Fifa 11

FIFA 11 (FIFA Soccer 11 in North America) is the 19th title in Electronic Arts’ FIFA series of football video games. Developed by EA Canada, it was published by Electronic Arts worldwide under the EA Sports label. It was released on 28 September 2010 in North America, 30 September 2010 in Australia, and 1 October 2010 in Europe for all platforms, except the Wii and Nintendo DS. The Wii version was released on 1 October 2010 in North America and Europe and the DS version on 8 October 2010. The PC version of FIFA 11 will be the first in the series to use the same game engine as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions.

New features

• Next Gen Gameplay Engine (PS3, Xbox 360, PC): The game engine that is used for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game will now be used also on the PC.

• FIFA World (PC): This will allow the player to customize their online avatar, compete with players from all over the world and fight for positions on the leaderboard.

• Pro Passing (PS3, Xbox 360): is a new passing system where the gamer’s own accuracy with the control pad, as well as the situation and skills of the players on the pitch, determines the accuracy of each pass.

• Creation Centre (PS3, Xbox 360): is a new web-based application which allows the user to create material to download to their console and share with their friends. Created teams names, kits and players can be customised and players can be edited in a more in-depth way than before. Create a player by choosing his appearance, accessories and attributes.

• Career Mode (PS3, Xbox 360, PS2, PSP): “Be a Pro Mode” and “Manager Mode” have been merged into the new “Career Mode”, where the player can choose to be a player, manager, or player-manager for over 15 seasons. Many improvements have been made to Career Mode, one being that when signing new players, the user will have to agree to a transfer fee with the club, as well as other personal demands from the player; the club could also agree a fee with two teams for a player. The board of a club can decide to give the manager a contract extension or not; this will depend on certain objectives being met, or if they feel that the user has potential as a manager. The manager reputation rating is still in the game and will go up or down depending on your efforts. Regular emails will appear from the coach telling the user about player growth, and if a player is gaining or losing overall rating, the coach will also tell the user about players that are hitting form and will suggest the user include them in the starting line up for the next match, or give them a little more responsibility. On the player growth screen, the user will also get comments from the coach, such as “Has reached his potential,” “Isn’t going to grow anymore,” or “Could develop quickly if given game time.” A new budget allocator has also been implemented, where the player can adjust the slider to whatever they desire, whether it will be a 80/20 split with £50 million to spend and £200K wage budget, or a 60/40 split, where that may be £40 million to spend and £250K wage budget. This gives some flexibility if the user is trying to buy specific players but doesn’t have the wages to cover it, or doesn’t need the wages and wants more free cash. There is a limit, however; when doing this, the user will get the notification that this is only available three times, so the player must make their decisions wisely.

• Street Football (Wii): Players can now play 5 vs. 5 street football, as well as the traditional 11 vs. 11. Each street player has a distinctive style of play with unique abilities to match, and for the first time, play indoors, with many additional customizable features.

• Goalkeeper Intelligence (All Platforms): Goalkeepers now have more urgency and better perception of where to intercept loose balls, resulting in a more responsive and powerful rushing system. Goalkeepers are now more agile and can make more impressive saves. New animation warping technology provides game-realistic goalkeeper positioning and momentum, resulting in more varied scoring opportunities.

• Be a Goalkeeper (PS3, Xbox 360, PS2, PSP): EA Sports have released a FIFA 11 trailer with the slogan “We Are 11.” The trailer confirms that it will be possible to play as a goalkeeper in FIFA 11, and it will also be possible to play 11 vs. 11 online matches.

• Manual Leaderboard: It has been confirmed that there will be a separate leaderboard this year for players that use the manual control setup.

• Improved Celebrations (PS3, Xbox 360): Celebrations will now use the in-game camera rather than separate cutscenes. It is also confirmed that teammates can now join in celebrations. Also, only more skilled or acrobatic players can perform the more acrobatic celebrations, such as a back flip. FIFA 11 also includes players’ signature celebrations, which they can perform with a simple push of a button.

• 360° Dribbling (PSP): True 360° dribbling system will provide finer dribbling control, enabling players to find space between defenders that previously was not possible.

iOS version

FIFA 11 for Apple iOS devices features improved graphics and compatibility with the iPhone 4 and 4th generation iPod touch’s retina displays.^{[citation needed]}

The game is compatible with iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, 3rd and 4th generation iPod touch, and iPad, though there is no iPad-specific version.^{[citation needed]}

Leagues

Soundtrack

FIFA 11 allows the user to add their own songs to the soundtrack, but includes the following tracks:

Demo

A FIFA 11 demo was released for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC on 15 September 2010. The demo features Chelsea, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus, Bayer Leverkusen and Lyon, although Arsenal can be unlocked on the PS3 and Xbox 360 by playing FIFA Superstars on Facebook or by winning 5 matches in the demo. The stadium for the demo is Real Madrid’s home stadium, Santiago Bernabéu, but the Emirates Stadium can also be unlocked through FIFA Superstars. It will also be unlocked after you have played 10 matches in the demo. Reciprocally, by playing the FIFA 11 demo, users can earn rewards for their FIFA Superstars team.

Reception

FIFA 11 has so far received praise, with IGN UK rating it 9.5 out of 10 and Official PlayStation Magazine (UK) rating it a 10/10. Eurogamer rated it 8/10 summing up, “At its best FIFA 11 is enormous fun and brilliantly engineered, but in its battle to be more varied and realistic it has lost some of its momentum, and off the pitch returns are starting to diminish too.” It is also rated 9.9 from other websites. It is currently the second highest projected selling game after the zombie-killing sandbox Dead Rising 2. FIFA 11 is the biggest sports game launch ever with over 2.6 million games sold and over $150 million generated at retail in less than a week of the game being released.