Basic modifications
The substantial development for the new FIFA 10 on the Playstation 3 or Xbox 360 has been focused on the gameplay this year. The existing gameplay of FIFA 09 has been refined with help of the feedback out of the community. But even new innovations find their way into the gameplay.
Besides the gameplay there have been realised more than 50 improvements for the Manager Mode; among them features which improve the game realism and which makes possible more logical transfers and a new player development.
Refining Fundamentals
The gameplay of FIFA 10 will be the 4th year in development, thus EA make a point of refinements becoming increasingly detail driven and critical areas get improved.
In FIFA 10 players will move more realistic in special situations. The responsiveness will be improved so that the players try to trap better and more often. The players are not standing around on the same place all the time even if the ball is quite on another area on the pitch. Miss traps (like in FIFA 09) have been removed, in general the logic in these situations has been improved a lot.
The position of the players has been updated, too. Players cover and swap positions better in the defense, and in the offense players try to do curved runs and passing lanes more often. An improved space and threat analysis lets the players receive and run onto passes better. Furthermore the physics of the spin during shots and freekicks has been adjusted.
In the defence the timing gets a more important role than before. The behaviour of the keeper has been revised, now they run the opponent player in knuckled down position with their hands near the bottom and get down low and then making themselfes big if it's necessary.
Influence of the feedbacks
EA has received lots of useful feedback and has read the opinion of reviews, fans and the community to detect errors in FIFA 09 to improve them in FIFA 10, for example the strong crossing, too strong keepers, but also keeper who have a strange behaviour in some situatons. The offside and advantage rule has been adjusted as well as the fact that there had been too many posts.
These (but even more) things have been adjusted and improved in FIFA 10, but also wished from the community has been included: The pratice arena returns with different modes, furtheremore scripted sequences have been removed – now it is not predictable anymore whether the referee shows the yellow card or he only will warn the player if he runs to him.
Innovations: „We want to change the way the game is played“
In FIFA 10 there will be included two primarily innovations:
1.) Real 360 Degree Dribbling
As yet it was possibile to dribble in each direction in FIFA but the angle of 45 degree of the routes have been very dominant. This was revised - now it is possible that each player is able to run in each direction you want - a 360 degree dribbling. Not only the game looks much better with that feature but also makes it possible to play more well-directed routes.
2.) New close control dribbling
If you try to explain it technically the area in front of the player has been enlarged where it's possible to dribble the ball. One the one hand this makes it easier for the player to dribble easier around an opponent player (e.g. the ball is passed on the left side of the opponent, but the player is running around the player on the right side), but also gives the possibility to the aggressor to win the duell. The game physic is getting more free - but also more realistic - with this feature!
Manager Mode
EA has mentions that the Manager Mode in FIFA 09 „did not reach the expections“. The reason for it has been the missing authenticity: The match results have not always been very realistic, the transfers not authentic in parts and the players development much too fast. So EA has worked on these features:
The match realism has been adjusted more to the player strength and weaknesses, the formation of the team and the position of the players are factored now. furthermore the games are calculated minute by minute. So the final league table of the season is a lot more similar to the ones of the real leagues.
If and how a transfer is done depend on multiple decision points: What is the prestige of the teams? What is the experience and the squad of the team? Furthermore the Club AI interferes much better and try to buy new players more smart.
The development of players in the Manager Mode has been adjusted, too. Even here the developement is based on a lot of new factors – especially the separation of the development in talent, mental and physical skills is interesting. The mental skill and the talent makes a positive player development possible up to an advanced age, but the physical skills (age, injuries, etc…) handicap it.
The game in the on-road test
The version which we have been able to play in the studios of EA Canada is a very early version which is far away from the final version. The game is still in development! About 60-70% have been completed and there are 4 months left from release. That's why there appeared some strange, but also funny bugs. The guys of EA have told us that these bugs will be removed until the release of the game. That's the reason why we don't want to talk about the bugs here.
To say first things first: It is really a lot of fun to play this game! The flow of the game which has already been very good in FIFA 09 has been improved a lot in FIFA 10 and I got the impression to have more controll about the game. Especially the new 360 Degree Dribbling is a great innovation which is the best improvement in my optinion – now I can use every small gap in the defense – well ok, that's not true: The defense got more intelligent now too and wins back the ball again – great!
The gameplay which I already liked in FIFA 09 has been developped more detailled now. The possibility to do a fast throw-in or a fast freekick contributes greatly to the game motivation – but it was not easy for me to see that I got a fast freeklick in the test version. I hope that it will be make clear in the final version.
But it's also great that the referees don't interupt the game after a foul if the fouled team is in ball pocession, and shows the yellow card the the player at the next possibility – well, I know, that's already available in FIFA 09 – but in FIFA 10 all this happens ingame: There are no scripted sequences any more on which the player is shown the yellow card – now the referee runs to the player and shows him the yellow card – without any change of the camera!
The graphic did not change a lot - generelly it really looks like the old FIFA 09. The field and the spectators are similar, there have not been included any new stadiums to our test version. It's a pity because it would have been able to get more atmosphere and details round the field and into the stadium enviroment.
The changes in the Manager Mode sound interesting – nobody wants to play in a league in which Chelsea is only playing in the midfield of the table (like in FIFA 09 sometimes) - that's unrealistic. I think it's great that team and player strength carry authority more now. Nethertheless I hope that the balance will be ok, because it is boring too if the tables are too similar each season, the fortune should be available, too – even in FIFA 10 I want to have some surprising teams like Wolfsburg or Hoffenheim!
Conclusion
I am very optimistic that the game will be a great soccer simulation! There are left 4 months of development and the game is on the right path to place 1 in the heaven of soccer!
Daniel Kaltenthaler
www.fifa4fans.de
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