Reboot the formula: F1 and FIFA tweaked for another year

FIFA and F1 in the same review packed column – why, it must be nearly Christmas! Elsewhere we go dungeon crawling with Dragon’s Crown and get soaked through to the skin in Rain. FIFA 14 Another year, another FIFA. The arrival of FIFA 14 was so predictable that I’m not quite sure why EA doesn’t simply announce FIFA 15, 16 and …

[Anonymous Coward]

Does FIFA ## still cheat?

The problem I find with the FIFA games are:

1. The computer controlled players play superbly. Their ball control is second to none. They can turn on the spot and do a u-turn around you without losing control of the ball. When they tackle you they rarely foul you. Most 50/50 challenges are won by the computer.

2. The biggest problem is that it cheats. You can be playing and be winning the game. You will play superbly and constantly beat their players. All of a sudden you just cannot get the ball. Balls bounce off you, the opposing player just takes the ball off you, the ball goes past your players without reacting, when you try to change the active player it changes it to the furthest one away. When this happens you know that the computer is going to score.

Both of these happen in multiple versions and it is just poor.

[tsdadam]

Re: Does FIFA ## still cheat?

I can't say I particularly notice either of those, and I've played a lot of it over the last 3 or 4 years (was a WE/PES person before that).

Your second point though is probably due to the computer switching up to attacking or ultra-attacking when losing in an attempt to claw the match back. If you play clever and defensively (cover players, don't constantly try to tackle, double-up if you can) you can actually catch the computer with counter-attacks more often when it's happening.

The quick formation change option in 14's pause menu also means you can quickly change-up without diving into menus if you need to alter the game. I like the game, far better shooting than the last couple of games and finally some inertia on sprinting!

[Kris Akabusi]

Re: Does FIFA ## still cheat?

Yes FIFA still cheats, there is the issue with switching players (switching to the one furthest away), first touches that the computer anticipates and the most annoying which is when you tackle the computer the ball bounces off another of your team mates and goes directly to an opposition player leaving them on a 1 on 1.

[Lamont Cranston]

"The computer's cheating!"

I regularly invoked this cry, way back when I was playing on the Intellivision (and then on the Spectrum/MegaDrive/etc.). Incidentally, football games peaked on the Intellivision, so EA/FIFA can take a hike.

[Anonymous Coward]

Witch woman

Why does the witch character appear to have breasts larger than her head?

[mutters to self and goes back to playing Starfox on his newly acquired SNES]

[Bumpy Cat]

Re: Witch woman

If you're at work, do not GIS "Dragons Crown Sorceress". Lessons learned.

[Nick Ryan]

Re: Witch woman

Eeek. There's some magic going on there alright. There must, be, there's some serious gravity defying, clothing hugging going on (much more than "tit-tape" could ever manage).

[teebie]

Re: Witch woman

A cynical ploy to make people buy it?

I imagine it will probably work fairly well.

[Lamont Cranston]

Re: Witch woman

"A wizard did it."

[Shades]

F1 2013

From the article:

"Formula 1 is one of those sports you either love or hate. To the uninitiated it’s merely an unending procession of ridiculously expensive cars. [...] It’s not all good news, however. [...] You’ll also frequently find yourself outbraking opponents and taking three or four drivers at the first few corners of races. "

How unrealistic. Nobody in F1 ever brakes late and makes up places in the first few corners of a race. Nope, never happens. Nobody has ever been called "King of the Late Brakers".

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: F1 2013

How realistic is it? Does it also come with a top secret KERS unit that stops the rear wheels from loosing traction on the exit of corners? Conspiracists need to know...

[John G Imrie]

Re: F1 2013

And can you get the rear of the car to burst into flames by driving with the breaks on? :-)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: F1 2013 - Internet Pedant Mode

It's brakes not breaks

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: F1 2013 - Internet Pedant Mode

Not if you do what he suggests...

[JDX]

FIFA

It seems to me FIFA is one game that would merit being sold on a subscription basis. £40 (or whatever) buys you in and then £10/year keeps it active. Unlike other games, you'd rarely want to replay an older version once the new one is out, they really are updates rather than sequels.

[lglethal]

Re: FIFA

Oh but come on EA would lose a heap of cash that way. We cant have that now can we!

[asdf]

Re: FIFA

But EA would NEVER turn off the servers on a game that has only been on the market for a few years forcing you to spend $60 for basically the same game.

[OzBob]

Re: FIFA

Unlike real soccer, where the rules stay the same. And does it allow your players to be burgled while they are playing away? and does it allow your players to take out super-injunctions because they were "playing away"? Come on EA, keep up with the times!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: FIFA

Or, if you are skint, wait a year and pick up the previous year's Fifa pre-owned for 50p.

[Conor Turton]

Author has never watched F1...

"You’ll also frequently find yourself outbraking opponents and taking three or four drivers at the first few corners of races. An unrealistic element that’s more Outrun than Formula One, and simply doesn’t gel with the sport as we know it."

That is exactly what the top 10 drivers do on a regular basis. I can only assume that the author didn't watch the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend.

[Shades]

Re: Author has never watched F1...

As I alluded to above, but in a more subtle manner, I don't think he is, falling into the "it’s merely an unending procession of ridiculously expensive cars" camp.

[JDX]

Re: Author has never watched F1...

You misunderstand Conor. You frequently see SOMEONE gain 3 or 4 places but he is saying YOU can do this on a regular basis and that's not realistic unless you're Alonso. That should only be possible with a lot of practice in a more simulatoresque game, considering real F1 drivers often muff it up.

[Tom 260]

Re: Author has never watched F1...

Yep, Alonso is the only true master of this art (disclaimer: not a fan of him or Vettel mind!), though Grosjean did pull a nifty move at Suzuka. This is however more down to traction off the start than braking for corners.

Will be skipping this year's F1 game anyway, not a lot of point when there's the big sea change in engines/hybrid systems for next year, plus at least one (Sochi) and possibly up to 3 new circuits (Mexico & Austria, can't see New Jersey happening).

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Author has never watched F1...

Maybe he has, maybe he hasn't, but he's definitely no fan

"To the uninitiated it’s merely an unending procession of ridiculously expensive cars. For those indoctrinated in its ways, however, it’s a subtle beast of many curves."

Even the hardest of die hard fans would find it difficult to say that the last few seasons have been anything other than a procession, at least at the front.

[Shades]

Re: Author has never watched F1...

Chris W wrote:

"Even the hardest of die hard fans would find it difficult to say that the last few seasons have been anything other than a procession, at least at the front."

It try to watch every practice session, qualifying and race live where possible and I'm afraid I have to largely agree with you there. Although I find solace in the fact that Red Bulls marketing droids must be absolutely ripping their hair out at the fact that their car(s) probably spends less than 20% of the race on screen as the FOA director now pretty much chooses to focus on the battles further down the field with only a cursory glance at Seb to make sure he hasn't stopped for a cup of tea or something while the others catch up.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Author has never watched F1...

Problem is that you can do it as a Caterham just as easily as a top ten car.

[Sauraus]

The only reason why FIFA13 & 14 are so close are the new PS4 & XBox One.

The only way EA could have delivered significant improvements to game features and at the same time port the source code to 2 new platforms would by doubling its engineering staff on FIFA, which clearly is impossible to do and it also doesn't make any sense from a business perspective.

[Anonymous Coward]

Geoff Crammond

Geoff Crammond REALLY needs to make a new F1 game. His games let you strike whatever balance between fun and simulation you wished,

[CmdrX3]

Re: Geoff Crammond

The first one still to me was the best one, three of of spent more hours than I can remember playing multiplayer in which each player had to take it in turns to race. I still miss Phoenix and Mexico (yeah Mexico's back next year hopefully) and loved Mexicos esses section as you just got faster and faster.

[Christopher Reeve's Horse]

Re: Geoff Crammond

Love the Geoff Crammond games, and I still play GP4 (without mods) several times a week.

There has been no other driving game that allows you to set up the car balance so perfectly, and control the car so perfectly - controlling turn in on the brakes and corner exit on the throttle. There's just enough unpredictability that trying to find the very last few tenths is very difficult and it's a measure of your own performance on the day and your ability to set up the car.

I played F1:2012 for a while, it looks pretty but it feels completely flat. There's no sensation of driveability and balance like there is in GP4. I only wish there was a game that looked like F1:2013, but drove like GP4. And the new games are too 'arcade like' too, especially auto throttle limit if you leave the track, and the totally unrealistic level damage sensitivity. Watch the burnouts on the parade lap of a real F1 race and see how they make the car dance around and twitch to every tiny driver input - and then try that in F1:2013...

PS. I'm not saying GP4 is perfect, if has many flaws, but it's the game I keep coming back to because it's still the best.

[gcla72]

Too fat to play outside?

FIFA! Why play a game on a console/PC that you can play in the park? (alright I except that dog mess can be an issue). I quit at FIFA 97 when it cheated me out of a world cup with a Edgar Davids bycicle kick from the centre circle which flew in to the top corner in injury time.