GAMEPLAY - VASTLY improved 9.5/10 ------------------------------------------------------ GRAPHICS - some improvement 8/10 ------------------------------------------------------- OFFLINE CAREER - some improvement 7/10 ------------------------------------------------- ONLINE CAREER - great improvement 9/10 -------------------------------------------------- ULTIMATE TEAM - some improvement 8/10 --------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY - overall TONS better than FIFA12, but reduced offline virtual pro accomplishments and elimination of player-manager careers really upset me ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GAMEPLAY ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1) Deflections ----- How can the review talk about the improved gameplay and NOT talk about deflections? In FIFA12, whenever a ball deflected, 99% of the time it went to the opponent. This was extremely aggravating and highly unrealistic. FIFA13 changes this to much more realistic deflections... the ball can and will literally go anywhere. ------------------------ 2) Passing ----In FIFA12, if you wanted to do a short pass to a teammate near you, it didn't matter how much power you put into the pass. It would always go to that teammate and they would have no trouble taking it. In FIFA13, pass power matters. If you do a high-power pass to a teammate near you it has a very high chance to bounce off of him and/or become uncontrollable. Pass power matters. --------------------------- 3) Defense ----------OMG did defense get a big boost in FIFA13. In FIFA12, it was annoyingly hard to strip the ball away from opponents, even if you played a defenseman with high defense. In FIFA13 you can strip the ball away from anyone too careless to not control the ball well and keep it away from you. Even on semi-pro, if you want to dribble around an opponent, you've got to control the ball better, whether you use fancy footwork or not. ---------------- 4) Goalkeeping --------- Keepers can now run up and punch the ball out of the box when they know they don't have a good chance at grabbing it. In addition, shot power now matters. A lot of power behind a shot now really makes it hard for a keeper to hold onto the ball, allowing for much greater chances at volley-scores. Screening is still an effective way to reduce a goalie's vision and give you a better chance at scoring. ------------ 5) Predictability ----------------- With all of the changes to deflections and first-touch control, you really can't predict where the ball is going to go any longer. This is by far the best change to this game over FIFA12. In FIFA12 you could create runs that you knew would work every time, even on world class difficulty. In FIFA13, even in semi-pro difficulty, there's absolutely no way to know what's going to happen next. This makes the game far more realistic and adds excitement to every match. You never really will know what's going to happen next. rnIt can be really frustrating for FIFA12 players to adjust. You will have games now where you accomplish absolutely nothing... and other games where you will soar. But the removal of predictability from matches removes a great deal of potential boredom that FIFA12 had. ---------------- 6) Bugs ----- There are still some goofy things that can happen but those are rare. One persistent problem is that sometimes your fullbacks will pass the ball back and forth between each other several times like they are practicing. Forcing them to pass to you breaks them out of their stupidity. -------------- 7) AI. ----- Fantastic, almost too good even on semi-pro. Will not hesitate to strip the ball from you and/or intercept if you try to play like you did in FIFA12. They also seem to score more on you than FIFA12. ---------------------------------- Overall gameplay is FAR more realistic, more challenging and tons more fun. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GRAPHICS ------------------------------------------------ Several new animations for strikers, goalkeepers, and defenders alike. Mostly unchanged from FIFA12, but graphics do seem a bit crisper. ---------- Most annoying thing is inability to skip substitutions in offline career mode... you have to wait 10-15 seconds for them to stop showing you some guy who is just leaving the field! Don't care! Skip skip skip why can't I skip!!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OFFLINE CAREER -------------------------------------------------------1) Player career ----------------- There are numerous cool things that can happen to your virtual pro in offline career mode now. You can get loaned out, transferred against your will, etc. Your manager will give you performance targets you can try to meet for the next 4 matches. Meeting these gives XP/FC rewards. Can be frustrating but adds challenge to each season. Growth of character was reduced from FIFA12. No longer do you have Semi-Pro+ accomplishments and World-Class+ accomplishments. You only have "Accomplishments", which can all be unlocked at any difficulty. I don't know why they did this. They should have kept some of the better stuff for World-Class+ only. Make players get better and work harder to get the good stuff. I unlocked bicycle-kicks, finesse shots, outside-foot shots, and many more during my first semi-pro season. BOOO. Not only that but there doesn't look like you're going to be able to do much after 3 seasons or so in your career. In FIFA12 it took FOREVER to get the "400 club" accomplishment (score 400 goals). In FIFA13 there is no 400 club accomplishment! Best version of that is 200 goals. WHY? Why aren't there numerous long-term not-so-easy-to-get accomplishments like FIFA12 had? It's like they WANT to force your virtual pro into early retirment. -------------------------------------------------- 2) Player-Manager career = GONE --------------------- WTF. Why did they nuke this!?!?! This was my favorite mode. Ok yes it isn't realistic but its a GAME, and this was the best part of it! No longer can you be a manager and a player with your virtual pro. You can only be one or the other. SUCKS BIG TIME. This is my most hated change from FIFA12 -------------------------------------------- 3) Manager career -------------- Some cool improvements but haven't played it much. Never liked controlling the whole team, so haven't gotten into purchasing players or any of the pure-manager stuff yet (hey the game just came out last week). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ONLINE CAREER -------------------------------------------------------- Your Online virtual pro is now stored on the EA servers. This has all but eliminated hacking and boosting from most players. Online play was mostly fast and fun, and well-balanced, but as usual there were always some dorks like any online game. Strangely there are LOTS more accomplishments for your online pro than what you have for your offline pro. WHY?? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ULTIMATE TEAM ---------------------------------------------------- Again, never got into controlling the whole team. But I did play my team through a tournament. With all-bronze starting team I lost horribly on the first match. With a nearly all-gold team I won every match easily (except for one that was quite hairy). Good players do matter, and all of the consumables from FIFA12 are back (contracts, stadiums, injury fixes, etc). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hope this helps you make a decision on whether to buy or not.rn
This year EA sports have decided to rip us all off (AGAIN) with another roster update.... a bit of polish here and there on presentation screens and a little mini game pre match game along with a few fixs and changes in ... Read Full Review
I'm a football fanatic and I always play soccer games when they come out...As for Fifa I buy all the games every year...But this year's fifa isn't what I expected it to be? Fifa 12 was a great intro into new features and... Read Full Review
