The on-field action is not even the half of FIFA 12’s brilliance though. Players of the opposite teams will play to their strengths, while trying to break your defensive barriers, keeping your weaknesses in mind. Players are more nimble and agile, they can squeeze through tight gaps more easily, and enemy and friendly AI are both very impressive. The overall on-field gameplay in FIFA 12 feels a lot smoother than in FIFA 11. When used in short bursts and tight situations, this can prove to be very useful. With Precision Dribbling, you can swerve around the defense with just a tap of the button, giving you a fraction of an extra second and that much more extra space to position your player perfectly and score spectacular goals. The third of the ‘Trinity’ of gameplay features is Precision Dribbling. At the end of the day, though, the PIE does its job. While for most of the part, the PIE (Player Impact Engine) provides for some very realistic physics and tackles, it sometimes results in hilarious animations of players falling each other dramatically, that aren’t particularly realistic. But that’s not to say it doesn’t have problems. The Impact Engine, too, is unbelievably realistic. The Impact Engine results in some of the most authentic injuries with very realistic animations for tackles and dives, and injuries that are severe perfectly according to the momentum and direction of the tackle that hit the injured player, and where it hit him. What supplements this defending system, and the rest of the game (more or less), is the Player Impact Engine that EA Sports had been working on for three years.
But once you do get used to it, it turns out to be a very rewarding, deeply satisfying system that lends a great deal of realism and authenticity to the on-field action.Īn all new camera angle provides for a much more realistic presentation.
It can take a lot of time to get used to this new system of defending, especially for past players of the series who were used to mindlessly holding down the tackle button to get back in possession. You can also call in another player to help you out, and that adds a lot more complexity to the system. It requires very precise timing, and the slightest of bad touches can get the opposite team’s player injured and you a booking or a sending off. In FIFA 12, what you do is, you contain the player, jockeying around him, and when the time is right, you hit the tackle button and take the ball back. This year, with Tactical Defending, things have gotten a whole lot more realistic. In past FIFA games, whenever you saw one of your rivals coming at your goal with the ball, all you did was mindlessly hold the tackle button, getting back on the ball as quickly as possible.
When you first boot up FIFA 12, the game teaches you how to use the most noticeable and the biggest change in this year’s game- Tactical Defending. Yes, it does have a few shortcomings, like some bugs and glitches, but ultimately, the pros of the game far outweigh the cons, and FIFA 12 shines through as a brilliant game that a lot of work has been put into by the ever so hardworking EA Sports. FIFA 12 is not only the best game in the franchise, it’s also the best sports game ever.