Written by: Mark

 

 

 

Lets start this review by saying that FIFA 09 totally blew me away with it’s all round improvements to the franchise which saw a number of very welcome changes including the excellent be a pro and live season modes.

 

With this in mind I will admit to being slightly sceptical as to whether "FIFA 10" could improve any further in a year on what was almost footballing perfection.

 

In this review we take a look at the PS3 version of what is sure to become yet another hit for EA Sports.

 

 

FIFA 09 was nothing short of staggering with it’s in game content and it comes as no surprise that the FIFA 10 is no different and again is packed with game modes. Again these include the 'Be a pro mode' which now is more indepth and known as ’Virtual Pro’ which adds more features and immerses the player more in guiding a single player through their entire career with challenges designed to improve the players stats in a nice RPG style.

 

In addition this created player can now also be used in the vastly improved manager mode which if I am honest is where FIFA 09 was at it’s weakest.

 

 

Upon playing FIFA 10 it is evident that this is one area which the developers have put much more time and effort into improving and whilst it may lack the depth of Football Manager on the PC it holds up well as being a pretty solid management game rather than an extra add on.

 

 

Upon playing FIFA 10 I kind of expected improvements to the aforementioned game modes however I still struggled to see just how the gameplay could be improved, if at all.

 

The first thing that hit me upon playing my first match was that the game now features a full 360 degree player movement control which sounds so simple yet works so well. In fact the action now becomes far more fluid than ever and it makes you wonder why it has taken this long for this control aspect to be implemented.

 

Another minor niggle with FIFA 09 was the games difficulty which did seem a little on the easy side with player AI sometimes lacking a good balance. It seem s that this too has been addressed with this years game and players now have more intelligence making goalscoring more difficult. Whilst this may frustrate some players looking for high scoring thrillers in the style of more arcade type games personally I see it as a very welcome change meaning that the game now plays far more like a true life football match.

 

 

Player likenesses in FIFA 10 are now even greater than ever before and this goes beyond just how they look. The more recognisable world superstars also have been animated in such a way that their all round movements have been replicated well and it is subtle inclusions such as this that make you realise just how much the FIFA franchise has evolved and become the king of football games.

 

 

Kits have also been designed to mirror those in real life which when you think just how many teams are included within the game is nothing short of breathtaking although once again the lack of real life stadiums could still do with improving for future releases.