Zero Punctuation: FIFA 13

[Strazdas]

At least it wasn't madden...

oh no you didnt.....

 

[DrJapple]

And to all the hilarious people saying "what else is their to say about a sports game?" Please be quiet. You could say the same thing about any genre "oh, no point reviewing FPS's it's all just shooting guys in the face, what else is their to say" "Why bother reviewing Starcraft 2? It's just moving soldiers from one place to another and watching them fight" etc. etc.

By all means, enlighten us on all the exciting new features that set FIFA '13 apart from its predecessors and keep it from being a glorified full price EP.

To use an analogy I used earlier in this thread, Fifa 11 to Fifa 12 was like going from CoD 3 to CoD 4. It's still the same genre, but it's completely different.

To be honest, I have no real desire to explain all this again to someone who just likes bagging on sports games because they don't play them, but on the off-chance that you actually want to know as opposed to just being hilariously snarky, I'll give it a whirl (again).

I am not saying that every iteration of Fifa is like a brand new game, it's not. Fifa particularly stagnated between around 2004-2008, where only minor alteations where made between versions. However, in the last 3 or 4 iterations, substantial changes to the game have been made. The rules of football haven't changed, but the game of Fifa has.

It is quite hard to describe the changes and how they impact the game to someone who doesn't play them. Fifa 12 completely re-invented how you defend, which changed the tactics and how you play. It also completely changed the physics to a more realistic model. I, and many of my friends that play it, had to basically re-learn how to play the game going from 11 to 12. Physics changes may not sound like much, but the physics essentially ARE the game here. In a shooter a new physics model usually just makes it look better. In Fifa it drastically affects the way that the game plays.

Going on to 13 from 12, they made several new changes. Firstly they ironed out a few niggling issues, but that's a given. They increased the attacking AI, which, if you played 12 and understood how it worked, makes a pretty big impact on the game. It also improved the physics, and the most important tweak is in regards to how the ball works. Whereas previously the ball was basically like a magnet, where it would stick to players feet and was basically predertimed what would happen as soon as you pressed a button, it now acts on it's own. This has the add-on effect of making players feel much more differrent to each other now, as the player stats have an effect on how they handle the ball etc. again, this adds to the tactical side of the game, and makes it more realistic.

I can see why people say they don't change between iterations, because if you don't play it you probably can't tell, but in reality it just changes in a different way to other games. Some games will have a new story to tell, characters to show off and different maps, new units or items, but the gameplay itself doesn't evolve that much. Football obviously doesn't have a story so it relies on gameplay changes.

So when you go from, say Assassin's Cred 2 to Brotherhood, although the gameplay is pretty much unaltered, you don't notice, or don't care, because there's a new story to tackle, a few more items to play with. With Fifa it will basically always look the same, even if it's not.

Don't forget the new Pro Clubs Seasons and tweaks to Pro Clubs, overhaul of career mode with new presentation and features, tweaks to Ultimate Team and new menus, the new skill games, the new EA catalogue with unlockable items and boosts, the new form ratings for players based on real life performance and the new commentary that reflects real life events, new free kick settings and dribbling based on FIFA street, the much slicker and smoother main menu and shorter loading times, extra stuff like the interactive world cup and arena etc as well as all the other gameplay, graphics and physics changes.

 

[Stu35]

The reviews haven't lost their charm, insight, or panache.

HOWEVER.

Mister Croshaw, could you please control the speed of your banter?
I won't mind if the videos break the 6 or 10 minute mark.

Blinding speed + Brittralian accent + colloquialisms + clever phrases = linguistic hash

I believe it's called Zero Punctuation BECAUSE of the high speed given.

Also, I've no problem with the British (there's no Australian in it) accent. And therfore nobody else should either. So naaa.


Those last two sentence fragments were not to be taken seriously, btw.

 

[afroebob]

Thank you, Yahtzee. I really feel like I can make an informed decision on whether or not I will be purchasing FIFA 13 now.

 

[MoreThanANoob]

"Oh is that Tokyo Jungle?"
*Scroll*
"No wait...FIFA?"
*Video Starts*
"Hold on, Mark of the Ninja? WTF? Oh, now it's Tokyo Jungle agai - ohhhhh, now I get it."

 

[The Deadpool]

XCom would have been a good choice...

 

[Gergar12_v1legacy]

Yeah pretty much how I think about those games. If I wanted to play a sports game on a video game, then I may as well be wasting my time seeing how each year they release a new one.

 

[ResonanceSD]

"FIFA 13 is a game."

Yep, that pretty much sums it up nicely.

Hey! Some of us didn't know until he mentioned that.


And that's got to be a positive thing!

[sub]Nighty Night[/sub]


After watching (reading?) Extra Punctuation this week, his stance makes a lot more sense. It's just occurred to me that I feel the exact same way about Football Manager 2012.

 

[Erastes]

Brilliance. Best review yet! *am nailing my hands to the chair to prevent me from buying all the OTHER games mentioned* *cough* any chance of a review of Testament of Sherlock Holmes? Hmmm?

 

[Rheinmetall]

That was a retarded non-review of FIFA 13. Very funny.

 

[kit_watson]

Just FYI I have actually used this review to explain how my very ADD brain works when I'm off my meds. So thankyou.

 

[kit_watson]

Just FYI I have actually used this review to explain how my very ADD brain works when I'm off my meds. So thankyou.