FIFA 10 (PS2)

**Introduction**

As a long standing fan of the FIFA Series I have owned a few editions of their ever popular Football game. With a new year coming there's always a new version hence FIFA 10. Whilst I have not owned every years new game I would like to think that I know the series pretty well and am up to date about the advances which have come in during the course of the last few editions. FIFA 10 features one of the biggest advances in the overall gaming experience from any of the series from Electronic Arts. Here's my review of the latest in the longline of the FIFA series.

**Gameplay**

One thing which has been consistently good over the years is the Gameplay of the FIFA Series. It has always been pretty realistic and this has been improved upon further with the new game. For instance when you are in a tight game the tension seems to build and the battle between you and your opponent seems to be more intense than other Football games. You will notice each player showing off their skills as they do in real life for instance passing, shooting and tackling ability will all come through with players who are known as strong in those fields.

**Graphics**

Whilst there has not been any big change in the Graphics from the last series you can still notice the great animation of the players faces which are recognisable despite a few glitches with a few players who don't really look all that much like their player in the game. The Graphics will obviously be better with the Playstation 3 and XBox 360 consoles but as an owner of the Playstation 2 version I am still satisfied with the quality of the graphics on show. They certainly beat the football game competition on the console.

**Manager Mode**

This is a great feature which is one of the reasons why FIFA is better than it's competition. Electronic Arts are always looking to improve without changing the fun of the game and they have done well here too with a further advanced manager mode which acts more like an actual Managent Sim game like LMA Manager in that when want to sign a player you have to agree a deal with the player who will take into account the number and quality of the players in that position already in your squad. I feel that this makes the transfer system more fair.

**Training**

As with the past few FIFA games there has been an extensive training programme which includes throw ins, corners, free kicks and training matches. You can choose from a number of options to get your best results. This feature is a great thing to use if you are a newcomer and want to learn the game quickly. I use this mode for practising set pieces where I cross the ball into the box for my attackers to head in. The Goalkeeping seems to have improved a lot and this training method seems to really help fight against it.

**Presentation**

When you are building up to a game you will see an informative description of the opposing teams probable gameplan and their best player on the screen. This helps you to manage your starting eleven for the game and make any changes you may need to do to combat their gameplan. Once you have gone past this there is a great Television like broadcast which features the players coming out of the tunnel accompanied by snippets of footage of the previous fixture between the two teams. Then Clive Tyldsley introdces himself and Andy Gray and then we are away.

**Commentary**

Clive Tyldesley and Andy Gray, The same commentary team from FIFA 09 join us on FIFA 10 but the commentary is much improved from last years game as the commentary is more concise and although there are a few things that either say which confuse you due to something being said too late or too early this really is a very good commentary system and I think it builds the atmosphere as I think these two are the best in the business. Some games have been slightly let down by the commentary but certainly not in this instance.

**Leagues and Tournaments**

There are 31 leagues and over 500 teams in the game, as well as 41 national teams. New to FIFA 10 is the Russian Premier League as previously there were only selected teams. You will find all the Major Cups and here are all the leagues which feature on the new game.

Australian A-League
Austrian Bundesliga
Belgian Pro League
Liga do Brasil
Czech 1.Liga
Danish Superliga
English Premier League
Football League Championship
Football League One
Football League Two
French Ligue 1
Ligue 2
German Bundesliga
2. Bundesliga
League of Ireland Premier Division
Italian Serie A
Serie B
South Korean K-League
Primera División de México
Netherlands Eredivisie
Norwegian Tippeligaen
Polish Ekstraklasa
Portuguese Liga
Russian Premier League[23]
Scottish Premier League
Spanish La Liga
Liga Adelante
Swedish Allsvenskan
Swiss Super League
Turkish Süper Lig
US Major League Soccer

**Overall**

This is another brilliant game in the FIFA Series and I would go as far as saying that it's probably the best Football Sim around, It has realism, Gameplay, just everything you need for an entertaining game of Football. FIFA V PES Is as heated a debate as any big Political discussion but if you a Pro Evo fan then give this a go and you may change your mind. This is a great game and will provide you with plenty of entertainment and it's harder than before so this will increase the gameplay. A really polished, exciting game which you need to play.

Also posted on Lakerfanster