FIFA 10

Another year, and another season of video games based on your particular sport of choice. Here, we have FIFA 10 (also known as FIFA Soccer 10 to our North American friends) from EA for the Nintendo Wii. With the DS version receiving a mediocre score from our very own Static, the usual pondering over whether its big console counterpart can do any better applies.

As static mentioned, when it comes to footy games, you’ll more than likely fall into either the Pro Evo camp, or the FIFA camp. For non-football fans, you probably don’t care and see the two franchises with little difference. Traditionally, the Pro Evo games aim for the more realistic approach and quite rightly, tries to take all the decisions you’ll ever have to make on and off the pitch, and incorporate them into the game. FIFA games tend to offer less realism (although that’s not to say they don’t look realistic for a football-simulation) and try to offer the gamer(s) more arcade-style action. Although lately, the gap between these two franchises is getting narrower.

Throughout my gaming years, I’ve always played Pro Evo games more than FIFA games. Not that it was out of preference, it was more out of convenience and the lack of need to feel like I ought to splash out on another brand of footy game. Let’s face it, a football game is a football game. Outside of controls, there’s not a whole lot of difference between them. Once you have a set of default controls that, for the majority, works; the game mechanics are hardly going to change drastically. The main difference with each annual football game seems to be the team rosters; with some gamers going to great lengths to keep their football-sim updated with all the current transfers. There’s none of that here though, as you cannot edit the players in any way other than changing what team they play for.

So what does FIFA 10 offer us Nintendo Wii owners? For a start, it’s another title in the All-Play series of games from EA Sports; encouraging more casual gamers to join in on the fun by offering simplified controls and game mechanics. Gamers looking for more advanced controls can opt to play with a Wii Remote and Nunchuk combination, and the Classic Controller is also supported.

The annoying thing about FIFA 10 is that it utilises mindless shaking of the Wii Remote for actions that are totally inappropriate. Like taking a shot, for example. When you’re one-on-one with the goalie, you want to execute your final touch with precision and confidence, you do not want to be shaking your controller like a can of deodorant. When you’re on the defense, to perform a slide tackle, you do the same. There may be on-screen meters, telling you the ideal place to highlight via shaking, but this all makes for an unnatural experience.

You have your standard Exhibition Matches, where you can choose from an impressive range of teams from various leagues around the world. As well as the standard European and South American leagues, you can also choose from the Hyundai A-League, the K-League, Primera Div Mex, and many others. The Battle For Glory mode sees you playing through a season as your chosen team, as well as taking care of all the managerial duties like transfers etc. Before each kick-off, there’s a “Manager Moment” where the game presents to you three targets, of which you have to pick one. Should you complete that target (e.g. …I will have at least 3 or more shots at goal), you will receive extra points to boost your team rating. Gain enough points and you can choose from a selection of Game Boosters. If you’re confident in how your team’s going to perform, you don’t necessarily have to play every match. You can simulate matches if you just want to know the result and move onto the next game.

There’s also a Tournament mode, as well as Online; where you can play against another player in either a ranked, or an unranked match. You can also play cooperatively too, by having a friend play with you; you can challenge another pair of gamers around the world. Ranked online matches will count towards your countries place on the World Leaderboard. If you want to keep your skills sharp, head over to the Training section where you can practice drills, and refer to specific controls depending on what control method you are using.

The last football game I owned was a Pro Evolution Soccer game for the Gamecube. I know. So having a contemporary title, where I could pitch my hometown Reading up against an unlikely away side like LA Galaxy, got me unusually excited. I don’t follow football (in fact, the only sport I seem to follow these days is Mixed Martial Arts), but I used to have a vague general knowledge of what was going on… at best. With footy being such a universal sport, I don’t suppose you have to be a complete football fan to enjoy its video game portrayals. Perhaps that’s what the developers had in mind

The game is very stylised; both in look, and in-game mechanics. Visually, the player renders look slightly more realistic than those found, in say, Grand Slam Tennis. Not bad, but a bit chunky at times, with little definition. At certain points in the game, you’ll enter a kind of “bullet-time” moment, where your shot at goal, or your keeper’s attempt at stopping a set piece, will slow down dramatically – emphasising key decision-making and reaction-speed. If that’s your cup of tea, you’ll probably warm to it, if like me, you find it more of an interference, then it’ll probably test your patience. It’s fine in say, Mario Strikers Charged Football, but a game like this? No. You have no real control over set pieces like corner kicks and free kicks. No say in the direction you want the ball to go in, just a shake of the remote at the right time and the game does the rest.

The sound department isn’t great neither. Commentary supplied by Andy Gray and Clive Tyldesly is very random; further adding to the game’s demise. On one occasion, I was drawing 2-2 at the end of half-time, when Andy Gray says the half-time whistle couldn’t have come soon enough, and that he hoped the second half was going to be better. What? Illogical remarks, and the repetition of one-liners are what lets this game down in the audio department. That and the awful cheering noise that randomly comes out of the speaker on the remote. The game’s soundtrack doesn’t stand out neither; with very unoffensive, yet bland music tracks accompanying menu screens. Sound effects are typically over-the-top at times, with slide tackles letting off sound effects better suited for a fighting game.

Asides from the waving/shaking to perform actions that have no relation to waving or shaking, I have issue with the various tricks you can do too. As they are assigned to the four directions of the d-pad, I find it a bit awkward to make the most out of them. Maybe it’s just me, as I like to rest my thumb on top of the A button as my “neutral” position. And by holding down the A button when you’re on the offense to perform a through-ball pass, it doesn’t always feel the most accurate it could be.

As I said before, FIFA games tend to be more arcade in style; leaving the ultra-realism for other brands. Even if that is your style of preference, I’m not sure FIFA 10 is the best it could have been. Poor choice of when to implement motion controls lets this title down. Personally, I would like to have seen the remote-waving limited to throw-ins, but there’s no way that was going to happen. With 360/PS3 versions of Pro Evo/FIFA games offering more in a visual, as well as content capacity, I feel developers have the urge to compensate by pushing this idea of using the Wii Remote, instead of its buttons.

If you’re not fussed over having downloadable content, or the most authentic football experience on a home console, then FIFA games are probably what you want. In that case, FIFA 10 might just be enough to satisfy you. Having not played any of the previous Wii versions, I’m not in a position to draw any comparisons. All I can do is rate it on its own merits. Personally, I prefer the Pro Evo games, although it seems that franchise has fallen down the excessive remote-waving/pointing route too. Overall, FIFA 10 is a mediocre football game that’s probably best played with a friend. If you prefer playing on your own, then the Battle For Glory mode will keep you occupied. All these football games (for the Wii anyways) seem to have more and more similarities as each year arrives. At times, I actually felt like I was playing Mario Strikers Charged Football, which is not a good sign (nothing against that game). This game feels too trivial for my liking. Every angle of this game seems diluted and half-baked.

+ Online matches (although rather limited)
+ Nice selection of leagues from around the world being represented

- Very bland visuals
- Methodology of controls are too novel
- An overly simplistic, stylised football game.

Score – 6.5/10