FIFA 10 impressions (PS3)

After about 10 matches playing the game and with the experience of previous version of both soccer titles (FIFA and PES)  in mind, i have to say: FIFA 10 is a really nice game!

You may feel some different approach on the game as soon as you see the entrance of the teams in stadium. EA Sports worked much on cut-scenes this year trying to make you feel that everything except the real football action is also taking part on the same stadium! The entrance, the yellow cards you face, player's complaints and all those independent cut-scenes are now a part of the game and make your experience much more fluid. Stil, there are some cut-scenes fully independent (like CPU's celebrations and half-time scenes) but even this feel much better than before.

The graphics improvements take a part in this feeling. Models got better and, finally, the shirt numbers seems to have a normal size! Obviously, EA Sports considered that in the year 2010 it is time to make their size more close to the real life. Still, they are a bit smaller than they should, but at least you won't see those stupid tiny number on the back of every player and this is something i would expect to see on a real next-gen game.

Considering gameplay, you may  see the new additions as long as you get the controllers on your hands. Players fighting along the pitch, the 360° dribbling and better ball physics (especially on shots) are something you will notice at the first minute you play! The whole experience is much more fluid now and there are many times that you may think "hey, i think i've seen something like this on TV!"... Great things can happen on a game and you can see such many different types of plays in a simple game of 3 minutes. The 360° isn't revolutionary, as you may think, but gives you more freedom and a better way to put your ideas on the field and make your game even better. Consider, thought, that i use to play with the digital cross, instead of the analogue stick, so this may be more important for other guys!

Trying to sum up, my opinion is: if you liked FIFA 09, you will love this! If you though last year's EA Sport's soccer title was the best game, then this is going to be a thrilling experience to you! But if you are still looking for a soccer game to replace PES 5 or PES 6 on your heart, this is just a nice game that won't touch you that much (i am most on this side). FIFA 10 is much better than PES 2008 and PES 2009, i think, but is still a FIFA, having the old arcade character on the basic structure, with some great simulation improvements put in together to cover that... It's like EA  Sports' approaching realism from a different angle than KONAMI, and  the distance between realism and FIFA 10 is much less than realism and PES 2008/2009. But if PES 2010 comes back with the good old gameplay, then i will prefer this approach to a soccer game.

I just hope KONAMI wouldn't have spent all this years trying to find the good PES! EA Sports is keep getting their game better and better, adding new things, features and fresh ideas that offer new experiences to FIFA fans, while japanese spend 3 years to find the way to give us the same experience as PES 6 with some new graphics! This not evolution (and sure, it can't be considered as revolution), this is just misery! If PES have been improved half as FIFA since 2007, we would have real soccer on our monitors!

Stay in touch for some videos and maybe compare screenshots soon...