FIFA 12 Ultimate EditionPlayStation 3

Released on 30-Sep-2011.

• FIFA 12 introduces EA Sports Football Club features

  EA Sports has big plans for the the way we play its games, and details of how they're going to bring social elements to their titles have started to appear.

  Talking with Eurogamer, EA Sports president Andrew Wilson explained how the just-announced FIFA Street will attract new players not already into the main FIFA series, and also how those who do play both games will get added benefits.

  here are people who are looking for authentic football that's fast paced with more flair and a little bit more pizzazz," he said. "They may or may not play FIFA already, but that's just the game and experience they're looking for. We'll get to those gamers./p>

  More interesting for existing fans is EA Sports Football Club, a social network of sorts that will enable players to maintain the same player profile across all the games under the brand.

  ou might be level seven in FIFA. You go and play FIFA Street and you progress that and end up at level eight said Wilson. y the time you get back into FIFA, there are new things available to you as a result of that ongoing progress you have in that world./p>

  EA Sports Football Club makes its debut in FIFA 12, which jogs onto the pitch on September 30th. It'll be available on PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Wii, 3DS, PSP and pretty much anything else with a screen.

  Published: 22/08/2011

• FIFA 12 - Review

  The football season may have started over a month ago, but for many fans of the beautiful game, the real season starts this month with the release of FIFA 12. In keeping with what seems to be EA Sports's prime directive with their football sim - which over the last four entries has been a steady drive towards realism - FIFA 12 has arrived with a list of features geared towards making everything look and feel as authentic as possible.

  The numerous tweaks to the gameplay centre around what the developers have been calling the 'holy trinity of precision dribbling, tactical defending and the new player impact engine'. The first of these allows players a more intimate control of the ball. They can shield it defensively against oncoming opponents, and can use finesse moves to create space or thread the ball through to team-mates running into space.

  The Beautiful Game?

  Tactical defending allows players to harass attackers with team-mates they aren't controlling. By pressing the right shoulder button they can remotely 'contain' the player with the ball, while using one of their own team members to cover players who are running into space. They can also press the B-button to knock players off the ball, or grab their shirts as they try to cut past.

  The biggest difference to the on-the-pitch action comes courtesy of the new player impact engine, which allows for more realistic in-game collisions between players. When players tackle or crash into each other, their size and the speed they were travelling at is taken into account. It also stops players from briefing melding with each other during collisions as in previous FIFA iterations.

  What this all means essentially is that FIFA 12 looks and plays far more realistically than its forebears. However, thanks to the new mechanics and a much-improved AI, it also means that it's a far harder game to master than any other FIFA title. Opponents shield the ball rather than running obligingly towards the player's defenders. AI defenders clog the box, making penetrating passes and cross far harder to get on the end of. It's also far harder to score goals in FIFA 12 and early on - unless the difficulty level is dropped below 'Professional' - it may cause some initial headaches for players used to hammering their opponents in FIFA 11.

  Messi or Messy?

  However, those who persevere will find EA's latest football sim is easily the best in the series to date, and it's not just the improved, challenging gameplay which makes going back to earlier iterations unthinkable. The new Career Mode - which once again condenses Be A Player, Be A Manager and Be A Player Manager modes - is easily the best of the series. Along with much shorter loading times, it boasts more realistic management of both players and budgets as well as the drama of transfer deadline day.

  Beyond the on-pitch action and local campaigns, the developers have stretched out to offer players a more engrossing online experience. To that end, players can now join up free of charge to the EA Sports Football Club, an RPG-based social network which allows them to support their club online. Everything players do in FIFA 12 earns them XP, which goes towards the average score of the club they support, pushing it further up the FIFA 12 online league. The EA Sports Club also offers players scenarios and challenges which will be based on match events that take place over the coming season - all for no extra cost.

  Alongside this, FIFA 12 has had its ranked online matches expanded to include Head To Head Seasons and Online Friendlies. The former puts players in a league contest in which they have 10 games to progress up 10 divisions by gaining points from wins or draws against opponents. Online friendlies, meanwhile, are aimed at those players unnerved at the prospect of being beaten by strangers. It's basically a friends-only league, in which players can compete for points and cups against their mates.

  Final Whistle

  FIFA 12 is the best iteration yet of EA's world-beating franchise, packing in new, more evolved on-pitch action with robust online and career modes. It's new, challenging gameplay may initially repel some players, but those that stick with it will find there's no better football experience to be had in gaming.

   

  

  Goal:
  + Deeper gameplay compared to previous releases.
  + The physics engine has been drastically upgraded.
  + Online competition to suit all tastes.

  Offside:
  - The new Impact Engine can result in some comedy collisions.
  - The ramped-up difficulty may be too much for some.
  

  Published: 28/09/2011

• The Beautiful Game

  

  The Beautiful Game: 2012 Football Games Dissected

  As soon as the first Premier League match gets under way, gamers know it's only a matter of weeks before they can start playing along at home. The virtual football season follows its real life counterpart so closely that excitement for them both overlaps into a frenzy of footy fanaticism. And things finally kick off this week, with a derby match that is now as familiar as anything involving teams with City and United in their name: FIFA vs Pro Evolution Soccer.

  

  FIFA, the Man Utd of football gaming, dominates the conversation, of course. EA Sports has poured extra gallons of slick TV style presentation into the 2012 edition, and gone the extra mile in improving gameplay both on and off the pitch.

  Three big changes have been made to the match gameplay, of which the Impact Engine is the most obvious. This is a physics model that governs every challenge, tackle and foul, making players move and interact far more realistically. Tactical Defending deepens this system, with the emphasis now on positioning your defensive line and pressuring the opposing team, boxing them in manually rather than sending the AI to get the job done. And Precision Dribbling offers benefits on the other side of the equation, allowing attackers to maintain close control while jogging, fending off tackles on the move.

  Throw in a much richer Career Mode, with media and management issues as important as tactical decisions, and the new EA Sports Football Club, which links your account and progress across all FIFA branded games, and you've got a seriously impressive distillation of the sport.

  

  What has Pro Evo brought to the pitch to combat this ruthlessly driven assault? Refinements and tweaks, mostly, although there's certainly something to be said for concentrating on getting the details right, rather than coming up with new features for the sake of it.

  Key for Pro Evo fans will be Teammate Control, which allows you to control a second player with the right stick, moving them into position for the perfect pass or interception. It sounds confusing, and it is tricky to master, but the benefits are enormous and there are varying levels of manual control available to ease you in. Goalkeepers and referees have been tickled with the AI feather, making them more reliable and realistic in their responses.

  Is that enough to topple FIFA from its throne? Probably not, but it definitely makes Pro Evo a much stronger game and should encourage a few die hard fans to try both of them.

  And what of the more cerebral player? The sort of player who knows what 'cerebral' means. For them, the long dark nights ahead are simply an invitation to lose themselves in the warm, comfortable bosom of Football Manager 2012.

  

  SEGA's award-winning, best-selling management sim somehow gets better every year, and this year is no exception. It's more flexible than ever this season, with off-pitch decisions getting some extremely interesting adjustments. Transfers and youth contracts are more detailed than ever before, and you can use loyalty bonuses to keep your best players happy. Equally, when negotiating that new contract, you'll have more control over where you compromise or when to stand firm. Team talks now offer five different tones, ranging from cool and level-headed, to raging tantrum.

  It all comes together to create an experience where you really feel like a football manager. Not just someone clicking on a game, but a personality within the game, making decisions based on live data. It is, in many ways, the most realistic footy game around.

  And if all that joypad and keyboard action has left you feeling a bit flabby and lethargic, why not just fire up Kinect Sports and boot a few penalties of your own? Football's coming home, and we couldn't be happier!

• FIFA 12 beats GTA IV sales record

  There'll be champagne and posh sarnies at EA Sports this week, as evergreen footy franchise FIFA kicked off the 2012 season in fine style, becoming the third fastest selling game in UK history. Its massive first week sales have nudged Rockstar's hugely successful GTA IV into fourth place, with only Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops beating FIFA 12 in sheer sales force.

  It all adds up to a thriving multiplayer community, especially as the vast majority of copies sold were for Xbox 360 and PS3. Between them, those consoles accounted for 98 percent of the FIFA 12 boxes passing the till. The official game website has a ticker displaying how many online games have been played. As of Monday, the number was approaching fifteen million. Not bad for one weekend.

  So if you haven't got on the pitch yet, what's keeping you? Get your boots on!

  Published: 03/10/2011

• FIFA 12 is now the highest grossing sports game of all time

  As another weekend disappears into the rear view mirror of history, EA Sports' perennial footy game spent a fifth consecutive week at the top of the UK charts, its seventh time in the number one slot since its launch in September last year.

  That success was rather dwarfed by an even more impressive achievement: FIFA 12 has now made more money than any other sports game in the UK, ever. It's slurped up more cash than any previous FIFA title, more than every tennis game, every athletics game, even more than PDC World Championship Pro Darts.

  Few would begrudge the series its phenomenal success, and even though the feat is clearly helped by the fact that there are more consoles and gamers in circulation today than at any point in British gaming history, it's still an achievement worth celebrating.

  FIFA 12 is out now for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and pretty much every electronic device you can think of. Yes, even your toaster.
  

  Published: 23/01/2012

• Kick off for FIFA Street confirmed

  EA Sports urban kickabout FIFA Street has been given a confirmed release date of March 16th in the UK. The game, a 5-a-side spin off from the core FIFA series, uses the same shiny game engine as its blockbuster sibling but places greater emphasis on stylish play and fast paced goalmouth action.

  In keeping with its rough and ready showboating style, FIFA Street will also debut the Street Network, which will allow players to follow each others performance, and post videos of their best moments for the community to share.

  "Street football is all about the one-on-one battle, when you pull off a trick to roast your opponent," reckons producer Sid Misra. "The Street Network brings that real-world swagger into the game by enabling players to capture video of those moments and share them with everyone in their street network to see, and providing friends with a way to compare each other throughout the game."

  FIFA Street is due on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

  Published: 25/01/2012

• Skyrim scoops top award at Interactive Achievement Awards

  Bethesda's sprawling and brilliant role-playing monster, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, fus-roh-dahhed it's way to an impressive five wins last night at the Interactive Achievement Awards.

  Skyrim took home the top honours as Game of the Year, as well as awards for best RPG, gameplay engineering, game direction and story.

  Other winners included Modern Warfare 3, which was voted best action game, FIFA 12, named best sports game, and Star Wars: The Old Republic, honoured for its multiplayer achievements. Uncharted 3 took home gongs for its animation and art direction, while the toys-come-to-life family hit Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure was singled out for its contribution to outstanding innovation. Britain's own Stephen Merchant took home the award for outstanding character performance thanks to his superb turn as Wheatley in Portal 2.

  The ceremony was held during the DICE Summit in Las Vegas. Not to be confused with the Swedish Battlefield developer, DICE (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) is an annual gathering for the great and good of the games industry, and the Interactive Achievement Awards handed out at the event are the gaming equivalent of the Oscars. Only without the long emotional speeches, dance routines and dewy-eyed montages of dead celebrities, obviously.

  Published: 10/02/2012

• Batman and LA Noire lead 2012 Video Game BAFTA nominations

  The finalists for the 2012 British Academy Video Game Awards have been announced, and this year everyone will be watching the detectives, as Batman: Arkham City and LA Noire top the lists with eight nominations apiece.

  Sony will be happy that Uncharted 3 and LittleBigPlanet 2 both get six nominations, while Skyrim and Portal 2 each have five.

  Categories include Action, Artistic Achievement, Design, Story, Innovation and, of course, Best Game. Batman and LA Noire rub shoulders with FIFA 12, Portal 2, Skyrim and Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword in that category. The omission of best-seller Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 may raise eyebrows, but that gets a nod in both the Action and Multiplayer categories.

  Promising indie projects get a look in thanks to the Dare to be Digital One's To Watch award, and there's also a public vote, with ten blockbuster games to choose between. You can head to http://www.baftagameaward.com to pick your favourite.

  The winners will be announced at a sure-to-be-lavish ceremony on March 16th.

  Published: 16/02/2012

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