FIFA 12 Demo Available

[Jason]

Link to demo

[Jason]

I'll stick to World Cup 2010 after seeing these videos: FIFA 12's Impact Engine Proving Problematic

[GB_Simo]

I may well do the same.  I passed on FIFA 11 and if this demo is anything like the final product, I suspect I'll be leaving 12 alone too.  Nobody ever wants to make a supporting run when I have the ball, while being only too willing to let the CPU team have time and space to pick a pass when I don't have it.  If a cross comes in, I expect to concede because I know there'll be at least one attacker stood unmarked in my penalty area.

Oh, and having CPU players break out skill moves at will the instant I threaten to make a tackle?  Not cool.

[GB_Simo]

It turns out I just wasn't very good at FIFA 12 when I played the demo.  Now I understand what I'm meant to be doing, it's actually a very good game of football...

[K_Mosley]

Please elaborate, Adam...  Abner said the AI doesn't offer much support, offensively or defensively.  Did you do something different in your approach to the game?

Kevin

[GB_Simo]

Please elaborate, Adam...  Abner said the AI doesn't offer much support, offensively or defensively.  Did you do something different in your approach to the game?

Kevin

Yes.  I started playing it like a game of football.

Offensively, it's not made a huge amount of difference, but I'm not sure the attacking AI is the problem.  For years now, FIFA's been set up so that the opposition defence holds a solid bank of four on the edge of its own area and leaves it up to you to figure out a way through.  If you attack down the wing, isolating the opposition full back, either one of your strikers comes wide to give you an option or your full back comes forward on the overlap.  In either case, he knows exactly where to go and you can play him in with a through ball, giving him a chance to cross.  In central areas, the opportunity to make that kind of run never really arises, because it's always so densely packed that there's very little space to peel into.

The best approach so far has been to play possession football, play the easy pass where it's available and look to get a mismatch somewhere on the pitch.  You can beat defenders without using the skill moves this year, using the 'knock the ball ahead' button or a clever change of direction, so once you're one-on-one you can engineer yourself some space and get a shot away.

The biggest improvements I've made have been when I haven't had the ball.  We all know the winning formula for defending in a FIFA game - hold down your 'pressure' button, keep it held until your player makes a standing tackle, job done.  I knew coming into the demo that it had changed and that such a tactic wouldn't work, but even while I played the demo, I didn't really grasp how big a difference there is.  To use Tactical Defending, you've got to defend properly.  That is to say, the action you'd take in a real-world match is, by and large, the action you need to take in FIFA 12.

As an example, let's say I'm a centre back with a striker running at me.  He's pacy and there's no cover behind me.  There's no way I can shepherd him away from goal, because I'm not especially quick and I'm coming from a standing start.  The only way I can dispossess him is to watch his body form, try to read the direction of his run and get a foot in just as the ball arrives.  If I dive in, he'll go around me and he'll be clean through.  If I mistime my standing tackle, I leave myself open to the same thing.  That's how FIFA 12 wants you to think as an AI player comes running at you.

One of the gripes I had in the demo is that whenever a cross came in, there'd be a man unmarked in the box and he'd score.  I know why now.  When the AI broke down the wing, I'd try to make a tackle with my full back, mess it all up and leave the winger in acres of space.  One of my centre backs then had to come across and act as cover, but in doing so he left a space in the centre, so if the cross made it past him, I was in a whole world of trouble.  Your central midfielders will, where possible, get back to fill in the gaps as best they can, but if you're being hit on the counter attack and haven't managed to delay the opposition winger, they're never going to make it in time.  Now I've worked that out and got my head around timing tackles properly, this is much, much less of an issue.

Hope that helps, mate.

[K_Mosley]

It certainly does!  I think I learned something about the real game in there, too.   

I'm intrigued...

Kevin

[Ted]

Please elaborate, Adam...  Abner said the AI doesn't offer much support, offensively or defensively.  Did you do something different in your approach to the game?

Kevin

Yes.  I started playing it like a game of football.

Offensively, it's not made a huge amount of difference, but I'm not sure the attacking AI is the problem.  For years now, FIFA's been set up so that the opposition defence holds a solid bank of four on the edge of its own area and leaves it up to you to figure out a way through.  If you attack down the wing, isolating the opposition full back, either one of your strikers comes wide to give you an option or your full back comes forward on the overlap.  In either case, he knows exactly where to go and you can play him in with a through ball, giving him a chance to cross.  In central areas, the opportunity to make that kind of run never really arises, because it's always so densely packed that there's very little space to peel into.

The best approach so far has been to play possession football, play the easy pass where it's available and look to get a mismatch somewhere on the pitch.  You can beat defenders without using the skill moves this year, using the 'knock the ball ahead' button or a clever change of direction, so once you're one-on-one you can engineer yourself some space and get a shot away.

The biggest improvements I've made have been when I haven't had the ball.  We all know the winning formula for defending in a FIFA game - hold down your 'pressure' button, keep it held until your player makes a standing tackle, job done.  I knew coming into the demo that it had changed and that such a tactic wouldn't work, but even while I played the demo, I didn't really grasp how big a difference there is.  To use Tactical Defending, you've got to defend properly.  That is to say, the action you'd take in a real-world match is, by and large, the action you need to take in FIFA 12.

As an example, let's say I'm a centre back with a striker running at me.  He's pacy and there's no cover behind me.  There's no way I can shepherd him away from goal, because I'm not especially quick and I'm coming from a standing start.  The only way I can dispossess him is to watch his body form, try to read the direction of his run and get a foot in just as the ball arrives.  If I dive in, he'll go around me and he'll be clean through.  If I mistime my standing tackle, I leave myself open to the same thing.  That's how FIFA 12 wants you to think as an AI player comes running at you.

One of the gripes I had in the demo is that whenever a cross came in, there'd be a man unmarked in the box and he'd score.  I know why now.  When the AI broke down the wing, I'd try to make a tackle with my full back, mess it all up and leave the winger in acres of space.  One of my centre backs then had to come across and act as cover, but in doing so he left a space in the centre, so if the cross made it past him, I was in a whole world of trouble.  Your central midfielders will, where possible, get back to fill in the gaps as best they can, but if you're being hit on the counter attack and haven't managed to delay the opposition winger, they're never going to make it in time.  Now I've worked that out and got my head around timing tackles properly, this is much, much less of an issue.

Hope that helps, mate.

I don't understand 90% of what you just wrote, but damn that was an enjoyable read.

[Jason]

Toys R Us is having a one-day $39.99 sale on the XB360 version.

Link to Sale

[Jason]

Toys R Us is having a one-day $39.99 sale on the XB360 version.

Link to Sale

Amazon is now selling it for $45.

[Jason]

Hmmm...considering this one now that it's only $45 at Amazon and I can get it down to $35 with a $10 promotional credit I got from buying Forza 4.