Aug 21, 2011

EA Games presented FIFA 12 at Gamescom 2011


The best things about FIFA 12 on iOS are the controls.

The game lets you play multiplayer matches on your iPad with two iPhones as controllers. Essentially, the iPad is your game screen and the iPhones are the joypads.

Compatible with all iPhone and iPod touch models, the control scheme gives you a virtual joystick on the left and three contextual buttons on the right. For instance, while you posses the ball, you can pass, shoot, or throw.

We briefly tried the Bluetooth-based setup at E3, and it worked great during our more extensive hands-on this week. The game is also playable directly on the iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad, but we definitely think the device syncing is worth the effort.

Represent your color

FIFA 12 has literally every team and player in professional football. All the team colors and footballer faces are accurate to greater or lesser degrees, and the animation is fluid.

Equally impressive is the on-going audio commentary lifted straight from the console version. The honest, often biting commentary adds spice to the matches - particularly if you're on the receiving end.

We're itching to get more hands-on time with FIFA 12 when it hits the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad this autumn, to see whether it has the depth and quality to take on genre leader First Touch Football.

Man to man

Manager mode puts you in the shoes of the gaffer - picking your team and making sure everyone performs day in, day out.

It's possibly the most popular mode in the home console version of the game, as it lets fans live out their dreams of taking Fabregas to Barcelona or hammering Swansea with a ridiculously expensive signing. No, wait.

Corners have been cut here and there to fit the mode into the smaller frame of iOS, but not as much as you might think.

The boy done good (+1)

For instance, transfer deals and sponsorship management is all present, as is the involving stats system that sees players grow better (or worse) after every game.

There's even some rudimentary staff and stadium-management thrown in for good measure, although its ten-star upgrade system isn't going to be challenging Football Manager any time soon in terms of pure management.

While the game does naturally encourage you to get stuck in with each game, there's always the option of simulating games should you need a break from the action.

Bench warmer

Away from the pitch, there's a wide variety of (bizarrely) unlockable tactical options to choose from, with roles such as playing a man in the hole only unlocking after being 'bought' (using the universal currency).

While it's a bit weird to this old 4-4-2 sheepskin coat-wearing boss to have to unlock knowledge with cash, the game's other newfangled elements are excellent.

For instance, there's the replay system, which allows you to create movies and share them on YouTube instantly from inside the app.

Or there are the new dead-ball controls, which you can now perform with a Flick Kick Football-esque flick of the finger (complete with curl).

You're limited by your kickers' stats, though, so you'll have to spend a few games training them using the spruced up UI if you want to get close to scoring.

We'll find out if the rest of FIFA 12 can sneak it around the post and into the iPhone goal later in the season.


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