FIFA 13 Review

Let me start by saying this: FIFA 13 is a disaster!

I don't know what is up with all those reviews on other famous websites where FIFA always get high ratings but i tend to think that they are getting payed for them. This is not a paid review so I'm going to tell that FIFA 13 is the worst game I played in 2012.

In FIFA 12 there were a lot of bugs that made the game impossible to play. I hoped they will fix them but they didn't. In fact they added even more 'technologies' and they messed up the game even more. First touch control? You got to be kidding me!

I understand what EA tried to do here. They tried to make the game look like in real life. With the ball bouncing all over the field but instead they made a game where it is impossible to make two passes in a row because you simply cannot put a perfect stop. More than that i don't think i was able to give a perfect pass. The game is full of retarded moments where players aren't able to stop the ball (idiotic First Touch Control) in 90% of the cases. If we take a look at real life games in 90% of the cases players are able to stop the ball properly. Also there are the throw ins. The side lines of the field are acting like a magnet so it is impossible to keep the ball in the game if you are anywhere near the lines. In fact everytime you are trying to kick the ball away from your own goal it always goes off the field, no matter the direction you set.

Not that we are talking about directions, i remembered something else. The game seems not to listen your commands, ever. The PC seems to control all your moves and they are 3 seconds behind. I'm only playing the game online and in Ultimate Team Mode and i have to think a few seconds further because if I press the shoot button then the player will make a few more additional steps and only after that will shoot. In those 3 seconds i will already have the ball removed by my opponent.

Like I said, I usually play FIFA 13 Online which makes me think of another issue (yes, another!): servers quality. There isn't a game where you won't have lag. EA takes hundreds of millions of dolars profit off this game and they can't buy some good servers. The last game that i've played in Ultimate Team i was leading 2-0 and FIFA took care of that. They suddently removed the player name bar (which also contains the power bar which is critical for winning a game) and in the end i lost the game with 3-2.

Gameplay

Actually this game is so full of bugs that i will have to talk about them again in every section of this review. The players are bumping into each others like they are retarded and it is really annoing when they are doing that when you have to make a save from a goal. For example the opponent is left only with your goalkeeper and your central breaker is only a few meters behind. You start running towards him but guess what? You accidentaly hit referee's back. Now this is where the idiotic Player Impact Engine comes in that haven't been fixed since FIFA 12 and your players fall down. Of course your opponent is scoring against you. I get like 90% of the goals against me because of such bugs.

The game is made by EA Canada and it looks like it has been made by some hockey fans out there. They really don't have a clue what football means. They probably watched a few real life games or two and decided: "Oh, we're ready! This game is so eazy! Let's start developing the game!" with no clue about rules whatsoever. The referee gives yellow cards for fouls commited minutes ago, and the offside thing is a disaster as well.

I once was awarded with a free kick for a foul against me but guess what? It was still me who got a yellow card! Can you believe that? The developers of this game really need to get their facts right. Also there are alot of fouls which aren't really but they become one because of the Player Impact Engine 'technology'. The players are bumping into each other like they are kicking each other's heads and the first who falls down will be awarded with a free kick.

Offsides. Somebody please explain these guys that it is not automatically an offside if a player of yours is behind the last defender of your opponent and other player of your is kicking the ball? I have a free kick in my own 20 meters, i kick the ball and they automatically get an offside because a striker of mine was behind his breakers. Well guess what developers? It ain't offside until that specific player touches the ball or influences that play in any way. It seems like i am the only one observing these frustating bugs that ruin your gameplay experience.

Also a few times my opponent was awarded with a penalty because of the 'golden 3 seconds late rule' of FIFA 13. One of his strikers was in my own 16, i managed to take the ball from him, pressed the shoot button to clear the ball away and in those 3 seconds until my breaker started the move to kick the ball, his striker got the ball back. So my breaker ... broke his legs. 'Oooh, it's a penalty.' Yeah, whatever.

First touch control. Oh, don't pass around our own 16 ... your player even if it looks like he will barely touch the ball, he will actually kick the ball and not stop it. It will bounce to your opponent's striker where he will easily score against you. Believe me, it always happens to me.

It is a bad feeling thinking that you pay around $50 bucks for this game and you get so many errors. And you can't even play it properly online because of server problems and lags. I really hope that FIFA sales go down, maybe that will make EA wake up and make great games. Actually the only perfect FIFA that i can think of is FIFA 2005. No stupid technologies, no players bumping into each other, just ... FIFA!

So ... as you can see we have pretty many bugs out here so i think the best way to clear this out would be to summarise it:

What EA needs to change: everything!

- the rules in this game

- the way offsides are awarded

- the way fouls are awarded

- player impact engine (players are bumping into each other)

- first touch control (a disaster)

- online mode

- servers

- oh and there are the way points in Ultimate Team are awarded ... i mean even if you win with 10 goals to 0 when you are away, you still get less points than the home team.

- other 100 things that i can't remember right now

Maybe a few good things are: the skill levels, match day which updates the teams as they are doing in real life and the game of the day (or something like that) where you are playing the most important match of the day in FIFA 13.

Graphics

Let's see if we can squeeze a few good points out of this game from the graphics section. The graphics are pretty good, slightly better than FIFA 12. I didn't expected to see a few new clips like the ones when players are entering the field, new celebration and stuff like that but it happened. EA managed to surprise me.

The players faces are looking pretty close to the real deal. One thing i really don't like is the field. It just needs more improvement. The colour is too stressful and the grass needs to be getting closer to the reality.

Another improvement are the supporters. They may look a little 3D and you sometimes get to see the camera mans by the side of the field.

Also there are the so long awaited clips that show the players being substituted from the field level. You can see the assistant referee showing player numbers on the board.

That's about it.

Sound

It may be the first FIFA where the songs actually fit the game. There are some chilling and rhythmic songs. Also the commentary is very much improved and fits better to what is happening on the field.

So it is time to give some points to the game.

It goes like this: Gameplay: 2/10

Graphics: 9/10

Sound: 9/10

Now if we would calculate the average it will be around 6 but i will give this game an overall 5. They really messed up this one and you simply cannot play it because of the bugs. And not only because the bugs and because of the simple football rules that are not respected in the game.

A small note: in the first days after the game launched a lot of players complained about the quality of the servers and bad points awarding in Ultimate Team on EA Sports FIFA's Facebook page and guess what they did? They turned off the comments for their wall.

But don't worry! igcent.com is here and here you will not find any censorship. Say what you don't like about FIFA 13 in the comment section below.