An impressive video demoed how players will now think one move ahead. As a player receives the ball, players off the ball were highlighted with big circles indicating that they are in positions to receive the pass (this was within the engine, the circles won’t appear in the game). At the same time smaller circles highlighted players ready to receive the pass after that, as each pass was made these options moved another play forward.
The changes seem small but when videos of player behaviour were compared between the two games it was surprising to see how much it better mirrors the real game.
360 dribbling is also being enhanced in
FIFA 13.
FIFA 10 saw the introduction of the control system, but as McHardy admits, players were still turning their whole body. With
FIFA 13, players will move to face the goal, allowing for more fluid movements and leaving gamers who aren’t keen on skill moves with another means to beat defenders.
Free kick fans will be glad to know that the free kick system is also being improved. While the fundamentals of taking a shot on goal are staying, there are many more options available to both attackers and defenders. Attackers can now send players on runs into the box and step over the ball to confuse the opposition. In defence there is greater control over the number of players in the wall and the ability to send players running to close down a shot. The option to nudge the wall forward is a nice touch and one which on occasions can result in players being booked for encroachment.
Despite refs now being able to book cheeky movements of the wall, this doesn’t mean we will be getting more realistic (read error prone) referees. As McHardy explains, this isn’t really a decision they have control over: “We always try to model elements of the game to be the most realistic possible but refs are one of the ways we don’t. I think it might be kind of interesting, we already have strictness levels. The other reason is our partnership with
FIFA and they don’t like it."
One disappointment for fans of funny
FIFA videos is that the physics engine is now able to detect players on top of or entwined with each other, allowing players to weave themselves out of difficult situations rather than buck wildly - so no more videos of
Carroll kissing Fabianski.
Other changes to the engine turned the presentation into less of a
FIFA 13 preview and more of a biology lesson. Suffice to say that a lot of work has gone into ensuring that player’s bodies move even more realistically than before, thanks to changes in muscle mapping and how they approach each play.
The amount of work put into improving on
FIFA 12 is impressive. As well as the aforementioned improvements there are also new passing types, players can now marshal the ball out for a goal kick (finally), and we’re assured there’s even more to come. What is sure is that
FIFA 13 is looking like being the most realistic sports simulation to date, whether that’s for good or bad we will have to wait for some hands on time to find out.
