FIFA Soccer 10 - Playstation 3

I have been watching soccer since 1982, and have not missed a single world cup since. I have played soccer occasionally. I had always wanted to play soccer as a video game, but had always been on the fence because I was never confident a video game could control the ball and players realistically in a moving game. I bought the PS3 recently and downloaded the demo Fifa 11 (about 1.5GB download). I played a few of the exhibition matches and was instantly hooked. I was not keen on 'manager career', or 'be a pro'. I wanted to so desperately play the exhibition matches longer than the 5 minutes allowed by the demo, that I instantly bought Fifa10 that was cheaper at the time. If you have a large (40+ inch) screen tv, you will be completely immersed in the game. The movement of the players is so real that once someone watching over my shoulder asked me where the game was being played! I am completely astonished at how real the players move and behave. Watch for the minor details - when a player runs a ball out of play, and rolls his shoulders in frustration; the 'protestations' of a player when he is carded or fouled; when a player falls, the way he brings himself up with his elbows. The action near the goal is also extremely realistic. You are rewarded for strong nerves. Stop, measure and kick as a bunch of opponents come bearing down your back and you will score, and you can see and feel proud of your goal in slow motion glory from at least four different angles. Panic, and slam the ball, and the shot will go awry and you will jump from your seat swearing. In addition the commentator will have some choice words of rebuke for your skills :) The game ambiance is fantastic. The cheers and howls of the spectators is neither subdued nor overwhelming. You can even hear an occasional chatter or cell phone tone from folks near the commentators. I just wish they had an optional vuvuzela track :) Last but not least I love the commentary by 'Martin Taylor' and 'Andy Gray'. The commentary is so real. When you make a mistake and are feeling sheepish about it, they will 'let you know'! The way they sometime chat among themselves and about the game in progress, sometimes makes you wonder if they are really watching your game. The commentary AI deals with special scenarios well , like when the score is 7-0. There are some cons as well. The game strategy at a particular level gets a bit predictable when played over and over. Of course, you can always change teams or expertise level - there are enough permutations to avoid this repetitiveness. The commentary AI goofs up at times - when you are not near the goal, the commentator may go 'oh he's put it in'! But its rare and doesn't affect the overall experience. The commentary AI itself shows its limits in a week or so, but when you are immersed in the game, it doesn't bother much. There were a couple of things I wish EA did - made the commentary AI a plugin model - where you could download new commentators, or new AI. Also, while the commentators are fairly sharp and jovial, I wish they'd increase the commentary tempo as you approach the goal - this doesn't happen and the commentary stays monotonous. I definitely miss the 'gooaaaaaal' of the spanish channel :) One other con is that when you are near the goal, I wish you could zoom into the action while playing (like it allows you to in training mode). I am not sure if this is a limitation or something I haven't looked into. Overall a stellar game that will get better as game processing engines get more powerful.

This is the best soccer game I've ever played. It is very realistic and offers a lot of possibilities. The previous soccer game I played was Fifa 09 in the Wii, then switched to Fifa 10 in ps3. I must say it was a gigantic change, but it was for good in the end. When I started playing it I felt like I was trapped and was never going to master the game, it was just too hard for me. But if you really try and take time to master the game you will feel how it's just awesome in almost every aspect. It offers hours and hours of fun, even more when playing with friends. I've passed a lot of time playing it and hasn't gotten old. Graphically it is very well polished. I must say that it can look better when you have a closer look of the players, ball, field, etc, than when you have a wide view. Some things might be too colorful in my opinion, but they still look good. I think the best thing the game has is the playability. Being able to make tricks, various shots & passes gives the game a lot of depth. Something I like is that there is nothing scripted, like certain movement you do will always work. You can always be stopped or miss, it's not like the old soccer games where you could have certain formulas for scoring or getting the ball. The things I don't like is that sometimes the responsiveness when making a second player run is not too fast. Also the 1 on 1 online multiplayer is very difficult to connect with other player, even when trying to play with friends. That's not the case of the team multiplayer though, that is very easy to access. Also sometimes the passes don't go where you want 'em, but you get the aim of it with practice, though it still happens even when you have experience but not very often. Overall an excellent game. So if you want a realistic soccer game this must be it.

Played FIFA from 98 and this 2010 is only worse to none. Poor switching control, come on, it is a PS3, can someone figure out an algorithm that would make a little bit more sense? I hate to see my defenders chasing around just because the game refuses to switch to another one that is better positioned. You do not have to change everything to make a product new? Is EA following Microsoft now? It is the first time for me to have a hardware issue with games, the disc simply cracked. Overall, poor quality game. I will give PES a try.

Je suis très satisfait du produit et du service.