There are only so many times you can call a FIFA title 'The Best One Ever' without it sounding a bit redundant. Each year's instalment would be 'The Best One Ever' if all EA Sports did was update the haircuts, such is the brilliance of the game underneath. But it has gone further this time. Dribbling's expanded, players are fallible, and online modes complement the real world unlike any sports title before it.
On the surface, though, it's a lot like last year's. Tactical Defending - a divisive tackling scheme introduced by FIFA 12 which shifts focus onto intercepting, thereby slowing the game's pace - is still being pushed (thankfully, purists can set classic controls). Passing is still fluid, players clash organically, and shots can and will go in from any angle. The core hasn't been altered too much in this year's iteration, but several tweaks do impact matches dramatically.
And it's not just trapping that's been made more realistic. Passes will lash wide, and occasionally botched shots will slink out for throw-ins, cuing embarrassed groans from ad-libbing commentators Martin Tyler and Alan Smith. Purists might bemoan more frequent unforced errors, but until the game is played by our mechanical robot overlords, football is after all a human sport.
Dribbling, too, has been retouched. Last year introduced Precision Touch, allowing close-quarters turning to wriggle out of tight spots. Problem was, close-quarters is tackling range. While that's still included, situated on LB, Complete Dribbling is better. By holding shoulder buttons your player turns more sharply, strokes the ball more often and, crucially, maintains his speed.
It won't work for everyone - try it with Emile Heskey and you'll swallow a mouthful of turf - but players like Ronaldo are more potent than ever. The new dribbling system and First Touch Control don't transform the game. They merely improve it, making it more realistic without sacrificing all-important fun.
Off the pitch, this realism stretches to new persistent online modes. Match Day is best, setting up the week's fixtures for you to recreate using updated teams. Gareth Bale on a bad run of form? His stats will take a dip. Smartly, you can enable these up-to-the-minute formations and ratings in regular exhibition matches with a press of Y during team selection.
Despite EA's glut of new online modes, however, it's a shame the offline mode sees it tread water. Despite including more than 50 tournaments, it's missing the daddy - the Champions League. Careers are largely unchanged this time around barring international duties, and sharper parallels to the Chinese-whispering tabloid era (at one point, our star defender was reportedly seeking a move, but in an office chitchat he assured us he couldn't be happier). Also, tough luck for fans of lower-placed teams, who are all lumbered with generic bum-chin faces.
Still, all of that is nit-picking in what is once again the world's best football game - 'The Best One Ever'. FIFA 13's bigger and brighter in every way.
40 comments so far...
TheNUKEnukeM on 20 Sep '12 said:
Back in the 00's the only way to update the squads was too release a new game every year. In this day and age EA could easily do this via a free update for the game. Could this have not been just a add on off fifa 12 rather than a full game. By all means they could have released a new version for people without online or didnt buy fifa 12. But in 2013 I just dont think EA have the right approach.
I guess they would be idiots as each one sells by the bucket load but still.
KernowDevil23 on 20 Sep '12 said:
Did you bother to read the review??
If you think this is purely a "squad update", then as much as you're entitled to your opinion, you're clearly very misguided.
SidTheSloth on 20 Sep '12 said:
So no mention of how the different teams play - do spanish teams play a more possession based game, do lower league teams play more direct etc? Seemingly they've eliminated the division two wingers penchant for cruyff turns and stepovers with the first touch thingy but it'd be nice to know - on previous FIFA's too many teams play almost exactly the same.
I realise there's only so many words you can write and the reviewer may/may not be a football fan/expert, and the problem exists in most other mags/sites too but the bits reviewed are nearly always the superficial 'shit' around the main game itself, and never whether some of the more serious in-game flaws - the meat of the game - have been addressed. I still love FIFA and will undoubtedly get this so i don't even know why i'm writing but PES (which i also love) gets pulled to pieces over every little thing whereas people look past FIFA's outrageously flawed (read: cheating) higher difficulties because it looks and plays so fluidly - and more likely, becuase the majority of people now play online - unlike me
pop and fresh on 20 Sep '12 said:
More then just a squad update my friend. You only have to play the demo to see that. Good review OXM though I am slightly dissapointed that single player still lacking somewhat. Ah well, to Ultimat team I go!
Grummy on 20 Sep '12 said:
Posted this in the comments section for the Demo, but I'll post it here as well as it's still relevant for me.
Played the demo a few times and whilst there are some nice improvements, it's still the same Fifa with the same problems. Basically, the difficulty jumps, it's not progressive, which I always found strange. You go from winning 8 or 10-0 on Beginner to losing on intermediate to being thrashed on Pro. I always found it very jarring in previous games because 'learning' to be better at the game amounted to chasing the ball around as the opposition teams consistently did everything perfectly.
What I found with this demo is that with each increase in difficulty, your team mate AI became increasingly stupid, which makes the experience increasingly frustrating. On beginner, they would hold good positions, make perfectly timed runs when you ask, things like that. On intermediate they would often not make runs at all when I called for them, they would stray out of position. I also find that the use of passes and crosses becomes more suspect on higher difficulties, rather than making sensible passes, your players suddenly try stupid back heels or delay passing at all. Another problem I find is that on Beginner, you win everything, every clearance, every corner, every throw in, every header, on the higher difficulties, you lose everything. It was always a problem in older Fifa games that you would always find the opponent player in front of yours and would always win the ball. Every. Single. Time. and it's happening again. It's things like this that completely ruin the experience for me, it's what has stopped my buying them the last few years, and it's what will likely stop me buying it now. I hate playing on beginner because it is boring, you can just run through everything and win by massive scores. On intermediate levels and above, rather than keeping the game playing the same, but making the opponents better, they nerf your own team as well. I hate that. Keep the same base experience, let me do the same things, just make them better, but for the love of god, stop making them always be in a natural advantage.
These games do so much right, but they are probably the most consistently disappointing games I've ever played because they do so much cheap crap.
SidTheSloth on 20 Sep '12 said:
Sorry Grummy, i meant to reply to that post - all i'd have said is i pretty much agree anyway and sounded like i was blowing smoke up your arse...
The game just seems so focused on people playing online now that the AI is neglected - this is happening a lot in fighting games too.
I got EA stablemate NHL 13 this week and it's absolutely brilliant in parts, the control of the skater and stick control is absolutely superb, but the AI of both your team mates and the opposition is ridiculous - there's a lot of complaints on the official EA forums about rubber banding too, another trait of FIFA's i've noticed on previous versions.
I still think present day FIFA beats PES, but in the good old days of PES, when it beat you, it beat you fairly - usually because you cocked up or you were just playing a better team, when FIFA beats me on higher difficulties it's more often down to a cross my 6'4" CB couldn't head clear against a physical beast like walcott or something
Yet like i say, i still love FIFA and will no doubt buy it on launch. Along with getting my forehead tattoo'd with 'MUG'!
marwood_03 on 20 Sep '12 said:
The truth hurts but;
I know you have said it's the best FIFA yet "again" but why do reviewers say this every year, it's just lazy and so easy
Why not just say it's as good as last years installment, or some parts are better like passing, but the shooting isn't :S
Reviews say this every year just to boost sales, bands do it, "yeah this is our best album yet" then you get it and it's not even close!
Reviewers are representitives of all the games, why does Call of Duty get a 9 every year, and why is FIFA the best ever every year
Exactally
YoungTobias on 20 Sep '12 said:
And why are mainstream journalists such apologists towards the big developers in the first place? Thing is, as good as Fifa 13 almost certainly is, it's difficult to take any mainstream review of one of these long-running series without a massive pinch of salt.
I hate to bring it up again, but look at ME3 - the overwhelming majority of gamers who actually completed the entire trilogy and paid attention to what BioWare and EA had been promising hated the ending, they had reasons for hating it and articulated it in a mostly reasoned, pragmatic manner, which should have been welcomed and encouraged as a natural response to unregulated corporate consumerism. Instead, anyone who was less than 100% positive towards the game was attacked on all fronts by every mainstream publication going, having their words completely ignored in favour of a straw man construct and a tiresome line of "don't question the creators" and "games as art." OXM was as guilty of this as anyone, albeit without the same level of juvenile vitriol as OPM whose reputation subsequently took an irreversible nosedive.
The message was clear - the gamers' voices don't matter. After all, it isn't the average Joe on the street or the nerds taking journalists on all expenses paid tours of their new offices in San Francisco or leaping to their defence when they get something wrong. That's EA's job. That's Activision's job. And the saddest thing is that a lot of people still think that this blatant appeal to authority constitutes fair and objective analysis - just take a look at the ludicrous amount of coverage on the OPM site for the new PS3 super-slim, a console that adds absolutely no tangible enhancement to the PS3 system, and is being endorsed by OPM as somehow being the next must-have toy purely on how it looks - and a lot of readers seem to be lapping it up, some even straight-up pointing out that they haven't seen anything that mentions any technical difference in the new console but that they'll probably buy it anyway because OPM is telling them to.
Fifa 13 is probably great and a noticeable improvement on Fifa 12, but I would implore anybody who cares beyond the superficial to play the demo, or just rent the game for a few days, before committing to buying it. Unless you're minted and just don't care, you can't base this sort of financial decision on the word of any mainstream magazine any more than you can trust a newspaper on issues of politics. You need to see for yourself first.
OXM ETboy on 21 Sep '12 said:
I'll be honest with you all, I vaguely wish EA would release an utterly broken FIFA some year, just so we can slap a 4/10 on the thing and put our impartiality beyond doubt
KernowDevil23 on 21 Sep '12 said:
You should whip up a quick parody review right away Ed!
FishyGinger on 21 Sep '12 said:
Oh do give up. You clearly don't hate bringing it up but I played from start to finish and enjoyed it all. As for the complaints, I'd imagine a fair amount of them were 'f*ck you ea' or something similar. Sorting out anything useful from that would be hard.
Anywho, from previous games I'd agree with Grummy, the AI needs major sorting out. Regardless of what team you played against if the setting was slightly too hard even league two teams were just as good as top teams, all the balls went their way etc The difficulty just didn't adapt for each team. With your teams ai becoming dumb as spit it was artificially making it harder.
OXM ETboy on 21 Sep '12 said:
I'd love to, but I'd have to learn about FIFA/football in general first. My efforts to become an expert on FIFA 13 in order to maximise the SEO juice have been a dismal failure.
"FIFA 13 is a game where lots of identical men yell at some other men in brightly coloured shirts. The playable protagonist is a ball. Its job is to make people fall over. 7/10."
SidTheSloth on 21 Sep '12 said:
Didn't they used to do that on a yearly basis? With the 360 launch RTWC version being especially shite? I've still got it here if anyone fancies a game?*
Were Heat ok with you plagiarising their FIFA review too Ed?
*Never in a million, utter utter cack...!
Bezza89 on 21 Sep '12 said:
I've not bought a fifa since 09 for £3 preowned back in 2010, thinking of upgrading - worth it? I think the gaps make the games seem a lot more different, but you are screwed on the team transfers and online aspects. Still, it's kept me going for 2 years.
FishyGinger on 21 Sep '12 said:
Really enjoyed fifa 10, you can get that in sainsburys for 5 quid. Tried the demo of 13 but will stick with 11, where arsenal still had some of their own players left
SidTheSloth on 21 Sep '12 said:
Bezza - 12 & 13 are considerably better than 9 & 10 yes. The annoying bits Grummy mentions about difficulty scaling though are still prevalent, but the actual quality and difference in the game is quite large now! A purchase every year is far from essential if you're not a complete football but, but every 2-3 is worth it i'd say for definite. If you get 13 we can set up an OXM club too, it was threatened last year and never actually happened. Sure Kernow would be up for it too, just have to remind him he can't ban people from the team if they don't pass to him!
The Fish is an arsenal fan? Who knew...
FishyGinger on 21 Sep '12 said:
I apologise for my fandom. I'm not a rabid fan but my uncle got me into it as I'd only enjoyed playing it when young (football that is, not football games) but when he got me watching it and bergkamp was on the ball I was hooked. He was a pure guinness with the ball. Think it was the catholic connection (I'm n.irish....tarp of the mornin and all that).
But if you happen to be getting an oxm team I may consider getting it.
SidTheSloth on 21 Sep '12 said:
I'll let you off as the boy Bergkamp was utter utter class. I'm a united fan as many on here know, and my pet hate is fans who cannot appreciate players from other teams. I used to watch Arsenal purely to see Henry and Bergkamp playing together - awesome! Completely different to the George Graham Arsenal days anyway!
An OXM team should be stupidly easy to set up, i don't understand how it didn't really happen last year - people are shit and unreliable i suppose (i include myself in that!).
I'd be well up for it anyway, i HATE playing in the drop in games as you normally get a couple of players who'll play properly and another 8 dicks who all want to be striker - having the same problem on NHL right now, you can only level your pro up by winning matches too, which when you're on a random team of idiots is much easier said than done!
FishyGinger on 21 Sep '12 said:
Ah united, I'll never forgive schmeichel saving bergkamps penalty, he had no right to save that!
Grummy on 21 Sep '12 said:
Bacon was perfectly allowed to save anything he damn well pleased. Its what comes with being the greatest keeper to ever grace a football pitch.
I'm a United fan too, but I'm one of those rare ones who doesn't hate other teams just because they're 'rivals'. I find it vastly amusing every season when Liverpool suck, mainly because they're not a top tier team anymore, but people still think they are. I don't hate them though, and I don't hate the fans, and I was in full support of them this past couple of weeks, even going so far as to tear into a couple of united fans giving them gyp about it. It's the petty ignorance and general f**ktardishness of the fans and certain players I hate. This past couple of weeks I've been ashamed to be a Utd fan because of the actions of the wankers who call themselves 'fans'.
The only teams I truly hate are Chelsea and Man City because I have no respect for teams that buy championships. Sure, Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool have all spent good money over the years, but its money the clubs have earned, not been loaned by ludicrously rich oversized child with a new toy. Frankly, I'd rather see Arsenal win the title every season from now on than see Chelsea or City ever get within touching distance again.
SidTheSloth on 21 Sep '12 said:
That is still one of the best games i've ever watched - absolutely stupid game with everything in it! Not sure id have such fond memories if Vieira hadn't 'gave Giggsy the ball' but there you go! As it stands, Schmeichel was my favourite united player for years, broke my heart when he went to City! Scholes has been my favourite ever since, fantastic player and despite that early blip with Fergie just doesn't arse around.
Funny you bring all that up Grummy, the retard fans and increasingly greedy players/agents are ensuring i grow more and more disillusioned with the game every year. I still cannot walk past a TV screen showing a game, i just love it too much, but all this extra shit on top - i just despair of it. I'm massively concerned about this weekends game and some idiots spoiling it, how anyone can think it's funny to sing about anything like that i don't know
FishyGinger on 21 Sep '12 said:
Same, I have a lot of respect for spurs, got a decent team but there is so much that is petty. Good football is good football. Again not a fan of buying the league and what not, lets face it man utd had a fairly average squad last season and man city bought it on goal difference.
I like some of the good chants (“He’s hiding in Kabul, he supports the Arsenal, Osama woooaahhh, Osama woooaaahhh!) but not a fan of 'hatred'. And mercenaries, ashley cole, anelka (ok so arsenal got good money for him) and nasri were in it for money more than anything else. Nothing nicer than seeing players stay at clubs because they like them, man utd seem to have the best track record for that.
KernowDevil23 on 21 Sep '12 said:
OXM Team it is then! Awesome
Grummy on 21 Sep '12 said:
Mmhmmm.
I hate the mercenary players, as they give every other player a bad reputation. I look at the Van Persie move and see people talk about it being a money thing, just because it has been the case with other players, but I truly don't believe that it is the case here. He's always struck me as a player who just wanted to win trophies. Now perhaps that is mercenary as well, but he gave a lot of time to Arsenal, and when he finally felt they weren't in a position to match his personal goals for his career, then he was forthright about wanting to move on. No one likes it when a team favourite player leaves, but at least he was honest about it.
FishyGinger on 21 Sep '12 said:
Mixed feelings about that really. He has every right to go of course and he did well last season but saying the club isn't ambitious enough? Just after they bought 2 top quality players? And he did have many many seasons of being a cripple. But it's mainly nasri/cole that irked me
SidTheSloth on 21 Sep '12 said:
It's hard to talk about RVP being a united fan without being accused of wearing rose-tints...
Nasri i just cannot stand, sums up everything i hate about modern footballers, attitude, greed, everything - i was beside myself with worry/anger when it was mooted he may come to united last year. Unfortunately we got the only slightly more likeable but still a sulking, cheating, not as good a player as Nasri, Ashley Young instead...
Adebayor has done well to stay out of this discussion as well, another i can't stand!
vadersmyfather on 21 Sep '12 said:
Arsenal have brought players in, but they are attackers. Most of the Arsenal fans I hear believed that they needed quality defenders because they concede too many goals. That's where they needed to invest. Had they done so, then perhaps Nasri, RVP et al might have stayed.
Rnald on 21 Sep '12 said:
I wouldn't even care if this was just fifa 12 again as long as they've fixed the dreaded A defending.
Grummy on 22 Sep '12 said:
The strangest part for me was that Arsenal needed (and still do imo) a top class keeper, and Shay Given was available at the perfect time for them. I don't understand why they never tried to sign him, he is still a world class keeper and would have seriously changed their fortunes.
I don't think Nasri would have stayed, he is a classic mercenary player, but with Given in goal, plus Mertesacker (who I thought was a tremendous signing, I've always rated him) and Podolski, I think RVP may well have stayed had Wenger given him assurances about future signings. But then again, at his age, he may well have felt that Arsenal needed more time to be true contenders than he had left and wanted to move to a team who are real championship contenders right now.
marwood_03 on 23 Sep '12 said:
Slightly off topic, but I think FIFA 2008 has been the best FIFA on the 360, not because I went 80 games unbeaten online, but becasue it actually played like football, hard to explain, but it just felt right, the next best was FIFA09
FishyGinger on 24 Sep '12 said:
Adebayour....perfect example really. Puts in one seasons worth of effort then expects to move to a better club as if it's owed to him. Shame as he's a good player when he tries.
As for the defence, I don't think arsenal do need it. With Bould as dept. manager the back has looked solid.
Still, can't argue at the result over the weekend, bloody gervinho couldn't hit a bus if he were in it...
Grummy on 24 Sep '12 said:
It was a shocker, no doubt about that. He may look like Adebayor, but he doesn't have his skill. I honestly think all Arsenal need to truly get back in the game are a top quality keeper and a midfielder like Pires/Overmars, and maybe a second top striker-Neymar would be perfect in a miracle world.
FishyGinger on 24 Sep '12 said:
Yeah a fox in the box who isn't bloody francis jeffers and a dominant defensive midfielder, Diaby has looked decent this season but it's the start and he's made of glass. Saying that wilshere should be back soon and if he doesn't crock himself could drive the team.
Only quickly saw match of the day but the liverpool man u match seemed respectfully handled.
Grummy on 24 Sep '12 said:
It was, apart from one incident with Jonjo Shelvey, but that kid has always been a nasty little thug. I watched the game and thought that it was largely a well handled game and the ref had a great match, getting all the decisions right. Typically, all the Liverpool supporters are claiming 'another bought and paid for referee', but the truth is, he got it right. Thems the breaks.
Wadium_Arcadium on 24 Sep '12 said:
I'm sorry but I don't see how you can honestly say that the referee got 'all the decisions right'. Shelvey's tackle was undeniably rash but Evans jumped in with two feet and studs up as well. They both should have gone if anything.
And Valencia's dive was as bad as Ivanovic's on Saturday.
Then again, I was pretty pleased with the performance, if we'd kept 11 men on the pitch I think we would have scored a few and won comfortably, United didn't seem at the races at all.
Great tribute to the 96 at the start from both sets of supporters, it's a shame a minority had to ruin it a bit.
KernowDevil23 on 24 Sep '12 said:
Well one of "your own" Mark Lawrenson seemed to be pretty emphatic with his praise of the ref on MOTD2.......
Valencia's dive??.....Mmmmm Suarez's swan dive escape your attention did it?
And you're right, we were never "at the races" but 3 points is 3 points......
xxxx
Grummy on 25 Sep '12 said:
Because it's the truth, and the video clips back it up.
Shelvey lunged in from a distance whereas Evans in what was frankly a rare moment for him, made a decent challenge from much closer. Neither tackle was nasty in my view, and not 2 footed either (a stupid phrase if ever I've heard one that's been knocking around for years now-it's not like players can leave their other leg and foot somewhere else then collect it afterwards), but Shelvey's was reckless, as if he didn't care what he did, Evans was looking to get the ball. To be honest, my first reaction was 'yellow card', I really didn't think it was that bad, but seeing the video footage of it again, he had to go because Evans was lucky not to be seriously injured. Referees have been hammering down on reckless challenges a lot for the past few years now. I was at OT season before last when Evans got sent off against Bolton for the same thing, a reckless challenge by a young player. An argument can be made for leniency with young and inexperienced players, but as it stands, the FA and the referees don't agree with this, and as it was, Shelvey had to go. To be honest, considering the occasion, I'd rather Halsey have given him a yellow and a stern lecture, then give Rodgers a quick look to tell him to sub him off before he got booked again, but that's my preference. Halsey went by the book on that one, and he got it right.
Valencia's 'dive' is a an interesting moment. Perhaps he went over too easily, perhaps he didn't, but the facts are that Johnson pushed him in the back and stuck a leg out infront of him and he went down. Could he have stayed on his feet? Perhaps, but he didn't try, he went down, and the facts remain that he had a push to the back and a leg in front of him, that made contact. It's a penalty, again, the right decision by the book. Problems with it? take it out on Valencia, but if you're a defender pushing a player in your own box then swinging in a leg to tackle from behind, you're begging to be penalized.
It's a rare day I don't criticize referees, but on this one I'm on his side, he got everything right by the book.
FishyGinger on 25 Sep '12 said:
As a fan of neither side I would have to say he was looking to get sent off. He went into the back of giggs which was borderline yellow card and then just seemed to charge about without a care for himself or anyone else. So agree with the sending off. Rest I can't really remember.
As for penalty calls, felt in the past man utd did get more their way than anyone else but it's very difficult to say when you support another team, you feel others get more calls than you.
vadersmyfather on 25 Sep '12 said:
I'd add that Evans tackle was not 'at' Shelvey, in fact Evans wasn't even facing him.
Wadium_Arcadium on 25 Sep '12 said:
Suarez had his foot stood on but it would be naive to say he hasn't gone over easily in the past. Then again, the referee should make his decision on the current circumstances, not the players involved.
Valencia fell over before any contact was even made. If I was a United fan, even I'd have to admit it was never a penalty. Ferguson must be paying well for Valencia, Welbeck and co.'s lessons.