The Gaming Tailgate Video Podcast
On Thursday, May 10th, EA Canada held an invite-only webcast for various community members to give us a preview of the many gameplay changes that are coming to FIFA 13. I was fortunate enough to be asked to participate in the webcast, which featured Producers Aaron McHardy and Nick Channon as well as Community Manager Romily Broad.
By now, FIFA fans, you have probably had the opportunity to read the "bullet point" articles that have come out giving brief descriptions of the various gameplay changes we're going to see when FIFA 13 hits the shelves this Fall. Let me tell you, those articles do not do the changes justice.
Reading those bullet points does not give you the level of depth and importance of each of the 5 key areas that the EAC team has addressed in FIFA 13. Those 5 areas include: Attack Intelligence, Complete Dribbling, First Touch Control, the Player Impact Engine, and Tactical Free Kicks, among other changes.
McHardy and Channon did an excellent job going over the various additions by showing us real-world examples, examples from FIFA 12, and examples from FIFA 13 (much of which came in the form of their pre-Alpha Testbed Environment). This gave us a great comparison that showcased how the additions will replicate what you see on the real pitch more accurately than FIFA 12. The changes are so robust, and potentially impactful, that the explanation of several of the items had to be rushed through in order to finish the webcast in under 2 hours (it had been planned to be just an hour).
Now that I've set the stage for what went on last Thursday, let me walk you through some of the details of how these gameplay upgrades will alter what we see on the virtual pitch this Fall.
First, the Attack Intelligence has received a complete overhaul. The game's positioning code has been re-factored and AI teammates will now make more decisive runs. Players will curve their runs to stay onside (as opposed to stopping in FIFA 12), and they will curve around defenders to get into open areas (all while keeping their hips open to the goal). In FIFA 12, the code only allowed for straight runs which meant that a properly positioned defender could prevent an attacking player from moving to open areas on the pitch.
Your virtual mates will create separation with the defenders to open passing channels and AI players will now think 2 plays ahead. By thinking 2 plays ahead, players will move into position to receive the ball early, instead of holding their position as they do in FIFA 12.
To balance the effects of these Attack Intelligence changes, the ability of individual players to perform these attacking strategies will be driven by their ratings and fatigue levels. In addition, McHardy stated that the defending AI will adapt to what they see and that the new Attacking Intelligence does not break, or wreak havoc on, the defensive side of the game. Instead, he said, the developers are seeing more balance, more options for the attacking team, and more realistic movements by attackers to gain positioning in dangerous areas.
Complete Dribbling is an area that builds on FIFA 12's Precision Dribbling (and some of the techniques introduced in FIFA Street) to give the user a tighter and more finite control experience on the ball. Player movement and the direction the player is facing have been separated so that each area now has a full 360° spectrum. This will allow players to dribble laterally, or backward, while facing the defender or the opposing net.
In FIFA 12, if you changed the direction you were dribbling, your player's hips and torso followed suit which caused an unrealistic slow down in your efforts to get off a pass or shot in tight space.
The entire dribbling system in FIFA 13 was designed on the idea of not slowing the user down, but giving you more control to keep pressure on the defense. Throughout his presentation, McHardy said that the moves are done with the left stick, but that button controls can override everything to pull off the exact move you're looking for. The idea was to let everyone experience this level of control without needing a Doctorate in Street Fighter Stick Skills to do it.
First Touch Control will impact several areas of the game. On the surface, it is a system that weighs the speed of the ball and player ratings, among other things, to determine how quickly (or if) a player gains control of the ball on a pass. While we were shown several examples of this, and how random (in a very fresh way) that first touch can be in FIFA 13 (no more gluing a bullet to a pass receiver), the biggest effect of this system may actually be to how defenders handle it.
When defending a lobbed through-ball, or a cross, in FIFA 12, it was far too easy to gain possession of the ball, turn upfield, and move to counter with an attack of your own. With the implementation of First Touch Control, users will have to make more realistic decisions as to whether or not they play that ball, or if they simply clear it into the stands. Choosing to play the ball will now carry with it an increased risk of committing a critical turnover.
The Player Impact Engine has been fleshed out as well. We shouldn't see anymore videos popping up of players falling on each other and engaging in activities that require an 'M' Rating. In FIFA 12, if one player landed on another, the code told them to get up as quickly as possible. This resulted in players becoming intimately tangled at times. Now, the top player will roll off the pile and both players can stand without showing each other any affection.
Better joint tension (no more "broken arm" visuals) and the elimination of "explosion" collisions will also add a welcomed level of visual realism that was missing, at times, in the first iteration of the Player Impact Engine in FIFA 12.
The effects of the Push/Pull button have been addressed too. It can be applied anywhere on the pitch, not just to the dribbler, to gain position on your opponent. Bigger, more physical players will use it to shield opposing Strikers in the Penalty Area from finding an open passing lane to receive the ball in prime scoring real estate.
Additionally, the referees will now fully understand it's effects and make their decisions accordingly (there will now be fouls and bookings for pull downs). In FIFA 12, the introduction of the Impact Engine had a negative effect on officiating. With an infinite number of types of collisions possible, the referees still had a finite number of them that they understood, resulting in too few calls. The referees will now "understand" everything they are seeing and the result will be better carding decisions.
The re-work of the free kick system, known as Tactical Free Kicks, is also meaty and should provide the user with numerous options to be creative when trying to find a way to get the ball on target. The option to add a 3rd kicker into the mix will give you plenty of opportunities to deceive the opposition with step-overs. We were shown several examples, and they immediately got the creative juices flowing. With up to two potential kickers stepping over the ball before it was actually struck, you could see the players on the wall, very realistically, reacting and adjusting to each potential kicker's approach.
Tactical Free Kicks didn't just introduce more options for the offensive side though. The defending club will be able to add or remove players from the wall before the kick, have their wall perform multiple jumps, and creep their wall forward (at the risk of an infraction being cited, or even booked, by the referee) to counteract what the kick taker's club is showing them. The upgrades to each side's approach should create a very intriguing game of cat-and-mouse when the game ships.
Some changes that weren't previously outlined were also shown to us. Lateral Contain has added the ability for a defender to contain an attacking player by moving laterally, while continuing to keep his hips facing the ball, in order to funnel the ball in a direction that is advantageous to the defensive side.
There are new pass types (the example shown was similar to a saucer pass in hockey) that will occur (by simply pressing the pass button) to maneuver the ball more effectively past defenders' legs and feet. Pass speeds have also been increased to go with First Touch Control. In FIFA 12, the speeds had been lowered to avoid adverse affects after the introduction of the Impact Engine.
Defenders will now have the intelligence to shield strikers from a loose ball rolling toward the goalline in an effort to gain a goal kick. New shot and clearance animations have also been added, as well as new celebrations.
As you can see, the "bullet point" articles, while accurate, did not come close to scratching the surface on the details of what has been overhauled, re-worked, added, and built upon in the gameplay areas of FIFA 13. I was impressed with all of the changes, and I'm looking forward to getting to try them out for myself this Fall.
vBulletin Message