The FIFA series may be the world's favourite set of footy sims, but that doesn't make it perfect. Though excellent on the whole, FIFA 12 had its fair share of wobbly moments - the new defending system in particular has proven incredibly divisive. Has FIFA 13 tackled these and other blemishes? Let's find out.
You might want to read our first and second FIFA 13 previews before continuing. A FIFA 13 demo is now available on Xbox Live Marketplace for Gold subscribers.
1. Defensive nightmare
If you spent most of this year jumping up and down in your seat, manically screaming "why the hell did he just fall over?" then you're either wrestling with Tactical Defending or you should go see a psychiatrist. The system was laudably ambitious, trading homing missile syndrome for twitchier questions of positioning, but it didn't quite take off. Mastery came slowly, making early play sessions feel too much like hard work, and although you could at least attack with confidence on higher difficulty levels, you'd get nervous if your opponent so much as sniffed your area. So to speak.
Is it fixed?
Yes. No. Sort of. EA hasn't reverted to the idiot-proof homing from previous games, but it has diluted FIFA 12's system. The same mechanics make a return - you'll track your opponent until you see a good opportunity to step in - but you have some AI assistance with the angle of your tackle. It should remove a lot of the frustration without sacrificing too much realism.
13 comments so far...
exhausted on 19 Aug '12 said:
I can see the random poor first touches leading to some stupid free kicks being given away but as someone who never got the hang of tactical defending I'm looking forward to seeing how its been changed
fracturedrich on 19 Aug '12 said:
Its not the game whats the problem its the amount of cheats
ryzzzer on 19 Aug '12 said:
How about more rewarding trophy presentations for all the hard work
always been something rather disappointing in fifa.
Rather gutted crowd detail is still poor... ea do a great job with crowds in games like nba and nhl... can understand fifa wold be a much larger scale but still its rather poor atm.
DaedricMince on 19 Aug '12 said:
13 was always going to be the unlucky version.
Rnald on 20 Aug '12 said:
As long as holding A to defend doesn't make your defenders get psychic powers predicting an attacker's every move.
You can only take so much of tossing and turning to get past one defender before deciding against xbox live matches forever.
BlackhawkTenan on 20 Aug '12 said:
This has always bugged me too, getting past the Man Utd's and Chelsea's to win the FA cup, to get a perthetic on field picture by the cup and that's it. Maybe they could replicate the actual way you win trophies at Wembley, going up the stairs and lifting the cup on the balcony?
Also the freekick system. It might just be me, but I haven't scored a freekick since Fifa 2010. Even with the same player, the same amount of power and the same direction, always seems to go anywhere the computer wants. Is it just me?
LuRcH18489 on 21 Aug '12 said:
i was never keen on fifa 12s menu style, i preffered the menus from fifas 08 - 11, hopefully theyl either go bak 2 tht or make summit completely new n better or improve on 12s
Kettch on 21 Aug '12 said:
I've not yet scored a pen that wasn't simply drilled down the middle. Anything else is off target.....
ePg x Ben on 29 Aug '12 said:
was not a fan at all of fifa 12 but i am a glad that they are trying to sort out the defending on the new one because it was really annoying
unabatedshagie on 11 Sep '12 said:
It's not just you, I'd say 1 out of 10 actually hit the target with 1 out of 100 actually beating the keeper. I've actually given up shooting via free kicks and just play them short now.
unabatedshagie on 11 Sep '12 said:
I wasn't going to buy 13 after returning 12 after around two months of buying it on release day.
I really didn't find tactical defending any fun.
I've pre-ordered 13 and just hope I'm not disappointed again.
Is there a mode where you can play season's with a team and play cup and European games?
bigfatdan1979 on 14 Sep '12 said:
why are people moaning so much about tactical defending??? when you first start using it then yes its very frustrating but once you can grasp the basic elements of it then it becomes one of the games best features in my opinion. its far better and more of a challenge than just holding down your defender press button and generally just wait for the ball to come back into your players. i personally hope fifa have left it alone as much as possible as its probably the best addition fifa have made in recent years. i will however be interested to see how much they have improved the ai for your players when attacking as previous games have alway really frustrated me when attacking as i know where i would like to play the ball but the ai very rarlely makes the right run at the right time.
Alvaroortiz on 18 Sep '12 said:
Idk what u guys are talking about. Freekicks are as easy as ever. Imgine an arc in ur joystick and put the joystick in a corner. Not all the way. Set power nd goal