teams

yea 2-2.5 stars aint exactly top rated is it? Seriously, some of the teams in the A-league should be higher than 2 stars. Just shouldn't be like 3.5-5 stars. That's just my opinion tho.

What's the debate about? you want A-League teams to be top rated? it's supposed to be a simulation of the real teams in world football. not some fantasy land

That's a bit dumb having the highest being 1.5. You'd think that the highest would be like Gold Coast and Sydney on at least 2.

We've had several hands-on sessions with the latest in EA's long-running FIFA series--FIFA 10--in recent months, with our last look unveiling the Virtual Pro feature. This time around, we thought we'd examine in closer detail something close to most Aussie football fans--just how does our local A-League fare this time around?

It's snowing here. So yeah, this is not an A-League screenshot.

Here's the bottom line Aussie fans: as you'd expect, the A-League is (once again) no La Liga. The highest star rating awarded to any A-League side this year is 1.5, which is the same as in FIFA 09. Several team rankings have also shifted in the 10 version, but the game has added the two new clubs which have debuted in this year's local competition--Gold Coast United and North Queensland Fury. Newbies Gold Coast has received a more favourable welcome to the football franchise, with the Queensland team scoring an overall 1.5 star rating. Unsurprisingly, Socceroo Jason Culina is the team's highest-rated player at a ranking of 71, while in-form striker Shane Smeltz is rated at 65. North Queensland Fury is a one-star rated team, with glamour import and former Liverpool great Robbie Fowler only scoring a 68 rating. As for the A-League's eight other teams, there has been some movement on the ranking front. Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory both remain as 1.5 star squads, while the Wellington Phoenix and Central Coast Mariners retain their 09 rating of 1 star. The big movers in FIFA 10 are the Queensland Roar and Perth Glory, which have been both bumped up from 1 to 1.5 star ratings. The same can't be said for Adelaide United and the Newcastle Jets, however. Both teams have seen a downgrade from 1.5 stars in 09 to 1 star each in 10. But despite the wide gulf in quality between our Aussie league and some of the European club giants, the game play changes made to this year's FIFA offering means A-League matches can still be as interesting and challenging as a Barca versus Man U match. Full 360-degree dribbling adds a lot more control, and the game generally seems to move at a faster rate than last year's offering. FIFA 10 is out on a variety of platforms in October. Keep checking GameSpot for more coverage and a full review soon.