FIFA Soccer 12 —
FIFA Soccer 12
- Tactical Defending - Fundamental changes to the approach of defending places.
- Precision Dribbling - Enjoy new ways to take on opponents and control of the pace of the game.
- Online Friendlies - Play your friends in 10 game seasons and prove who is the best.
- FIFA Ultimate Team - Now available for the first time at launch and on disc!
- Complete Authenticity - Over 500 officially licensed clubs and more than 15,000 players.
- All-New Career Mode - Now driven by the same drama, storylines and emotion as the real world game.
- EA SPORTS Football Club - For the first time ever, everything within FIFA 12, is measured in a meaningful way.
- Player Impact Engine - The new physics engine is built to deliver real-world physicality in every interaction on the pitch.
FIFA Soccer 12 is the 19th game in Electronic Arts' popular video game soccer series. Continuing with the franchise's unique blend of realism and innovative features that bring the authenticity to the video game pitch that fans crave, FIFA Soccer 12 is an exciting title for longtime and existing fans of console sports gaming. Game features include: 500 officially licensed clubs and more than 15,000 players, improved self-awareness and aptitude of AI players, a redefined defending mechanism, more true-to-life injuries, precision dribbling and new commentary teams.
Love Soccer - Play Soccer
FIFA Soccer 12 brings to the pitch the game-changing new Player Impact Engine, a physics engine built to deliver real-world physicality in every interaction on the pitch. Revolutionary gameplay innovations inspired by the real-world game make FIFA Soccer 12 deeper and more engaging. All-new Precision Dribbling delivers a higher fidelity of touch on the ball for attacking players, while Tactical Defending fundamentally changes the approach to defending by placing equal importance on positioning, intercepting passes and tackling. Plus, AI players have been infused with Pro Player Intelligence, the next generation of player intelligence and performance.
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Key Game Features
- Pro Player Intelligence - AI players have been infused with self-awareness and aptitude, enabling them to make decisions based on their own skills as well as the strengths and attributes of their teammates. Players who possess exceptional vision, for example, will see opportunities for through balls that other players won't. Real Madrid's Kaká will be more likely to pick out a run from a teammate farther away than a player with poorer vision. Additionally, teams will vary their attack based on the strengths of their players on the pitch, and the weaknesses of opposing players, creating a more authentic experience and greater variety of matches.
- Tactical Defending - Redesigned defending mechanism fundamentally changes the approach to defending by placing equal importance on positioning, intercepting passes and tackling at the right moment. Tactics and timing are crucial.
- True Injuries - The Player Impact Engine monitors contact between players in real-time, analyzing the force of the collision and impact on the body to detect real injuries, creating a deeper more challenging Career Mode. Manage new types of injuries and the risk of sending a player onto the pitch who isn't fully healed.
- Player Impact Engine - Two years in development, the new physics engine is built to deliver real-world physicality in every interaction on the pitch. Experience an infinite variety of natural and believable outcomes in every contact. Players feel more resilient on the ball, push and pull during the fight for possession, and recover from light challenges more easily, preserving their natural momentum.
- Precision Dribbling - Enjoy new ways to take on opponents, more time on the ball to make decisions, and complete control of the pace of the game. Utilize close dribble touches in tight spaces, on the wings, and even while fending off an opponent.
- Complete Authenticity - Over 500 officially licensed clubs and more than 15,000 players.
- New Commentary Teams - For the first time ever, two broadcast teams will be featured - Martin Tyler and Alan Smith and Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend. Fans can customize audio to their preferred commentators for any matches.
Additional Screenshots
 Battle improved AI Intelligence. View larger. |  500+ clubs and 1,500 players. View larger. |  Redefined defense mechanism. View larger. |  System recognized true injuries. View larger. |
DualShock 3 Wireless Controller - Red
- Pressure sensors that rumble with each action making every impact feel like you're right in the game
- Sixaxis highly sensitive motion technology senses your every move
- Features Bluetooth technology for wireless game play
- The PlayStation 3 system can support up to seven wireless controllers at one time
- Can be charged at any time through the PlayStation 3 system using the controller's USB cable
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Certainly the best Fifa game to date but….,
This is a fantastic game but I have to give it 4 stars because I think the way EA marketed this game, i.e. as if they completely revolutionized the FIFA franchise , is a tad misleading. Maybe it’s just me but I found the whole ‘impact system’ that this release is centered around to be very over rated and , when I did experience it during games, to be pretty glitchy (more on that later).
Positives:
1) Let’s start with my favorite part about this game – I feel that FIFA 12 really introduces a whole new level of realism into the franchise in that it really does seem to be a game that will require players to think differently in each match as the improved ball physics makes every shot move different ,even if hit from the same spot using the same power. One of my biggest peeves in FIFA 11 was playing against the hardcore FIFA players who mastered the game to the point where they knew where to shoot from, how much power to use – strategies which almost always resulted in a goal. I think 12 has gone some way to addressing the scenario of players being able to beat the game engine which will be a relief for casual players such as myself. Bear in mind , I think i felt similarly about FIFA 11 too so if i find myself once again getting scored on from the same spots, I’l edit this portion of the review.
2) Improved player AI – Absolutely fantastic. After playing about 10 games against the computer, I could really feel the difference. In fact, the only reason playing against the computer didn’t seem as fun as playing online was because i knew I was playing against the computer. The scores were always vastly different i.e. 6-0 in 1 game , 1-2 in another and the AI’s decision making ability ,even at the semi-pro level I am currently playing at is extremely smart. Case in point – I rushed my keeper on the AI player and the player actually chipped the ball above the keeper. Maybe it’s just me but I never saw the computer do that in FIFA 11 even at the ‘legendary’ difficulty level.
3) Defending – Ok I admit it – I was one of those whose defense strategy in 11 was to simply rush onto the opposition with the X button pressed. I tried the same strategy in ‘amateur’ difficulty in FIFA 12 and almost lost the game. In short, defending in Fifa 12 is much more about anticipation and interception than it is about tough tackling – just as is the case in the real sport.
4) Dribbling: Just like the improved bal physics make it difficult for the very good players to master scoring positions , shooting power etc. , the improved dribbling makes it very difficult for amateur players to just come in and steal the ball by just running into the player with the x button pressed when a player is pulling of a skill.
5) Commentary – Having 2 separate commentary teams certainly goes a long way towards not hearing the same thing again and again.
6) Graphics – Player faces have been enhanced to give a more real life look as compared to the glossy look players had in Fifa 11.
7) Other: As with recent FIFA releases, you really have to keep playing Fifa 12 to really see all the new subtle tweaks in the game that really add up to making a big difference and hence i will continue to update this section as and when i notice something really cool. Here are some I have noticed
a) Injuries: I actually had a player get injured mid run and just go down, possibly because I had maxed out his stamina and was still exerting him
b) Game customization: You actually have the ability to increase/ reduce several attributes of both you as well as the computer (on a scale of 100) such as shot speed, acceleration, pass speed, injury frequency, injury severity, goalkeeper ability etc. – kinda helps if you want to make the game even more easier/challenging in addition to the difficulty setting you selected.
How much of a difference does that make? I set my team’s sprint speed and acceleration to 100 and that of the computer to 0; in the previous game where all attributes were equal, I won 2-1 but with the edited settings, i won 35-0 , both at the exact same difficulty level.
Neutral:
Revamped Start Menu – Is cool but not a big deal for me. it’s just one of those things that gives you that ‘oh yes this is a new game’ feeling for the first couple of times but after that, you just feel indifferent towards it. Personally , I don’t think it improves or decreases the user experience but yes it does look a bit better.
Negatives:
1) Player impact engine: The primary reason that I consider this to be a negative is that i hardly ever see it come into effect in the game and when there is impact between players, the results are either over exaggerated or glitchy. 2 examples – The first was when I launched a sliding tackle straight through a player in the penalty box and it just made the player slightly imbalanced when he…
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|Career (Manager) Mode Review,
As a lot of people have commented on the gameplay, I’m sticking with the Career Mode for my review. I don’t play online for FIFA at all, and am more of a intermediate-level player, and here are my experiences so far.
FIRST CAREER MODE CAMPAIGN – MANCHESTER UNITED
I love that you have an wide array of players, from skilled to strong. Playing in Semi-Pro mode (I agree with another commenter, the jump to Professional difficulty is way to hard for this gamer) the game is kind of easy. You can go pretty much undefeated in the EPL, League Cup (Carling Cup), FA Cup etc. with your original squad. The transfer budget is sky high too, so you can buy players at will. Basically for me, there’s no challenge playing such a good and wealthy team. I did find it funny that Wayne Rooney asked to be traded out of the blue right before the January transfer window. I stalled, hoping he would change his mind, but the Board of Directors sold him over me to Real Madrid (at least it wasn’t to City!). No worries though as I was able to get Schweinsteiger AND Muller from Bayern Munich with the fee.
SECOND CAREER MODE CAMPAIGN – BLACKPOOL
I found it more rewarding and fun to go with a team that has smaller budget ($10M) and a bunch of youngsters and a bunch of aging veterans. It’s also more fun to fight for promotion to the EPL and you have good balance of similar level teams, and the big boys in the EPL (during the Cup runs). Also, you have to be smart to be able to out play some of the good teams. It took me three tries to beat Manchester City in the FA Cup Final using different combination of players and tactical formations.
With a small budget, you have think smart. I found myself looking to acquire players on loan (18-20 year old players from top flight teams like Arsenal and Inter Milan) who are maybe 67-70 on ratings, but have lots of “tools.” These players proved to be instrumental in big games, and lacking the transfer fee, is a good use of your funds. Also watching your youngsters grow with playing time is fun too. As the injuries can range from several days to six months, squad depth is very important. Scouting and Youth Academy can be huge for a small team – I just promoted a CB from the Youth Academy to the first team, and at 16 years old, has a transfer value of over $4M at skill level 63. I could probably sell him two years down the line at over $10M, which is great for a small team like Blackpool. Squad construction is really half the fun for me in FIFA, and playing with a lower level team makes it more interesting, as transfer budgets and youth development is much more consequential. Your player’s form + overall skill number seems to fluctuate their transfer value, as I’ve watched a 20-year-old youngster triple in value in 1.5 years overall, but also go up and down during the season based on his form.
Going from season 1 to season 2, I found that my transfer budget doubled to $20M. I also discovered that it can vary based on how much money you have left over from last year. I spent all my “leftover funds” into my youth system at the end in one scenario, and my transfer budget for next year I found was significantly less.
BOTTOM LINE
It’s a pretty good game. As I tend to gravitate toward “empire-building” games, the Career Mode in FIFA 12 is a lot of fun with a lesser team. Gameplay is fun, and so is searching through thousands of players to find the few who will enhance your squad on budget.
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|Good, but still contains some game-breaking issues,
Update:
- I’m changing the overall rating for this game to 3 Stars:
The Customization is worse than I thought. After paying for some of the creation center content I found out that the Creation Center is almost unusable. Just search for “error downloading user generated content” for Fifa 12 on Google and you’ll see the issues brought up by users. EA basically took payment and did not deliver.
- Career/Management mode is broken. Causes PS3 to freeze up when using Team Management options (i.e. formations, tactics). This is pretty bad for a modern game.
- The issue with AI runs I mention below, however, slightly alleviated by changing the AI Sliders within Customization, so it’s better, but don’t expect overlapping/diagonal runs such as in PES.
- EA sports needs to treat their product with more respect. Be wary of purchasing at full price expecting the Creation/Customization features to be intact. Customization is great for sports games, it’s something that has kept PES alive for ages, but EA’s still not on board. All the attention is on Ultimate Team right now since it generates funds for the company.
Original Review:
I’m basing my review on a pre-order valued copy of this game (approx. $45 value). For $60, I would say this game is incredibly overpriced if you own Fifa 10 or 11. For 45ish, it’s a good deal.
Good: The new precision dribbling in my opinion is the one big plus, allowing for close dribbling and tight control. No longer are acceleration and skill moves the key to winning and evading the defense. Basically, you can now play a style akin to Messi.
The tactical defending isn’t too much different as most people say it is, however, I do think it is a lot better than the “homing tackling” of the past.
The graphics and animation are second to none, if PES series had Fifa’s animation it would be the best football game no questions asked (and I can finally go back to buying PES)
Creation Center allows for your own custom teams and teams that aren’t in the game (although the number of teams/players is capped). [However content is full of bugs when creating/downloading/using]
Ultimate Team is now free and on the disc.
The Bad:
For a full priced game you can expect the usual DLC from EA Sports, and I’m not talking about new features for the future, but simply features that already exist but are locked until you pay EA some more dough. The worst example of this is that you cannot use a created team from the Creation Center within the Career Mode unless you buy a “Career Mode Pack.” Many of the better creation center features are also locked out until you pay for the “Serious Creator Pack.”
EA’s servers are prone to dropping you in the middle of various online modes. [this has improved a week after release to no drops, however my play sessions are short so I'm not certain it's fixed]
The AI players are reluctant to make diagonal runs, or many runs at all for that matter.
The AI defenders will also never foul you under the current Tactical Defending system, causing games that have zero free kicks. [Game Breaking]
Fifa removed 2 entire leagues (Turkish and Czech), and I think the loss of the Turkish league is a big negative.
The Skill moves are overpowered, it should be realized that quick turns of pace and directional changes are incredibly fatiguing to athletes, yet in this game a skilled player can do FIFA Street’esque moves non-stop for the entire 90 mins.
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|Tested on Playstation 1, 2, and 3 games – it works GREAT on all of them!,
Well folks, now that the dust has settled from the Sony vs. Immersion lawsuit, Playstation 3 owners are finally able to feel the vibe again!
I purchased this controller today and I knew the only way to properly road-test it was on the game that made the Dualshock famous, Metal Gear Solid. After booting up the game, I walked down the hallway and got spotted by a guard. As he shouted, “WHO’S THAT?” the controller jumped in my hand – and I knew this was a smart purchase. As the guards shot at me, I felt the feedback of the bullets, just as I had 10 years ago on my Sony Playstation.
I picked out another old school Playstation game, Tenchu: Stealth Assassins. From Ayame’s blades to Rikimaru’s sword, each sword swipe and jump had excellent feedback.
Okay, so my Playstation games worked out. But what about my Playstation 2 library?
I popped in God of War, knowing I had to feel the swing of the Blades of Chaos. The controller vibrations felt a little lighter here, but the vibrations still occurred at the appropriate times.
Then I chose Incredible Hulk Ultimate Destruction. Who better to test a vibration controller than the Sultan of Smash? All the power jumps and smashes had the vibrations intact, but they still felt a little on the light side.
All right, so far I was two for two with my Playstation and Playstation 2 test subjects. But what about my Playstation 3 games? Could I possibly hit a trifecta?
I put in Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and I decided to jump right into a heated firefight. The controller gave me feedback while shooting weapons and getting hit by enemy fire, but I knew my purchase was justified when Drake was near death: I FELT THE DUALSHOCK 3 PULSING IN SYNCH WITH DRAKE’S HEARTBEAT. It’s one thing to hear that noise and know he’s near death, it’s quite another to feel the pulse in my own hands.
Okay, so the feedback on the older games was there, but a little lighter than I remember. The reason? Well, when I decided to go wireless on my Playstation 2 system, I bought a Logitec Dualshock controller. It turns out, that controller takes two “AA” batteries, and the vibration motors inside the controller handles are slightly larger than the ones in the Dualshock 3. That’s where I felt the difference.
The Dualshock 3 vibrations may be slightly less than the Logitec controller, but it doesn’t require the purchase of batteries.
The Dualshock 3 may be slightly heavier than the SixAxis, but it doesn’t take up any extra space at all.
Sure, the price is about $15 more than the SixAxis, but it’s a worthy upgrade for the Playstation 3 gamer who kicks it old school as well as new school. The only other drawback is the lack of an additional USB cable – but we can use the one that came with the system itself.
So what’s the final verdict?
Order it, plug it in, charge it up, and get ready for the inevitable downloads from the Playstation Store to make the older PS3 games Dualshock 3 compatible.
I wouldn’t recommend a feedback peripheral without providing my own feedback…
Enjoy!
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|Get ready to rumble, even with PS 2 games!,
I was already extremely happy with the Sixaxis controller, but I could not resist getting the DualShock 3. Not only do you get the rumble, but also, it feels much better in your hands, even for those games that do not use this feature. The rumble function is fun, but on top of that, it helps with gameplay, because “feeling” what is happening provides a lot more feedback than just watching how your character or car reacts to the environment.
The biggest surprise of all was that the rumble works with PS 2 games in the PS 3 system. I am currently playing through “God of War”, a game which had the rumble capability in PS 2. I thought that it was unlikely that I was going to get this feature with this new controller in the PS 3, but it worked perfectly.
I know that having to buy a new controller and basically discard the one that came with the system is not the ideal situation, but I have to say this product is really worth shedding the extra bucks.
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|Should’ve been rumble from the start.,
The Playstation 2′s highly regarded DualShock 2 controller was considered by many to be the best videogame controller of all time. So when you’ve got a winning design there’s no need to change anything. However, because of a legal battle with Immersion over rumble technology, Sony was forced to offer their Sixaxis controller without rumble. The Sixaxis had the same Dualshock design but it felt too lightweight and cheap. Thankfully the lawsuit has been settled and rumble has come back to the Playstation.
For the most part, the DualShock 3 is almost identical to its PS2 precessor. But it has all the features of the original Sixaxis controller in addition to rumble. The controller is still wireless, can be charged by plugging it into your PS3 (or PC), rumble is compatible with all PS1 and PS2 games, and the PS3 supports up to 7 controllers at the same time via bluetooth. Rumble in the DualShock 3 seems more responsive in regards to the location of its vibration depending on which side you get hit on during the games. I don’t know if this is something in the design or if it’s the developers doing it for the games but I welcome it.
All in all this is currently the best designed controller on the market right now. The PS2′s DS2 was incredible so “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” applies here. I’ll be enjoying rumble in my PS3 games from now on.
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