Introduction
I wasn't intending on getting Fifa 10 until Christmas but when I saw it advertised for under £25 on the day of release, I had to rush out and buy it as I knew it would never be as cheap as this again until well after Christmas. I had played the demo a few weeks before the actual release, and while the game was good, it didn't look that much different from Fifa 09 which I had only owned for 6 months. With this scepticism, I loaded the game up and began wondering if I had just paid £25 for the same game.
First Impressions
After sitting through the introduction of Wayne Rooney evading a slide tackle from Frank Lampard, you get to the main menu. Now call my cynical but it appears that Electronic Arts may also think that consumers will have trouble identifying the new features of this game as they have rather cheekily put the word 'new' next to all the new menu features. The menu system is identical to Fifa 09 so if you are already used to using that, you'll be into your first game in no time at all. If you are new to the Fifa series then it is worth spending a few minutes finding out about all the options but they are all self explanatory so you shouldn't have too many problems.
Game Modes
Manager Mode - EA claim that this is a new mode. Although manager mode existed in Fifa 09, it has had a complete revamp and therefore looks and feels nothing like its predecessor. In this mode you do everything from buying to selling players to sorting out the teams sponsorship for the season. Although this mode is greatly improved this year, it still doesn't give you the depth of a game like Football Manager on the PC. The appeal of manager mode will soon wear off in my opinion as it isn't likely to hold the attention of seasoned Fifa players.
Virtual Pro - Again, this feature has been completely reworked for Fifa 10. Now you can actually use your newly created pro in any of the offline game modes and build up their stats depending on in-game performances. When you create your pro you can give him any look you like. For the first time in a Fifa game, you can make use of the same Gameface technology that exists in Tiger Woods. This means that you can upload a photograph of yourself to the EA servers and then the game will translate this photo into the game in an attempt to give you even more realism. Like with Tiger Woods 10, this technology is still a little way short of being exceptional as my game face wasn't really anything like me.
The idea of the Virtual Pro mode is to take your pro from the realms of obscurity, playing in the reserves right up to the heights of being a world superstar. This mode is extremely hard, for a start, the screen flips from its normal side on view so that you are now looking down the pitch. This change does take some getting used to as it is not the natural angle at which to play. It is also hard to grasp that you are now only controlling one player instead of the whole team, meaning that you can allow yourself to get into some strange positions if you are not careful.
This wont go down too well with the rest of your team mates and your rating will suffer accordingly. As well as improving your pro by playing games, you can also pick up experience points by performing certain tasks in the Fifa arena. These tasks include scoring certain types of goals, taking free kicks, etc.
Fifa Arena - The arena mode is very similar to the one seen in Fifa 09 when playing in 1vs 1 mode. However, this year there have been many worthwhile enhancements to this mode. You can now use the arena to play practice matches so that you can work on certain elements of your game. You can decide how many players each team has for this practice match so if you just wanted to work on your attacking, you could set the opposition to only play with 5 players (the 4 defenders and a goalkeeper). You could even reduce the number in your own team if you wanted to work on defending for example.
In the arena you can now also create your own set pieces. This, in my opinion is the greatest enhancement in the game from previous years. You can tell all your players where you want them to be and where you want them to run to when you get an attacking free kick. Once you have planned your attack, you can play it back in real time mode to see if it works as you anticipate. If it doesn't then you can go back into the set piece designer and rework your strategy. When you are satisfied, you can save the move as a D-pad shortcut which means you can activate your manoeuvre at the push of a button when appropriate. You can spend many hours in this part of the game perfecting your moves so that when you play against your mates you can gain the upper hand on them.
Live Season
We first saw Live Season in Fifa 09 at to be honest, I didn't see the point of it. It is intended to replicate real life up to date stats, so if player A is having a dip in form in real life then his in-game stats will suffer and visa versa if someone is playing at the top of their game. EA claim to have enhanced this feature in Fifa 10 but whereas you could get updates for one league for free in Fifa 09, you now have to pay between 400 and 800 Microsoft points. Personally, I cant see any benefit in anyone wanting to do this which will hopefully see EA remove the cost or even remove the feature for Fifa 11.
The match
Whichever mode you decide to play, the actual match action will decide whether this game is a hit or miss. Comparing the match with Fifa 09 initially will leave you wondering exactly what the difference is. The graphics are almost identical, as too is the commentary, a lot of which is actually recycled phrases from Fifa 09. Only by getting your hands on the joypad and playing the game for yourself will you appreciate where this game is so much better. EA have hyped the 360 degree passing where supposedly, you can pass the ball at any angle on the pitch as apposed to the 8 predefined areas from last year. Although this takes a lot of getting used to, it really does work meaning you have a lot more flexibility and options when in possession of the football.
Goalkeeper intelligence has also improved greatly in Fifa 10. One of my major criticisms of Fifa 09 was that the keepers seemed to have glue on there gloves as the seemed able to hold shots which realistically they would have parried. Keepers now hold the shots which they are expected too and spill the ones they are not which makes the game more believable.
In game animations have now been kept to a minimum which is a big improvement in my opinion. No longer do you have to watch players moaning at each other after each foul. Instead you now get the option to take a quick free kick in an attempt to catch the opposition out and keep the game flowing.
Xbox Live
This game is certain to be a massive hit online. Whenever I have been online there have always been about 65,000 other players online looking for a game so you will never be short of an opponent. All online game modes are identical to the Fifa 09 offerings with the exception of the Pro Club Championship which allows you to take you created pro and put him in a team with 9 other users pros and play a full season against other teams with the same makeup. This is a great idea as it means that all players have to pull their weight and weaker players will greatly impact on the performance of the team. If you know enough people with the game, you could even create a team purely of your friends which would add even more fun to this great mode.
Other online modes which remain the same from Fifa 09 are :-
Head to head - this is just a standard player versus player match. If you play a ranked match then points are awarded depending on your performance. Over time these points are used to determine how good a player you are in relation to the rest of the Fifa community.
Online team play - This mode can by played by upto 20 players, each playing in an outfield position. I have found this mode to be over competitive as you always get one or two players per game who try and take over the running of the team, putting pressure on the lesser players and then going grumpy when things don't go their way.
EA Sports Online Leagues - You can either create your own league or participate in an existing one. I have tried to access existing leagues but they seem very difficult to get into for reasons not known to me. Because of this I am not really in a position to comment on how they work.
Video upload - If you have scored a great goal and want to show it off to the rest of the world then you can upload it to the EA Sportsworld website. You can upload anything that has happened in the game, be it a great tackle by your midfielder of a total howler by your keeper. This works really well and is a great way to capture your best moments or show them to a friend who wasn't with you at the time.
Verdict
Fifa 10 is as close to the beautiful game of football as you are ever going to get at the moment. Many people will not be happy as they will say it is too similar to Fifa 09 which is a fair comment. A lot of the features are very similar, if not the same as its predecessor which could put a lot of people off.
Saying that, the new features and functionality have improved the game far beyond Fifa 09 and for that alone it is a must buy. I am not sure if I would want to pay the full asking price of £40 for this game, in fact, if I hadn't managed to have got a copy for £25 then I would have been prepared to wait until the price dropped again.
The million dollar question that console football lovers always ask is which is the best game Fifa 10 or Pro Evolution Soccer 2010. Having now played Fifa and also the PES demo, there is only one winner, Fifa and PES are not in the same league. The PES faces are staggeringly good but the game just doesn't feel right. Upto a couple of years ago, I was a PES fan and had bought every version of the game but for me, currently the only football game you need to own is Fifa 10.
Lets Fifa 10 
