[First Impressions] FIFA 10 demo

When it comes to yearly updates in sports games, I am one of those people that dread the moment when they actually get to play said update. You see, it's almost a tradition within gaming companies to often neglect the new installment in a sports series and only do the most basic and obvious of changes, such as changing the player rosters.

With that in mind, I approached the demo for the newest FIFA game, FIFA 10, with great cautiousness, especially since I really enjoyed last years installment.

Initial impressions were mixed. The graphics are almost identical to 09, animation feels a little stiff and the announcer has the exact same tone of voice as he did a year ago. A silly thing to complain about to be sure, but it really stands out when you first play the demo. You can't help but feel that you've already seen this before, that you've already played this game.

Still, if experience has taught one lesson when it comes to new sports games, it's the fact that perseverance eventually pays off. Quite a lot of changes in such games don't really stand out at first, you need to actually spend some time to appreciate them.

So, after that overly long introduction, are the really any changes worth talking about that are obvious in this demo? Short answer, yes. For the long answer, read on.

The first thing that really stands out is the new physics for shooting and passing. It feels a lot less "videogame-y" for lack of a better expression, in the sense that passes no longer magically find their target, nor do shots have perfect trajectories every time. This added realism means that FIFA 10 is slightly more difficult than its predecessor, but it also makes it that much more satisfactory to pull off a great pass and a beautiful goal.

The other thing you notice once the initial shock is over, is the fact that the animation is actually better than last year's. At first it feels otherwise because in 09 all players were practically animated the same, while in 10 certain players mimic their real life counterparts. It's this difference between animations that gives the initial impression of stiffness.

The last big change to the game is the new controls. The new dribbling method (called "360 dribbling") works like a charm, as it allows you to move your character in any direction you want to, instead of feeling restricted to just the eight basic directions in a joypad.

A few other, small, things include improved goalies that will now often snuff your first shot at them, referees calling for a free kick/booking does not always trigger a cut-scene anymore, the A.I. is still not that great, and is it me or do more shots end up at the post in this version than before? Also, I think that the goal itself is larger than last year, when it was unrealistically small.

All in all, judging from this demo, FIFA 10 seems like a worthy update to the long-running franchise. There's enough changes to make the game feel fresh, while retaining the qualities that made FIFA 09 such a fun game to play.

TL;DR version:

If there's one testament to how fun the last FIFA games have been, it's the Arena mode (where it's just your player and the goalkeeper in the field). Just trying out new dribbles and shot angles never seems to get old, especially with the wonderful soundtrack these games have. It's not unusual to spend a lot of time there, before getting in a real match.

That's value for money, right there.