FIFA 11 is less playable, unrefined, and feature stripped cash cow.
I regard to FIFA 11 I found Gamespot review puzzling because at the top it said that its "feature packed", yet lower it says "relatively few new features", usually saying something is packed is referring to new content? But if it is not then it's referring to old content from previous title, but there is less than in previous title?
Having led Gymnastic, CSKA Moscow, Spurs, Oxford United & Brighton to Europe Cup (still no Champions League) I felt disappointed in the career mode. So I shall focus on this as it's the most fun part of the game for me in football games and general game play.
Game Play: 8/10
Pro-passing originally seemed to me like a massive new change by studying the box whilst purchasing, but it was a let down as rather making passing more realistic it seemed players got more "dim". Many quite easy passes could fail, players rarely make a good runs and the most frustrating thing is that each player passes differently which may seem realistic but holding down pass (x) could provide different result in a negative way. Albeit it may seem pin-pong is gone, it hasn't (and yes I have played with the settings).
Tackling is a major part in football games, well Gamespot said that players are rewarded for "strategy over relentless attack", not true, playing this game for a few months on pro/world class best way is to continuously attack and get more shots as possible as it's the easiest and fun-est way. Tackling is again, done by simply running into the other player, way to easy than in real life.
Defence has also become rather strange, as for some reason defending players run on steroids, playing with Walcott for example should allow him to run through quickly without him being caught easily, but for some reason defenders can accelerate up to the player and maintain pace with attackers?
Attack is better in regard to its rare to get silly score outcomes, I've had a few games at 6-0 or 7-1's, but no longer 11-0 as in FIFA10. Albeit I do feel as more goals are scored players begin to miss really silly goals, even open-goal tap-ins if you're winning by a wide margin - which is poor. Now free-kicks are frankly ruined in FIFA11, impossible to score (I consider myself quite a good player in all fairness), so best way is to simply pass to a player in the box.
Personality+ does not exist; it's a promotion fuss, as players do not show any personality in matches. I do like the addition that smaller players and big players feel different, but that's not "personality", that's just height advantage. For example I was expecting to see Balotelli being send-off for acting childishly, Rooney for inappropriate behaviour or Ronaldo for diving. Or for players to react differently to misses or goals, or to talk to other players or something.. but no.
Penalties have made an improvement, now there is a small bar showing composure, which makes it less one dimensional than before. But this is a problem with FIFA11 it seemed to have made little changes, like with stamina changes or tiredness levels, but not major addition. So it feels like an add-on or what FIFA10 should have been like not a whole new game.
Manager Mode: 4/10
This is a big part for me, as can be played with friends who try to prevent you from winning silverware or building up a team and moving it up. But it has been a massive step-backwards.
Upgrades like in FIFA10 are no longer there, no bigger stadium upgrade (especially as other games like pro-evo go so far in this area), training facility or staff upgrades. Some argue this is better as you could no longer "cheat" by upgrading your stamina through staff, but does Chelsea or Liverpool not have good facilities and staff making their players better than e.g. Wolverhampton? Rhetorical question by the way..
No incentive to win games, I found that after playing with Oxford United & Brighton that after you win enough games and know that you won the league (as opposition is weak at that level even on world class) there is no point to win anymore so you may as well "sim" them. This is because there is no longer a financial bonus to winning. Also "sim" doesn't work, it does not consider my track record, being unbeaten in 34 matches with scores of 2,3 or 4 goals with almost none in, and it could easily result in a 0-2 loss because my team is not a ***** but a ** against a ** team, very poor way to work it.
Sponsor Contracts are no longer there, this falls under the above point, as sponsors use to pay you for winning in FIFA10 which was nice. Also there is no longer proper targets for the season, as the board just says come top 4 and that's it or top 10, no targets for winning cups or medals so making it pointless to win them in lower leagues as winning the league cup or FA cup for Brighton was something like £50,000 prize, lol! My player wage a week is more. Also winning Champion's League (Europe Cup) yield less income than Premier League – not realistic.
Board is useless, even at hardcore level it never fired me, and it just gives you less money which is pointless, so why choose a harder level?!?
In game e-mail, is highly frustrating, when your trying to get to the next match you usually get an e-mail saying "this player has played to many games give him rest" or "try him he's good", this is suppose to add realism I guess but it doesn't as I know anyway if the player is tired (for a reason) and the player they suggest is always really crap (for a reason he is not used).
Transfers have had an improvement as now players have to be pleased, which is nice as in FIFA10 I had Tottenham Hotspurs with Messi & Ronaldo... which is clearly never going to happen, sorry Spur fans. But now they deleted the scouts system, players just appear randomly in teams during new season, there is no way to scout for new talent.
Degeneration of football, after playing for 10 or so seasons most teams like Chelsea, Manchester United, Barcelona... begin to decline drastically loosing their best players (to old age) and not buying anyone new. Most clubs have massive budgets but no one almost buys anyone (even Manchester City plays on a budget), with few major signings happening in 15 seasons as manager. Considering there is no youth system player appear randomly and computer never really develops players as top 11 is usually is played, so also poor AI of other managers.
It was nice to have manager mode with a pro-mode together as I enjoy unlocking new abilities, but I never play as the sole player, always as a team due to uncomfortable angle of game play in lone pro. Goalkeeper addition was probably welcomed but for the sake of being there, and sounding nice with FIFA11 title as realistically its very boring playing as one as not much happens for 90 mins till someone has a go once in a blue moon.
Not sure what's the point of "wages" for managers or pro's apart from comparing at the end who has the bigger one Timmy or Jimmy.. No use to them. This all adds up to the lack of the realistic factor; players celebrations are not bad but doesn't feel right, when you win a trophy you get shameful graphics of bits of glitter coming from no where with no prize or presentation. Overall seems poor, even the fans couldn't care if their team wins as no one stands up, very sterile.
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Overall it may seem like a negative review but these days I am finding games more annoying as big companies like EA expect us to spend £40 each year on underdeveloped games (Fallout New Vegas, really took the biscuit with bugs on PS3) and then complain about game piracy.. sometimes I wish I did "try it" before I bought FIFA11 properly. Very lazy effort overall with tiny tweaks and massive step-back in regard to manager mode from FIFA10. It seemed they thought that we haven't achieved what we wanted in these areas so we might as well scrap them altogether.
I think they ought to stop adding leagues and improve game play, albeit I know there are a lot of supporters of Greek or Turkish or god knows which leagues but realistically only the Barclays Premier League is fun, Spanish league is just you Barcelona and Real and new leagues like Russian is pointless as players don't want to play in it due to its low credibility.
Hope you found the review useful. If I am to be graced by any comments please avoid "posting silly 10/10 rants" as otherwise if there is no complaints we will continue to get this sort of games and wonder what happened to our money.
Overall 6.5/10