E3 2012: Is FIFA 13 the best sports game, yet unreleased?

Way ahead of the competition

by Arthur Kotsopoulos

©2012 Arthur Kotsopoulos

Featuring what was possibly the best presentation of any game I’ve seen behind closed doors at E3 2012, EA Vancouver have managed to improve FIFA 13 in more ways than I thought possible.

They have listened to feedback, watched dozens upon dozens of football matches over the last year and have tweaked FIFA 13 into what looks to be the ultimate sports title, never mind football (soccer) title.

It simply reigns supreme.  It’s the best ever sports title, and it isn’t even released yet.

Kicking things off with a video showcasing the improved features, we were then shown how these moments played out in real gameplay compared to before.

Dribbling with ease

The dribbling mechanic which has been vastly improved over FIFA 12 in many ways, such as the ability to move in true 360 degrees and true shielding from defending players, which means that if you have the ball your player will adjust his body accordingly to protect it.

Dribbling whilst facing defenders has also been improved enabling players to truly manipulate and dribble the ball at their will depending on their skill level.

For the better skilled players their dribbling will be picture perfect but that doesn’t mean they’ll not make any mistakes.

Precision at its finest

One of the main drawbacks of FIFA 12 was the impossibly accurate precision system which meant that players with their backs to a ball could still unrealistically control with perfection.

Looking at how footballers in the real world handled situations, taking into account the trajectory of the ball and weather conditions, EA Vancouver have implemented everything that could affect the way a ball reacts to a player handling it.

These are most of the factors that have to be taken into account:

• Rain
• Ball spin
• Ball speed
• Where the ball lands on he players foot
• Player skill

EA Vancouver have now developed a game that will have unprecedented realistic gameplay for players that will continue to help them improve their in-game skills.

Gone are the days where you could lob a ball from your goalkeeper to a player on the other end of the field and score because the player could stop it with ease with his back turned,. Now we have instances where players can easily lose control of the ball if they run onto it too fast and chested it wrong, allowing the opposing team to easily mount a counter attack.

Coupled with the implementation of street ball control brought over from FIFA Street, FIFA 13 allows for the most skilled of players to have the same control over the ball in the game as their real world counterparts.

Major player impact improvements

With unpredictability being the main focus of FIFA 13,  the player impact system has also undergone some changes which have players reacting appropriately to their opponents, grabbing their shirts or nudging them constantly and causing them to fall over.

Showing us a video of real footage demonstrating how Barcelona superstar Messi reacts when going up against 3 or more players, we were told to focus on how his body moves and stumbles across the pitch.  Then they showed  how in FIFA 13 Messi’s avatar reacts in an almost similar situation: it was uncanny how accurate the system truly is.

Just gets better and better

That’s not all that’s new and improved in FIFA 13.  Players now react and adapt to various plays and take into account where their defenders are and where they believe their team mates will move and pass the ball.

In FIFA 12 when a striker would run up into open space they would run directly offside ruining any chance of a late winner.  In FIFA 13 however this has been fixed and a player will now slow down to the same pace as the last man and once the ball has been passed will shoot off ahead to get into position.

Showing us a video of Van Persie from Arsenal pulling off the same move multiple times, it was great to see that FIFA 13 will be even more authentic than ever before.

With only a short wait until its eventual release later this year I can safely say that FIFA 13 is currently the best sports games developed, and it hasn’t even been released yet.

EA Vancouver manage to continually impress me with their hard work and dedication and I’m looking forward to getting more hands on with FIFA 13 soon.

©2012 Arthur Kotsopoulos

Filed under: 3rd Party Games, Console gaming, Demo impressions, E3 2012, Events, Game Impressions, New Game Information, New Xbox 360 Games, PC News, PS3 News, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 Game Previews, Xbox 360 News Tagged: | Association football, Dribbling, Electronic Arts, FIFA, FIFA 12, Fifa 13, Fifa 13 Preview, FIFA Street, Lionel Messi, Sports game