second thoughts on gameplay
Hello all,
I have played about 10-12 games now so far on FIFA for PS2.
I can say that I am enjoying it a little more. It's still FIFA don't get me wrong, but I believe it's the best FIFA yet. There are still some instances with ball and player physics that need to be taken into serious consideration.
I like the way the players react to team morale/chemistry, and how tired they get and react as well... The difference in play when the grass is damp and it's raining is considerably different as well. You can feel how different it is.
The way you play different with different players is not very evident. It seems everyone is equal, at least that's my take on it. And I'm not talking about signature moves or anything, but just making a run or kicking the ball seems to be the same for every player. This has been something that every FIFA has struggled with, and I don't know if they will fix that soon.
Regardless of that, I believe the shooting system is way better than before. You have to get used to it, but it's worth it. I haven't seen an unbelievably fast shot yet when the ball is in play, but I've seen speeding bullets come out of free kicks, which is definetely wrong and annoying.
I like the player animation variations and it seems that it's way more believable what they do with the ball on their feet than previous FIFAs.
I like to play in slow mode, I was noticing a lot of weird physics in normal mode, but when I switched to slow it all started to work nicely.
I still don't like how offside traps are extremely constant. There are talented players that can get off the trap in real life, but with these games, even PES5, it seems that is impossible.
Also, I've only had one instance that my attacker beat the defender in running towards the goal and had a clear chance for a goal, but I tried to lob the keeper and missed it... (practice more I guess...)
The free kick system is very smooth, I think. You can move the directional up and down as well as sideways to change the angle of your shot. You have to differentiate the power you put on the ball to get different results, what I didn't understand is why the blue bar on the power bar changes width from shot to shot with the same player. Supposedly your power should not exceed that width of the blue bar, but it varies from shot to shot, even from the same place (training mode).
I didn't like the pk shoots. They seem very slow and it looks like a different game. The one I had I was playing in the afternoon, but the shootout looked like I was playing at night.
I have yet to master the different attacking plays and modes, but I do like how defensively both the AI on CPU and on your team work well and smart. A lot of people have complained about keeper's AI, but so far I haven't seen any weirdness with it.
I like the variations of play, using the wing, the midfield, switching play from side to side from the AI as well. I think it's very realistic in that aspect. You occasionally notice weird physics on some of these shots, but hell, they're not as annoying as in the past.
One thing that drove me nuts is that I would wait for my player to make a run on a wing or behind me to receive the ball and that wouldn't happen very often. I don't know if there's a command to make that happen, because I was used to doing that with OTB, even though I cheated with it most of the time, making unbelieveably unrealistic passes...
I've seen my players run to receive the ball a couple of times though, so I think they're in the game, but should be smarter and pop up more often.
I don't think the game is too scripted. A lot of people complained that it is, but I didn't think so... the ball physics is scripted still, especially when it's running down the field, but shots and passes are much much (much) better than previous versions. Maybe it's because I'm playing in slow mode... I don't know...
I think it's a very solid game, and I have to say that sometimes you almost think you've seen a real play, resembling a real footy game. This is the feeling you have with a lot of PES plays, but FIFA is getting close.
I have to make a quick comparison to PES gameplay just to be fair, I would give a 9 to PES gameplay and a 7.7/8 for FIFA.
Not bad at all...
