FIFA 10 Review
- Posted October 12th, 2009 at 13:17 EDT by Steven Williamson
- 7,888 views
- 42 Comments
Review Score
- PSU Review Score
- 9.5
- Avg. user review score:
- 8.0
Summary
FIFA 10 stands in a league of its own in terms of quality. A truly outstanding tribute to the beautiful game.
We like
- The 360 dribbling system. It gives you improved control over the ball and therefore allows you to be creative
- The vast replay value afforded by some brilliant game modes and solid online options
- Improvements on the pitch make for a more aggressive, challenging and flowing game of football
We dislike
- The dodgy goalkeepers that sometimes struggle to catch the ball
See PSU's review on Metacritic & GameRankings
Was it really only a few years ago that the FIFA series was in danger of becoming stagnant? Minor incremental updates and graphical face-lifts year after year left the franchise in desperate need of re-invigoration. Someone at EA Sports clearly got the message loud and clear from FIFA’s loyal supporters because the series has changed remarkably over the last couple of years. Jam-packed full of game modes and cutting-edge features, FIFA isn’t just a decent football game that struggles to compete with its Pro Evolution Soccer rival anymore, but it’s now the most complete and accurate simulation of the beautiful sport, of any sport in fact, to have ever graced our consoles.
After FIFA 09, we expected FIFA 10 to be little more than an update to an already brilliant game, but it’s clear that the team at EA Sports are not content to settle for anything less than perfection. The last couple of years have proven that the studio is willing to pull out all the stops in order to consistently churn out the number one football romp on the market for many years to come. From the fluid animations, dazzling A.I. and wealth of game modes, FIFA 10 builds on the foundations of FIFA 09 with style and painstaking attention to detail. All bases have been covered this time around to deliver a smooth and technically-sound game of footy. If you’re a fan of football, you need to look no further than EA Sports' latest entry in this long running series for the complete match-day experience.
First up, there are a couple of new features that may seem like minor additions, but which actually help to enhance your game on the pitch immeasurably. The addition of a practice mode, which boasts a range of well-presented video tutorials, finally gives those gamers who have struggled to get to grips with some of the more technical aspects of football in past FIFA games the chance to hone their skills. Equally as important to improving play on the pitch is the set piece creator, which allows you to practice and save up to four rehearsed set pieces. In FIFA 09, during online matches, we'd quite often see players repeating the same in-swinging cross to the far post trying to nab an easy goal, but now that there's more choice there's more unpredictability during matches and greater scope for tactical play.
On the pitch, gameplay initially appears to be identical to FIFA 09, but after a few games you’ll realise that there’s a brand new layer of depth to enjoy. Matches play out like fierce local derbies, with aggressive shoulder-barges and gut-wrenching tackles being the order of the day, alongside free-flowing, passing football that runs swiftly from end-to-end. Subtle enhancements, such as being able to take a free-kick immediately by placing your hand on the ball and picking out a team-mate, rather than waiting for the opposition to get back in position, gives you the chance to take them by surprise. Meanwhile, the referee plays the advantage rule accurately at any given opportunity, and he'll leap over the ball if it happens to get in the way to ensure gameplay flows as smoothly as possible. These minor but significant tweaks have all been designed to alleviate any frustrations that we may have incurred during FIFA 09. It works. The result is an exciting, action-packed and challenging game on the pitch.
Indeed, FIFA 10 is a more challenging game to play than its predecessor. It's hard to predict what the opposition are going to do next because the A.I. has been enhanced to further mirror the behavior of real-world players. They'll move into space curving their runs to collect a pass, defenders will track-back and jostle your attacker off the ball, and wingers will attempt to dribble past your full-backs should you lose your concentration for a split-second. The result of improved A.I. logic is that you really do need to think like a footballer, pass the ball around and patiently look for openings. This is the first of the FIFA games that really encourages you to be creative and experiment with the full list of moves at your disposal because you'll often need to if you want to out-smart the opposition.
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Comments
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dannycorkers |
dannycorker- 1:23pm BST - October 12th, 2009
- 2
With all the bugs this game has I struggle to understand why it is getting such high scores?
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jakster123x |
jakster123x- 1:34pm BST - October 12th, 2009
- 3
well from the PES and Fifa demos i noticed that Fifa is miles away from PES this year whereas last year there wasn't too much of a gap, i just found PES frustrating and just don't understand why they have changed the flow of the game from fast and arcadey (which is what PES is MEANT to be like) to slow and frustrating, and Fifa's the one that has became faster and overall much much better this year
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a_stray_bullet10
- 1:47pm BST - October 12th, 2009
- 5
u couldve saved urselves a lot of trouble by just writting "FIFA 09 with a different number on the front"
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Jono078 |
Jono078- 1:56pm BST - October 12th, 2009
- 6
Far too generous. A 9.5 to me suggests this is almost the perfect football game or sports game period. And I think that's just false.
It's a good game, but it has a lot of flaws IMO. Passing to the wrong player, the keeper etc
Not to mention key modes have some big issues.
Good game but 9.5 far to generous.
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supergamer |
SilentNightz- 1:56pm BST - October 12th, 2009
- 7
@5
then that wouldn't be telling the truth, would it now
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GoonerB
- 2:39pm BST - October 12th, 2009
- 9
Great gameplay, but everything else is riddled with bugs.
It shouldn't have been released as it is, & they've already patched it once as they didn't rectify the bugs people found in the demo in the final release, having to do that on day 1.
Now users are finding more & more by the day, & with a large number of PS3 users unable to play online at all because of the way EA poorly implemented Friends Presence Updates.
I'm a huge Fifa fan, purchasing the game every year since '94, but this is the buggiest release yet by far, with news that a fix is likely to take weeks, leaving a number of users with a £40 drinks coaster until they do.
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Beasley2K |
Beasley2K- 6:58pm BST - October 12th, 2009
- 19
As much as I disdain sports games, why degrade the beautiful game by displaying a picture of FIFA Soccer 2010? At least show some respect by using the cover of the proper game!
On topic, however, although this seems to be a revolutionary sports game, for football in particular, I will never ever believe that any sports game deserves to get more than a 7.5 - at best! - no matter how good it is. They lack the imagination and creativity of most other genres that are actually deserving of my attention. Sports games are just boring!
Admittedly I don't personally like football as much as the average person, but regardless, I still find sports games boring. Give me a game based around a more exciting, more interesting sport that I'm actually good at - freerunning, for example - and I'll happily buy it (providing it's good), but copy and pasting, making a few adjustments and changing the number of an already boring game simply isn't good enough for my standards. Mirror's Edge is the closest thing to such a suggestion, and although it was deeply flawed and a major disappointment, the idea was truly revolutionary - moreso than simple football - but the creativity and innovation that went into that game rates it far better than any mere sports game. I just hope that it's possible to follow suit by creating an impressive follow-up!
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liquidus118 |
liquidus118- 8:21pm BST - October 12th, 2009
- 21
9.5?
Ooooh, I get it. They meant to say they're reviewing Fifa 09.5 .
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stevenhibs88 |
StevenHibs- 9:29pm BST - October 12th, 2009
- 26
The game is rank rotten, i mean 9.5 jeez, they must be playing something different to me, either they popped a few pills beforehand or these guys have no clue about football, im thinking the latter, im telling you PES is the only football game which is rewarding, fluid and most importantly fun, fifa is murder!
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Hedrush |
Hedrush- 9:35pm BST - October 12th, 2009
- 27
All these people saying Fifa 10 is great, its awesome, best football game ever.
NEWS FLASH!!
THE GAME IS ****ING BROKEN IN SO MANY WAYS.
EA have said they are going to look into it and try and fix as many of the bugs as they can. Expect it to be fixed sometime next year.
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OneFlow
- 11:25pm BST - October 12th, 2009
- 28
I've been playing it for about a week now and I've tried the PES demo before. Fifa 10 may be the best football game ever made and yes that includes PES 6, which up till now was, to me at least, the closet anybody ever got to getting it right.
Fifa seems to have taken the good aspects of PES (latest entry not having any imho) and added them to the good aspects in Fifa 09. I'm very much satisfied with the game and so is everybody who played it with me so far.
Concerning bugs, if you're not counting the keeper there really isn't much "broken", contrary to what people are saying. Online services are not running smoothly so far, but that's often the case when a game launches.
@19: The genre should be taken into account in the rating. Otherwise ratings make no sense, as it would be down to preference then.
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I_am_Arsenalgunner27
- 1:40pm BST - October 13th, 2009
- 33
pity my PS3 got the YLOD 5 days b4 the games UK release.
still dont know how to go about replacing it, I'm trying to get one for free off sony
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Awesome-David |
Hoshigakure- 5:40pm BST - October 13th, 2009
- 35
Again reviewers dont know what they're talking about. The game is BUGGED, don't you peope (PSU/IGN) understand this.
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Beasley2K |
Beasley2K- 6:19pm BST - October 13th, 2009
- 37
@28:
Yes, once the genre's taken into account, it's possible to see that this is an achievement in sports gaming, possibly being considered the greatest sports game of all time - and it may be - and the freakishly high rating implies that this is near flawless - but compared to gaming as a whole, there's no way that this game can live up to the standards of games such as Uncharted; which also got a 9.5 (from IGN)! And although how people enjoy different genres is a matter of personal preferences and opinions, there is no way that FIFA deserves to be compared to the likes of Uncharted; regardless of which genre an individual prefers, due to the sheer effort, graphical advancements, originality and innovations that were poured into the creation of Uncharted, it's undeniable that it should receive a much better rating. If Uncharted had its genre taken into account, it'll obviously score highly as a great action/adventure game; but when compared to the entire world of gaming, it will still score equally as well. FIFA, on the other hand, does not. It is confined by its genre, on only scores well within that category.
Although FIFA may be a masterpiece within its genre, when compared to gaming in general, it simply doesn't meet the requirements that games like Uncharted utilise in order to set the standard for truly great games.
That is why it doesn't deserve higher than a 7.5, that being perfect. So since PSU have declared this game 0.5 points from being perfect, it's logical to say that FIFA 10 should echieve a 7/10. At best.
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OneFlow
- 2:46pm BST - October 14th, 2009
- 39
@37: I understand your point and I've thought along the same lines before as well, but to me that solution seems inacceptable. [At this point I had written a pretty long text, but I got too lazy and stopped/erased it, sorry :D ]
In short:
When you buy a copy of Uncharted, your expectations of the game are based on the genre of the game and as such your expectations are very different to those of a customer buying a copy of Fifa10. Now when you play either game, your level of satisfaction will also be related to the genre of the game. When you're done playing Uncharted you'll be satisfied with the amount of visual innovation, audio etc. comparing it to other similar titles. As such, when you give an oral review of it to a friend you'll say it's a great game. But when asked how you liked it compared to all the games you've played so far, are you really that sure it'll still be that same reply for every person? From what you've typed there, I see that your general perspective on sports games is already biased. The gameplay mechanics in football games (and most sports titles) are actually more complex than those of most shooters, action adventures and likewise games (even RPGs). As such you'd say that they can't achieve the same ratings as games like Uncharted on an objective scale that takes no genres into account. Now to me Uncharted was a good game, but honestly it wasn't as innovative or world-moving as you make it out to be (for ME, that is).
Before losing myself into small stuff any more, I'll say this: Where I'm from people usually tell you you can't compare pears to apples and they're right about that. You will never be able to give a game a rational rating beyond the limits of it's own genre. You may want to think that you're rational about your perception of both games, but to me it looks like you had your mind made up before even comparing those titles. I may add that I'm very much sharing that fault way too often, as I'm always a bit too hyped about RPGs. That's why I won't try to give out general ratings. Because I'm already aware that I can't compare pears and apples ;)
I will not regularly check back here to see if you replied again, as I'm sure we will probably not be able to persuade each other. I hope you understand my point of view. Pz
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mylifeis_cool |
mylifeis_cool- 4:39pm BST - October 14th, 2009
- 40
No, I can't stand Fifa...still great presentation, but it feels soul-less. I'm holding out for Pro...my opinion ;)
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madeofsteel |
madeofst33l- 2:40am BST - October 16th, 2009
- 42
Hey I know, stop using "on the pitch" its annoying after 5 times.
.JPG)
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