Forget about the overreacting 9s or 1s. This is worthwhile but don't call it perfection...for perfection's far beyond it
Atmosphere: 9
You gotta admit, EA's good at creating realistic environments, and this time there's the stadium with the fans crying for victory at their best. The further camera gives an almost completely real stadium view as well as mistaking you by giving you the feeling "OH MY GOD am I actually in the stadium!?" Everything's fantastic. The only problem...and seems to be the most difficult problem...would be the commentary. It's more realistic than ever, but you can always find it boring after playing for so long...except it can drag you back with their occasional comments on certain players or clubs. I've heard Andy commenting on Sir Alex Ferguson's success and Wayne Rooney's playstyle and...it is good. No other words.
Graphics: 7.5
To tell the truth, when you pull the camera out, the graphics looks fantastic as ever; but when you push it closer, you might think: "hmm...it's not as good as it was...especially the faces." Well that's the truth. Comparing to FIFA 09 and PES 10, the player faces are...more likely completely build by 3D generation, whereas the predecessor and rival PES seems to be pasting photos on 3D models. The details aren't as good as FIFA 09 either. So far I figured the 3D grass is gone (probably I just haven't found it yet), and I'm quite disappointed with the crowd's animation and details because I've seen similar ones since FIFA 03...I would explain though that FIFA's aiming at building the game in a different way...a new approach to a more realistic football game. Can't blame them if that's the case. Besides those, you can't blame the game much (I still expected better nonetheless).
Physics: 8.5
Although the physics is closer to "by far the most perfect ever", there's one problem and this only problem with physics is strength and it's kinda making certain scenes unrealistic. Lionel Messi in FIFA 10 can't do nothing about Nemanja Vidic, and Emmanuel Adebayor outmuscles Rio Ferdinand almost every time...strength of the player just matters too much. It's true that Messi can't deal with strong central defenders and Adebayor is so strong that some defenders got freaked out while muscling for the ball, but it does not have to be everytime...and sometimes you can see Wayne Rooney outmuscled by some not-supposed-to-be-too-strong defenders. Still, it does make competition for the ball more entertaining because you can have loads of players competing for possession for over minutes and the ball's still loose. EA needs to work on this a bit more. Maybe slightly reducing the rate of outmuscling would do it because you don't see a lot of them in real games.
Control: 9.5
Marvellous, just marvellous if you ask me about the control. I would rate it perfect but...nothing's absolutely perfect, right?
Game Modes and Features: 7.5
Virtual Pro's quiet revolutionary and you can't blame them much for developing this new mode, although I would still hope they can do better on 3D faces because there are loads of certain facial features that are not in the game. Manager Mode's all right if you ask me. I would extend the season a bit longer though. Besides, if I would want to play Manager Mode, I'd go for Football Manager 2010 because they are brilliant this year. Be A Pro mode disappoints me strongly and I'd rate this the only part where FIFA gets crushed by PES. The Become A Legend mode in PES runs longer and more variant in statistics, player development and competition, only lacking authentications from leagues. I'd strongly advise EA to do more about it because I'm a fan of the RPG style gaming system and clearly EA doesn't do well...they should learn those from 2K Sports and KONAMI. I'm also a bit disappointed by the disappearance of "Create A Team" Option. I would love to create a team with my created players though, and I hate to see Ultimate Team being teared out separately...commercially EA's smart, but I'd say being smart doesn't mean being mean on this...
I'm giving this game an overall of 8 and truthfully this is probably as high as a sports game can get with my scoring system (I don't go beyond 9 for any game...quite strict you can say). For those who are calling this masterpiece, we'll wait for the real masterpiece 'cause it won't come out as long as KONAMI doesn't do anything about new engines for PES. For those who call it rubbish...you're probably in need of treatments from Arkham Asylum. As for those who haven't tried but are fans of football and have a console, I do recommend you to try it out...for it's worth the price. Keep it up EA Sports, we're waiting for the World Cup now!