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IGN Review of FIFA Soccer 11
FIFA on Wii always seems to be going through a bit of an identity crisis. Last year it dabbled with super-powered shots and slow-motion effects, the year before that we were greeted with cute and cuddly player avatars in an All-Play rendition of soccer. FIFA 11 once again re-invents what the series is trying to do on Wii with 5-on-5 gameplay that's reminiscent of the debunked FIFA Street franchise. Sadly the 5-on-5 in this year's edition doesn't do much to spice things up and other mechanical changes make this year's FIFA a disappointing effort on Wii.
FIFA 11 comes with two core flavors of soccer. The first is the standard 11-on-11 that everyone watches on TV. The second is a 5-on-5 offering that's unique to this year's game. It's clear that the 5-on-5 street-style gameplay is slanted towards the arcade audience with power-ups and game modifiers that switch things up from the norm. All of the games in the Hit the Streets mode take place on non-soccer pitch environments. You'll find locales that look like a Moroccan jail with a dirt-covered pitch and no apparent exit (seriously, I have no idea how these guys got to the pitch) to a playing field that looks more like a basketball gymnasium than anything else. You can pull off the requisite number of fancy tricks like passing the ball off of one of the surrounding walls and several special dribbling moves, but none of them actually cross over into the realm of being all that impressive.
Thankfully 5-on-5 does have a few cool moments held within its relatively uninspired confines. These come thanks to power-ups that do things like provide super shots, knock down the other team, dwarf your opponents and more. The power-ups, along with varying goal types (half-size goals and elevated goals, for instance), are really the only signs that you're playing in a sensationalized, arcade-style world as the action stays pretty grounded otherwise.
The 11-on-11 is much more traditional than the arcade rendition that we got with last year's FIFA. Gone is the shooting mechanic that called for you to shake the remote when your power shot meter was full and the same goes for the timed shake of the Wii remote that was required during corner and penalty kicks. FIFA 11 is much more straightforward in its standard gameplay mode than it was last year, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the soccer as a whole is better. See, for whatever reason, EA Sports decided to assign both the pass and cross ability to the same button when playing with the Wii remote. For soccer aficionados, this is totally unacceptable. Having to hold the pass button for a certain duration of time to trigger a cross (and then hold it longer to determine the power behind the cross) is a huge annoyance and takes away a lot of the "feel" from the passing game. And anyone who has played video game soccer before will be able to tell you that passing is a hugely important aspect to get right.
Elsewhere in FIFA 11 you'll find Battle for Glory and Streets to Stadiums along with the standard Tournament mode. Streets to Stadiums is probably the most interesting of the bunch (console FIFA players know the mode as Be A Pro) as you take a created pro player and bring them from 5-on-5 games on the streets to the blissful grassy expanses of pro soccer pitches. Each game presents you with a set of objectives to complete, each of which will give you an experience point boost which you can then use to improve your player's skill. The mode is nicely structured and pushes you through the experience nicely. Through all my hours with FIFA 11 on Wii, Streets to Stadiums was easily the most enjoyable mode I found.
Battle for Glory is more of a standard Manager Mode than anything else. It provides the most depth of anything you'll find in FIFA 11, but doesn't exactly reinvent the wheel when it comes to presenting you with your managerial duties. But it's not like that's a bad thing.
When I took the game online I was pleased to find a fluid experience with little lag. The one disappointment when playing over IGN's Wi-Fi connection was that you can't play in any other mode than the standard 11-on-11. It's strange that EA Sports took the time to add a 5-on-5 streets variant, but totally left it out in the cold when it came to bringing things online.
The visuals in FIFA 11 are up to spec as far as Wii graphics are concerned. Lifelike player details are kept to a minimum for the purpose of holding a solid framerate throughout the action. Still, players are very jaggy on the pitch and their animations don't perform as well as I'd like. I'm not sure why, but EA Sports still hasn't added 360-degree dribbling (a feature that can be found on the PSP this year) to the Wii version. What you get is a rendition of soccer that feels very archaic in comparison to what's available elsewhere.
©2010-10-11, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
FIFA 11 comes with two core flavors of soccer. The first is the standard 11-on-11 that everyone watches on TV. The second is a 5-on-5 offering that's unique to this year's game. It's clear that the 5-on-5 street-style gameplay is slanted towards the arcade audience with power-ups and game modifiers that switch things up from the norm. All of the games in the Hit the Streets mode take place on non-soccer pitch environments. You'll find locales that look like a Moroccan jail with a dirt-covered pitch and no apparent exit (seriously, I have no idea how these guys got to the pitch) to a playing field that looks more like a basketball gymnasium than anything else. You can pull off the requisite number of fancy tricks like passing the ball off of one of the surrounding walls and several special dribbling moves, but none of them actually cross over into the realm of being all that impressive.
Thankfully 5-on-5 does have a few cool moments held within its relatively uninspired confines. These come thanks to power-ups that do things like provide super shots, knock down the other team, dwarf your opponents and more. The power-ups, along with varying goal types (half-size goals and elevated goals, for instance), are really the only signs that you're playing in a sensationalized, arcade-style world as the action stays pretty grounded otherwise.
The 11-on-11 is much more traditional than the arcade rendition that we got with last year's FIFA. Gone is the shooting mechanic that called for you to shake the remote when your power shot meter was full and the same goes for the timed shake of the Wii remote that was required during corner and penalty kicks. FIFA 11 is much more straightforward in its standard gameplay mode than it was last year, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the soccer as a whole is better. See, for whatever reason, EA Sports decided to assign both the pass and cross ability to the same button when playing with the Wii remote. For soccer aficionados, this is totally unacceptable. Having to hold the pass button for a certain duration of time to trigger a cross (and then hold it longer to determine the power behind the cross) is a huge annoyance and takes away a lot of the "feel" from the passing game. And anyone who has played video game soccer before will be able to tell you that passing is a hugely important aspect to get right.
Elsewhere in FIFA 11 you'll find Battle for Glory and Streets to Stadiums along with the standard Tournament mode. Streets to Stadiums is probably the most interesting of the bunch (console FIFA players know the mode as Be A Pro) as you take a created pro player and bring them from 5-on-5 games on the streets to the blissful grassy expanses of pro soccer pitches. Each game presents you with a set of objectives to complete, each of which will give you an experience point boost which you can then use to improve your player's skill. The mode is nicely structured and pushes you through the experience nicely. Through all my hours with FIFA 11 on Wii, Streets to Stadiums was easily the most enjoyable mode I found.
Battle for Glory is more of a standard Manager Mode than anything else. It provides the most depth of anything you'll find in FIFA 11, but doesn't exactly reinvent the wheel when it comes to presenting you with your managerial duties. But it's not like that's a bad thing.
When I took the game online I was pleased to find a fluid experience with little lag. The one disappointment when playing over IGN's Wi-Fi connection was that you can't play in any other mode than the standard 11-on-11. It's strange that EA Sports took the time to add a 5-on-5 streets variant, but totally left it out in the cold when it came to bringing things online.
The visuals in FIFA 11 are up to spec as far as Wii graphics are concerned. Lifelike player details are kept to a minimum for the purpose of holding a solid framerate throughout the action. Still, players are very jaggy on the pitch and their animations don't perform as well as I'd like. I'm not sure why, but EA Sports still hasn't added 360-degree dribbling (a feature that can be found on the PSP this year) to the Wii version. What you get is a rendition of soccer that feels very archaic in comparison to what's available elsewhere.
©2010-10-11, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved