FIFA 12 Demo impressions

It stands off quite a bit now, compared to last year where they charged in straight away. Very hard to break down, but that might be due to your players not getting into space.

But the CPU AI is better than it was.

Incidently, I saw someone slating PES for overhead kicks happening too often. I crossed the ball into the box, none of my players anywhere near it though and CPU had plenty of time ... but did this ridiculous overhead kick with a ton of power in it, right to the halfway line. Looked very silly.

I'm looking forward to getting back later this afternoon and giving it another go as I reckon it's one that'll grow on you the more you play it. But it's got flaws which I'm not sure are just because it's a new game.

Agree with this...

The counter attack fest seems to be gone(or toned down a lot)... wich is very good news...

This is also making harder to notice diference in players top speed since u dont have so much time to run like in fifa11 counter attacks. Players like Silva that arent speed daemons feel a lot more effective than Pato for instance.
 
Haven't seen much of the Impact System yet. Not sure if that's a good thing or bad thing because of the unwanted contact in the early versions being mentioned. However, I have seen it used really well in one scenario. I was running alongside Kompany, he slid and got the ball off Ayew but his momentum meant he went through the ball and took his leg out meaning Ayew was left in a heep.

Oh and give Arshavin and Gotze the ball to test out the new dribbling system. Going past CPU defenders (on world class but still a high difficulty) is something I could never do in FIFA 11
 
How does the AI defend in the demo? Has anyone notice it using the jockey system or does it just bulldoze into tackles with perfect precision?

I guess anyone playing on the highest difficulty would be more likely to see that.

Playing Legendary. Certainly no more bulldozing. The defence is much tighter. More aware of the situation, runners, open spaces and the defenders play more like a unit now. But again with AI, it is almost as if they never miss tackles, not because they cheat in tackling itself, but because the AI triggers tackling at the exact right time.

PS: I'm not so satisfied with headers. Seem to miss quite a few free headers now. No doubt FIFA 11's headers were way overpowered, but I feel like they have made them overly underpowered now.
 
Feels good after three games. I didn't even feel the need to tune it down to slow. Momentum and inertia are still a problem, but the game is slower and build up is more required. AI individuality can be seen, Silva was excellent for City when I played against them, he ran the show for them.

I am a semi player, everything on Semi and the troughballs on Manual. My teams AI is a little stupid sometimes, I expected some runs they didn't make. Little quibbles really, I like the game. Much better than last year for pc. Hopefully we see some of that team individuality in CM. I still prefer PES, but FIFA is a good alternative right now.
 
Anyone had the CPU foul you yet? Not seen one foul given in the three games I played.
 
Thanks guys, as an offline player that sounds more encouraging. It was the constant pressure and barging off the ball that ultimately made me get rid of FIFA 11 in the first place.

I could see a huge flaw in the game if it introduced tactical defending on your part, then ignored it itself by spamming you with sprinting defenders hounding you all game, so if that's fairly even then that'll be a massive frustration out of the way for me.

I don't mind the game being hard to break down so long as the AI actually tries to attack you, and doesn't resort to constant sprinting and perfect 'barge' tackles that knock you over every time. Hopefully these two might make the game enjoyable again :)
 
Anyone had the CPU foul you yet? Not seen one foul given in the three games I played.

I've played about 10 games now and I would say they have fouled me about 3-5 times roughly. Not blatent ones though, just poorly executed slide tackles and a couple of shoulder challenges knocking over my weak players resulting in free kicks

I really want to see how volleys have changed too but its just so rare getting that opportunity against the CPU

I still find if you go 2-0 up against the CPU they go insanely attacking and I find it almost impossible to keep them out. They probably had 3-4 shots in the whole game. I went 2-0 against Man City with 85 minutes on the clock. Ended up being 2-2 after they brought on Agureo who scored 2 past me. ARGH

I found this was similar when playing on legendary in the career mode on Fifa 11. You go 2-0 against the CPU and they blitz you. I suppose the idea is to go defensive but I can never be bothered hahah
 
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I've played about 10 games now and I would say they have fouled me about 3-5 times roughly. Not blatent ones though, just poorly executed slide tackles and a couple of shoulder challenges knocking over my weak players resulting in free kicks

I really want to see how volleys have changed too but its just so rare getting that opportunity against the CPU

Check out the latest volley I posted in the Video thread. Di Canio style.

Not my work, just one I found.
 
Thanks guys, as an offline player that sounds more encouraging. It was the constant pressure and barging off the ball that ultimately made me get rid of FIFA 11 in the first place.

I could see a huge flaw in the game if it introduced tactical defending on your part, then ignored it itself by spamming you with sprinting defenders hounding you all game, so if that's fairly even then that'll be a massive frustration out of the way for me.

I don't mind the game being hard to break down so long as the AI actually tries to attack you, and doesn't resort to constant sprinting and perfect 'barge' tackles that knock you over every time. Hopefully these two might make the game enjoyable again :)

It was the CPU pressure that put me right off FIFA 11 and that's definitely gone now. In that sense, it is a lot better. You can walk with the ball and the CPU will stand off you and cut off your channels, which is great.

The CPU does attack, and I prefer the CPU attacking of FIFA compared to PES as FIFA's CPU passes it around more, backwards too. I found PES just darts straight forward at you. Although in saying that, I'm not sure I've seen the CPU hold onto the ball for more than a second, they've ALWAYS got a pass on and never really slow down the ball and hold it up. Just passing it about.
 
Hmm just read the last few posts over again and I'm not overly happy with the perfect tackles people are saying about. Danntjr, hopefully the tackles are perfect because you're on Legendary. I find it to be too perfect on that difficulty, it looks more robotic because it's too artificially good. Hopefully on World Class there'll be more error in AI tackling....

Yeah, Dags, AI keeping of the ball has been a problem throughout the series, to be honest I'll be happy enough if it even knocks it about like you say and can pass backwards. That's a decent enough step forwards for this game. FIFA 11 was incapable of making the AI do anything other than lightning fast counter attacks, so it's all good. I'll give the xbox demo a try tonight.
 
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It was the CPU pressure that put me right off FIFA 11 and that's definitely gone now. In that sense, it is a lot better. You can walk with the ball and the CPU will stand off you and cut off your channels, which is great.

The CPU does attack, and I prefer the CPU attacking of FIFA compared to PES as FIFA's CPU passes it around more, backwards too. I found PES just darts straight forward at you. Although in saying that, I'm not sure I've seen the CPU hold onto the ball for more than a second, they've ALWAYS got a pass on and never really slow down the ball and hold it up. Just passing it about.

I feel the middle of the park isn't a minefield anymore when i'm playing the CPU. I'm hoping this stays the same on legendary (don't think i'm ready yet). The CPU can really rip your team open now
 
First impressions. The presentation is really amazing after so many second class FIFA games on PC. Commentary, animation, replays, goalkeepers and crowd are all so well done. I like the ball physics so far too. Not sure about other areas of gameplay. Having just come from PES my FIFA skills are severely lacking. I just wish I didn't have to re-enter all preferences every reboot.
 
I don't fundamentally believe I could beat the high level AI playing good football. I think I could find ways to do it, but not playing good football.
 
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