FIFA 13 - Join the VIP2 league! (X360) (P54)

[Creed Diskenth]

EA Sports has officially lifted the wraps on FIFA 13 and introduced this year's big gameplay improvements, with Complete Dribbling, First Touch Control and Attacking Intelligence all coming to this year's model.

Complete Dribbling's a feature that's partly inspired by this year's FIFA Street reboot, allowing players to dance around the ball and face their opponents at all times.

First Touch Control, meanwhile, adds a more random element when players take the ball, with player attributes now playing a larger role in the control of a ball.

Attacking Intelligence lends AI partners a more creative mindset when going forwards, seeing them finding space and using it more smartly - and it's an introduction designed to counter-balance the Tactical Defending that was introduced last year.

This year's FIFA will also be the first to introduce Kinect control, although specifics on that are yet to fully emerge. "Yes, we've figured out a way to get it in there," EA Sports' David Rutter told Eurogamer. "We'll be showing it off later this year. I'm happy with how it's worked out. When it was announced at E3 last year, everyone was concerned but we said we'd do right by the franchise and I feel that we have."

Elsewhere, additions have been made to the Impact Engine that was introduced in FIFA 12, with some of the more notable bugs being ironed out and with a greater emphasis placed on off-the-ball physicality.

 

 

 

So FIFA 13's improvements are holistic rather than headline-grabbing, although they are in fairness plentiful. There's an emphasis on more creative play, introduced to counteract the more nuanced defending in FIFA 12, and it's a fact underlined by a new feature: Attacking Intelligence. This is, to put it drily, new positioning code that improves how players analyse space and subsequently make runs. In practice it's a feature that's evidently been inspired by the fluid attacks of Barcelona and Manchester United.

Previously, players would face in the direction of their runs, but with Complete Dribbling it's now possible to dance around the ball, facing the goal at all times. There's even a little influence from the pleasantly entertaining FIFA Street reboot, which is noticeable when Cristiano Ronaldo sees off a defender with a flurry of flicks and feints. "It was originally called strafe dribbling," Rutter later explains. "But obviously that's got its own connotations from a different genre. It's totally mimicking the way that real football players dribble."Barcelona's influence is felt elsewhere with the implementation of Complete Dribbling, a feature that places an emphasis on one-on-one encounters that's inspired by - who else - Lionel Messi. The introduction of 360-degree dribbling in FIFA 10 was one of the series' biggest innovations, and EA Sports hopes this feature will have a similar impact.

While Complete Dribbling adds another layer of control, FIFA 13's other introduction wrestles some of that away. First Touch Control reins in the improbable grace with which players would bring down a high ball, and adds a more random element with the first touch.

The ball can pop up a little and is liable to move around more, and the efficiency with which it's brought under control is now more influenced by the skill of the player being controlled. This doesn't necessarily mean you'll be losing control all the time, though; sometimes the movement works in your favour more than a perfectly controlled touch would.

Right now it seems an odd feature to highlight, and there's a slight sense of déjà vu; Personality Plus, a feature introduced in FIFA 11, promised a similar, more random element that would place an emphasis on player attributes. There's also a telling difference in philosophy compared to PES 2013's alternative take on the same thing, Dynamic First Touch, which allows players to stop high balls dead and to flick them past defenders, an approach that, potentially, sounds more entertaining.

The last of FIFA 13's additions is similarly hard to gauge. Tactical Free Kicks allow you to place up to three players on the ball, and gives players on both sides more control of the situation. Walls can be more accurately positioned (it's possible to inch a wall forward, too, although doing it excessively will result in a booking) and players can be sent rushing forward to block the ball.

In fact, the earlier assertion that there's no real headline feature in FIFA 13 yet isn't exactly true, because if there's one thing to come away with then it's the wealth of improvements that are being made to the Impact Engine. Or, in short, FIFA 13's big new thing is No More Kissing.If FIFA 13's improvements sound a little underwhelming at first, then that's likely because FIFA 12 was so impressive, and quite likely the best football game this generation has seen to date. It certainly wasn't perfect, however, and FIFA 13's working to resolve some of the more notable problems with its predecessor.

Some of the more notable bugs that plagued FIFA 12 - for better and for worse - have been ironed out, and the Impact Engine's been expanded to have more influence over a match. There's an increased element of push and pull when defenders come up against attackers, and a defender's weight will now have more bearing on a situation, so if a player as stacked as Rio Ferdinand is harassing a more diminutive striker then it's possible that the striker will be forced off-balance and subsequently fluff their shot.

Off-the-ball battles are also more pronounced, and defenders are now more liable to get their body in the way of an attacking run, blocking it off. The referees, meanwhile, have been altered in order to keep on top of the new possibilities that the refined Impact Engine offers.

Even EA admits that this is a less dynamic year, the developers do of course assure us that each small change has its own major impact. "It's an interesting one," says Rutter. "There were some very big changes last year, and they were very easy to summarise as these three big features.

"This year there are some equally big game-changing things in there - First Touch Control and the Complete Dribbling are for me the two very big changes that people will notice - [and] they in and of themselves are probably bigger. One is bigger than Precision Dribbling, for sure, and First Touch Control is probably about the same amount of difference to the game as Tactical Defending. The Impact Engine was a genre-defining moment in video games - the stuff that we're doing around that is probably not quite so revolutionary but it's certainly a big deal."

More on FIFA 13 There are other additions to FIFA 13 that are likely to be a big deal, but as is the way with protracted PR plans they won't be making themselves known until the big trade shows roll around. First there's the implementation of Kinect, a first for the series that was announced at E3 last year. "Yes, we've figured out a way to get it in there," says Rutter. "We'll be showing it off later this year. I'm happy with how it's worked out. When it was announced at E3 last year, everyone was concerned but we said we'd do right by the franchise and I feel that we have."

• News: FIFA 13 introduces Complete Dribbling, First Touch Control

  Kinect capability to be detailed later in the year.

And there's still news to come on improvements on EA Sports Football Club, the social side of FIFA that, judging from Andrew Wilson's stance, is paramount to the future of the series. "The relationship you have with your club is the most important in your life, aside from your family," he says somewhat dramatically at the start of the presentation, before going on to explains his thoughts further later on.

"I think the expectation for games in the future is for a game that changes as you play, and I can access that gaming experience from any piece of hardware that I've got at the time," he says. "If I've got my phone on me I'll be able to play - maybe that's me managing my Career mode or my Ultimate Team - and if I'm on Facebook maybe I'm doing things there. It's this notion that I'm never away from my experience, and I'm never wasting time. Playing games on my mobile phone is no longer wasting time - it's contributing to my FIFA world."

How that vision plays out in FIFA 13 remains to be seen, and it'll likely nestle within a game that in its journey to supremacy has arguably earned the right to be complacent. With Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 shaping up on the other side of the world in what looks to be a promising year for FIFA's rival, however, we'd be fools to leave this particular contest until the final whistle blows.

 

 

 

[Haze-e]

Hopefully this has as much replay value as FIFA10.

[Salamanca]

change the font colour skemar, i cant read sh*t bro

[Trim]

was reading about it earlier, will be sh*t but i'll still buy it no doubt

[Creed Diskenth]

if the controls are more free flowing like FIfa street it might be alright

[Skola]

been having fun with fifa street recently

didnt really take to 12

the recent world cup one was probably my fav

[Zizouz]

They need to make assisted a lot less assisted in terms of power and direction, that's what made the WC2010 game so entertaining

[i5_PRODUCER]

yeah all of dat, plus hopefully an improved manager mode.i rinsed da ting

[Hotsauce]

looks pretty sick

[The Flyest]

i dont see whats new

[Trim]

love to know what Lugano is doing when that cross comes in

[Kompressor]

Yh that world cup game was overly entertaining,

Me and my lil brother doing the 2 player be a pro thing and getting all the way to the World cup final with Jamaica and losing to France,

Game had a different type of fun level and was challenging enough to keep you interested,

Need to get a new xbox before FIFA 13 comes out

[The Flyest]

f*ck that world cup game

didnt even have ghana

[Risky]

swear it did?!

[Agony]

[media=]

[Trim]

the power this company has and they get these wasted players to come and do this sh*t

that balotelli celebration was horrible

the target practice and training stuff looks sick, should have been done time ago as it was in pro for freekicks but better late than never

[Francis Coquelin]

Could have used an attacking player, at least.

[Zizouz]

wish they'd fix the controls and put it back to south africa 2010, balance was perfect

[Haze-e]

Jay Demerit you know... Smh.

[Mongy]

You would think they would hire attacking players. I mean, Jay DeMerit taking a corner? I bet hes never taken one in his life.

Could be worse, it looks like Pro Evo hired Mart Poom to do their goalkeeping animations.

[Trim]

swear this game drops in like 5-6 weeks, where the f*ck is the demo

[Creed Diskenth]

swear this game drops in like 5-6 weeks, where the f*ck is the demo

We aint even in September yet

Probs will drop 1st or 2nd week of September

[Trim]

swear this game drops in like 5-6 weeks, where the f*ck is the demo

We aint even in September yet

Probs will drop 1st or 2nd week of September

probably because the pro demo dropped so early but feels like they're taking TIMEEEEEEE with this one

/

both fifa and pro need to fall back with this first touch stuff a bit. coming with some next ridiculous unstoppable sh*t now, who controls a cross with their weaker foot then volleys it with their stronger one ? how often does that sh*t happen ? How the f*ck are you meant to defend this madness

[Creed Diskenth]

If it is like fifa street it will be alright

pro always bring out 2 demos lol

[Creed Diskenth]

Demo drops sept 11th