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Having played the demo for the last few weeks i was excited about the new Fifa so decided to buy it now and PES 6 in a week or so. I have to say that this is easliy the best ever Fifaand although i cant comment on PES as of yet it will certainly push it close or be better, but i will leave that judgement until i get both. GAMEPLAY 9/10
The gameplay has been given a brand new engine and it works very well. The ball has its own physics and it move and feels natural unlike previous Fifas. In Fifa of old you could run, run, run, shoot and score where as with this new engine that isn't possible! You have to study your build up, passing the ball side to side and back looking for that little bit of space to break your opponent down, and when you do eventually break them down there is a very able 'keeper waiting to spoil your moment with brilliant and intellegent saves. When you do break down the defence and beat the 'keeper you feel like you have a feeling of achievment you never got with Fifa before.
There are some niggles with the gameplay though which is why i didn't give 10/10. One thing Fifa has adopted from PES is the strict Refferees! If you simply run towards the player with the ball the defender could push the attacker out the way and collect the ball with no foul but if you are running beside the attacker and press and hold the tackle button you can win the ball fairly but give away a freekick(or penalty as i found out in the last minute of my first online game!!!). You can also have two players chasing a through ball, they bang into each other, attacker stops and defender keeps running can be very annoying but these are things that can be fixed with an update.
VISUALS 8/10
The majority of the players look good, but there are some that look nothing like there real life counter parts. The strips look very good dirty during a match, tops un-tucked, look authentic but the lettering is too small on the back of the tops so could be better. The grounds look good but the crowd is a very dissapointing 2d cardboard cut out look!!(this is next gen so should be better) but the look about the crowd doesn't take away from the game experience.
The layout of the menus are good and easy to use, only problem the words are perhaps to small, but overall well presented.
SOUND 7.5/10
With the demo not having any commentry i wasn't sure what to expect. First impression where that the commentry was too quiet and not enough being said but after 10 mins(game time not real time) the commentry had grown on me and sounded good. EA had made alot of noise about how the crowd would react and sound real, and they do! The crowd noise of chanting and singing is very authentic and enjoyable. The music chosen imho fits in very well with the mood and look of the game.
ONLINE 8/10
EA said they wanted the online element to play like offline and i have to say that when i played online there was very little if any lag! the gameplay was fast and smooth. altoogh i didn't win it was a very enjoyable experience! The interactive leagues would have been a great feature for next gen, but sadly its not to be.
OVERALL 8.5/10
As i have already said this is the best Fifa to date and will give PES a run for its money. The number of playuable leagues is dissapointing but the gameplay and visuals make up for this. It would have been good to have the features of the current gen versions but this was a new game that was made from scratch so it can only get better.
Is this the season Fifa beats PES? Maybe but it will certainly be close and i will judge after playing both.
MB
