FIFA 13 is the latest footballing masterclass from the EA Sports camp. It’s updated for the 2012/13 season and ported on everything from the PS3 to the iPhone, including the Xbox 360, PC, PS Vita, Wii, Nintendo 3DS and Android. It’s also getting a release in the Nintendo Wii U when it’s launched later this month.
Playing the Playstation 3 version of the game, the first impression is that there hasn’t been a great deal of progression over the last few years in terms of game play and graphics. It looks and plays well enough, but there just hasn’t been a significant step forward for the game in a while.
FIFA games have been at the top of the footballing tree for a long time now and having played 13 and its recent predecessors it’s starting to feel like a bit more healthy competition might be needed. They’re not necessarily massive issues, but they’re enough to frustrate the game around the edges and take away from what could be a sublime footballing experience.
The most annoying part of the game happens right at the end of some of the best features. Starting the ball off from your keeper, you throw it out to a defender who’s picked up quickly by the opposition striker. Some quick passing moves it around defence before getting it into midfield as tackles fly in. A through ball from midfield gets it up to the centre forward who flicks it around a defender to get into the box. He cuts in and you press to pass it across the goal to the striker that’s run in to finish it off, but instead of that, the ball trickles frustratingly to the keeper and the whole beautiful move crumbles pathetically.
While this definitely makes the game more difficult, it’s just not the right way to make it harder to score. It might be tough to code in better player marking to make it harder to pass in the box, but that would at least make the game feel a bit more realistic.
It’s not the only element of the game that struggles with realism. The lush graphics and great dribbling and passing (outside the box) aside, there’s a clunky feel to the way players come together both on and off the ball. It’s like the bit in The Matrix when you see the two cats, it just feels very computer generated. We’re not big proponents on too much AI, but in this case, a bit smarter player interaction wouldn’t go amiss.
That isn’t to say that FIFA 13 isn’t playable, it just isn’t as good as it perhaps could be. Hopefully with the addition of the next generation consoles, EA Sports will be able to take the game on to the next level.
One of the cooler aspects of the recent games, including FIFA 13, is the Ultimate Team mode where you can earn, buy, sell and trade players and items with the rest of the FIFA playing community. You can make changes to your team with an iPhone app or online, giving a whole new managerial dimension to the game. This is perhaps the biggest step forward in terms of the franchise in recent years, it’s just a shame the advancements haven’t been made on the pitch too.
FIFA 13 is still a lot of fun to play, especially with the Ultimate Team strategy element, but it isn’t the great game that is could be.
FIFA 13 review: 3/5
