2010 FIFA World Cup

Man, I was so proud of myself with 09 when I finally moved up to Legendary difficulty with all manual controls but I seem to be regressing - with 10 and the WC game I'm struggling hard with World Class. I sometimes even go with semi passing and still struggle!

I can't figure out why I'm not adapting and it's driving me crazy!
 
is it just me or is the 3-4-3 too effective in this game?

Hmm, interesting b/c I've really enjoyed playing with Chile recently and that's their default formation. Might need to try this out with some other teams.

Are you talking offline/online/both? Because I mostly play offline atm.
 
Well online, three strikers sees very effective whethers it's 3-4-3 or 4-3-3, Again becaus they have so much space yu just pass it betweent hem while working your way up the pitch.

Offline it's more or less the same, just noticed how playing with one upfront is completely useless on any controls, mode or settings.

This game is a lot better than FIFA 10 but it's the same old stuff tbh! Fun for the first week then you just get bored with the same unbalanced gameplay over and over again!

I'm playing with Russia and trying to win the world cup with them. I'm on the 9th game now (home to Germany) Pretty much qualified. Been playing with a mixture of controls some on assisted, some full manual, some a mixture etc.. (always manual through balls) Maybe it's just the European qualification route is dull because I'm already bored of it (Plus online is just laughable) Typical lack of variation in matches! Too predictable!

BTW Does anyone play manual online, can they add my gamertag plz. Need something different.
 
Well online, three strikers sees very effective whethers it's 3-4-3 or 4-3-3, Again becaus they have so much space yu just pass it betweent hem while working your way up the pitch.

Offline it's more or less the same, just noticed how playing with one upfront is completely useless on any controls, mode or settings.

This game is a lot better than FIFA 10 but it's the same old stuff tbh! Fun for the first week then you just get bored with the same unbalanced gameplay over and over again!

I'm playing with Russia and trying to win the world cup with them. I'm on the 9th game now (home to Germany) Pretty much qualified. Been playing with a mixture of controls some on assisted, some full manual, some a mixture etc.. (always manual through balls) Maybe it's just the European qualification route is dull because I'm already bored of it (Plus online is just laughable) Typical lack of variation in matches! Too predictable!

BTW Does anyone play manual online, can they add my gamertag plz. Need something different.

I go back and forth, one moment I'm thinking the game is pretty good, the next I'm thinking it's utter crap. I don't know why but I seem to have gotten worse at the game, so I'm also like you switching my control scheme around. My defense is fine, I just can't seem to score on manual anymore, pissing me off!
 
I go back and forth, one moment I'm thinking the game is pretty good, the next I'm thinking it's utter crap. I don't know why but I seem to have gotten worse at the game, so I'm also like you switching my control scheme around. My defense is fine, I just can't seem to score on manual anymore, pissing me off!

Manual feels really, really nice. It's also very challenging but is so dreadfully balanced in terms of realism. It's is shit at the end of the day. A defense splitting in perfect through ball is easier that a 5 yard pass :CONFUSE: The Hollywood passes are nice to have as a challenge and it requires precision and timing, which i love, but it is ridiculous that you have to work so hard just for a bloody 5 yard pass constantly while being pressured, they they can knock it around with ease. Like i said, there no balance is there!

I really can't be bothered to play vs the CPU on manual all the time, that's why i mix it up! It's not football! It's just an irritating, unfair game!

Shooting on manual is annoying i know! and very highly unrealistic and from what i've seen pretty much scripted!. Not only do you have a very limited choice in direction in terms of manual shooting (Almost impossible in you not facing the goal). Like with FIFA 09, you need to aim at specific angles to score it seems!

On legendary you play vs the CPU and most if not all their first touches are no factored at all. The ball just sticks to their feet like a magnet and they are free to pass the ball around without any issues and set up a cross or the usual one on one!

On the plus points the keeper animations are breathtaking at times. You have to rub you r eyes at times. They look exactly like real keepers, shame there still predictable (especially with one on ones) :RANT:

Apart from that i can't really find any other plus points which make this stand out. The skills are very nice as usual, and I'm someone who loves to use them but the whole dribbling system is dreadful and you simply can't beat players without it! Due to foot placing not being a factor (skate effect)
 
I just mainly play the WC game with Singapore in the Asian qualifying, world class with a mix of semi/manual controls, it's good fun cos Singapore are so bad it's a good challenge :)
 
Interesting. Haven't tried an Asian qualifying campaign yet. What team to do though? Hmm, this'll take some thought.
 
Iran.

Bring them back to glory days when they were once kings of Asia and among the best teams. A few really good players still and some decent youth coming through.
 
I just mainly play the WC game with Singapore in the Asian qualifying, world class with a mix of semi/manual controls, it's good fun cos Singapore are so bad it's a good challenge :)

mate I'm from Singapore! is that the first time you've heard of Singapore through the game? we just hosted YOG. :)
 
I lived in Singapore for 15 months from Feb 07 to May 08 so kind of have an affinity for the country :) Wife and I often talk about how much we miss the place so will undoubtedly go back one day :)
 
I lived in Singapore for 15 months from Feb 07 to May 08 so kind of have an affinity for the country :) Wife and I often talk about how much we miss the place so will undoubtedly go back one day :)

Well I lived in Beijing for a while so maybe I'll give China a go. I'm a big fan of Honda but he hasn't be accurately represented in the game yet, otherwise I'd be real tempted to try Japan.

Is Fiji in the game? Always wanted to go there, lol!
 
I lived in Singapore for 15 months from Feb 07 to May 08 so kind of have an affinity for the country :) Wife and I often talk about how much we miss the place so will undoubtedly go back one day :)

good to hear people have good impressions of our country. the recent Youth Olympic Games definitely gave us a bigger name in the world too.
 
Just bought the WC game, because I was sick and tired of FIFA 10. Gameplay-wise I think not much has changed, but there's one particular thing I really like; the ball is a lot heavier. Passes are satisfying to give and you can really lash at goal now. :))
 
good to hear people have good impressions of our country. the recent Youth Olympic Games definitely gave us a bigger name in the world too.

Another Singaporean? Small world ;)

I bought WC for the minor tweaks they've done to the pitch gameplay but I keep coming back to FIFA11 for Online Clubs, there's plenty wrong with that mode for sure but nothing beats the thrill of being able to play with 5 other peeps. And best one amongst us has a VP rating of almost 90, so when we DO win it's by sheer determination and teamwork not by outrunning our opponents!
 
I played the online world cup lastnight and the amount of press press assisted w***ers really spoil the game. I mean how can they seriously enjoy playing like that?
 
The enjoyment for the majority of online gamers is measured in wins, not in how did I win. If someone made a football game where you would get speed and stats boost by accepting a little electric shock from your controler, there would be loads of jumpy gamers......
 
Urgh, just wasted half an hour trying to play this dreadful game. No fun was had :YAWN:

In the squad management screens before the game, my opponent (Estonia) was shown pre-game as using a 4-4-2, so I lined up my team to combat that formation... only to find pre-KO that actually they're using 5-2-1-2. How retarded is that? Why let me set up man-marking options when they then change to a completely different system? Who writes this sh*t?

Defenders like marking their own penalty spot, don't they? :DOH:

There is zero enjoyment in shooting when you pretty much know before you release the button whether or not it will be saved from that particular angle.

Why do defenders have to make sudden changes in direction when they only want to move a couple of yards? Why not just shuffle/sidestep backwards? So many times when a cross comes into my box, my AI defender is too busy spazzing around in a circle to be able to even get close to challenging for the header, because he's always on the back foot making sharp changes of direction. It's so clumsy.

Those were just the highlights of less than two matches. I simply reached for the console's power button halfway through the second match.

It's getting to the point where I almost don't care much whether the next version is different or more realistic, just make it not annoying :CURSE:
 
Hmm... harsh views nerf. Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy it at all. :/

I for one, really enjoyed the WC game. I think the gameplay was very good and I just miss the clubs/management mode type of thing from it, otherwise the actual game, gave me LOTS of enjoyment and pleasure. I had fun shooting from long-range and scoring piledrivers, dribbling seemed better.. for me the gameplay was improved upon FIFA10 and welcomed addition.
 
I agree with both you guys - it definitely is an improvement over 10, but at the same time many of the issues that have been plaguing the game for years have been ignored. Funny thing to me is, the more FIFA improves in some areas, the more its faults in other areas become more pronounced.
 
You might be right, PLF. I may have just gone and got myself a new sense of perspective.

This evening I dug around in the cupboard for the spare cabled 360 pad I knew I had somewhere, and fired up PES2010 on PC. So very, very static! Yuck. And somewhat easy; I won both of my two games (with clean sheets) on Top Player and I've hardly touched this version in the past. Everything felt 'stilted' and unnatural. Neither could I really feel or see much player individuality (in just two games, admittedly). Fairly nice lighting... that was about it really.

And the Master League... so much stuff cluttering the screens. Random indecipherable icons everywhere, team management full of crazy abstract sliders... it didn't inspire me to spend time with it.

Unimpressed, next I reached for a re-install of PES6 (also PC)... instant fun. It just felt solid, like the fundamentals were how they should be. Teammates felt active around me, fullbacks overlapping. The shooting in particular felt good; the CPU scored a couple of cracking first-time efforts from the edge of the area, and I had a couple of shots from unusual angles that felt like they had a chance of going in until the keeper parried. The shooting felt well balanced.

It put me in mind of the most beautiful shinner I once scored with this game...
YouTube - PES6: free-kick to volley

I also started to think that we sometimes get a bit caught up on 'passing error', which has been a hot topic of late. I was passing it around pretty easily without any noticeable passing variation, all quite on the money (and this was with Valeny & co). The key difference was pass selection. It felt like whenever I lost the ball it was because I'd attempted the wrong pass at the wrong time, and the CPU swooped in to intercept. I had to delay and wait for my teammate to get free, and always search for the spare man.... the easy forward pass wasn't always on and I had to choose and time my passes more strategically. That felt right (even if assisted controls are lame :PP ).

I fired up the ML too, just to see it again. Like an old comfy slipper. Simplicity and clarity. Konami might want to take a second look at what they used to do, in that regard.

Yeah, the player models looked bad. Yeah, the Wide camera was far too zoomed in. Yeah, there's no manual controls and it often chose a pass I didn't want. But the game felt well balanced, solid and NOT ANNOYING! :PP I had so much retro fun in those few short matches that I started wondering about whether I should go hunt down some downloads and patch this baby up.

And then, I thought, purely in the interest of fair comparison, I should boot the 360 and have a go on FIFA World Cup 2010 again...

It proved to be, by some distance, the singular most enjoyable match I've had with that title.

For a tricky Qualifier with Belgium away at Turkey under floodlights, I selected a default 4-2-3-1 with Fellaini and Vertonghen protecting the back four. Before the match Andy Townsend recommended that the away side should try to keep possession as much as possible, and that's exactly the gameplan I attempted. I used Quick Tactics to go 'Possession' and stayed compact and patient. Needless to say, the audio & presentation are light years ahead of what I'd just played beforehand, which added to the atmosphere... but the game actually felt nice...

Manual controls were a joy, so much freedom again. L2 Slow Dribble is great in tight spaces, smooth ittle drag-backs to protect the ball. Big Fellaini would ease little Emre off the ball convincingly, and Sonck and Maartens were making some decent movements between Turkish defenders. One pretty sweet counter saw the latter arrive late in the box and sweep the ball into the roof of the net with his left peg.

And the gamespeed.... we think of FIFA as being chaotic and fast, but after a fun zip around on PES6 it seemed quite nicely steady and measured on my return, aided perhaps by the refreshingly zoomed-out view. I enjoyed this match so much more than my previous ones. Maybe I was re-acquainted with stuff the game actually does right.

So you're right, 'dreadful' was overly harsh and I earned some new perspective to a degree... and yet... at the same time, it actually reinforces more than ever the closing thought of my previous post. The thing that felt so comfortable about PES6 was how blissfully annoyance-free it was. It was a solid experience, no repetitive faults or moments that broke the suspension of disbelief. Similarly, aside from the occasional example of defenders dropping ridiculously deep into their own penalty area (something that looks fixed for FIFA11), my subsequent WC match happened to be relatively irritant-free, too, for once.

So my hope for FIFA11 remains that EA have smoothed out those wrinkles that tarnished 10/WC, those little things that would repeatedly make you want to chuck your controller... and if so, even if it is only FIFA 10.4, it might still be significantly more enjoyable just through that alone.
 
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And then, I thought, purely in the interest of fair comparison, I should boot the 360 and have a go on FIFA World Cup 2010 again...

It proved to be, by some distance, the singular most enjoyable match I've had with that title.

Funny thing, I had a great WC session yesterday afternoon following playing around with the PES 2010 demo. I think it has to do with PES was a much slower game, with a lot more midfield buildup, and when I went to the WC game, that slower more thoughtful playstyle transferred over. Had some really great matches.

Then today it's not so good and my FIFA frustration has returned! I really think FIFA games encourage you to play a certain way and it is very difficult to go against the stream, but when you achieve to do so, it can be a great game.
 
Glad to hear about your new perspective old friend. :)

To be honest, maybe I'm lucky or just a really generally positive guy but I found the gameplay brilliant. Now, I'm not saying there aren't a couple things that could be improved and it's perfect, but I'd be ungrateful if I said I didn't really enjoy WC's gameplay. For me FIFA10 gameplay wise was already good and the WC game had refined some things and made it even better the same way I'm sure, FIFA11 has improved even further on that.

So yeah while it may not LOOK or sound like groundbreaking stuff and on the eye even more like FIFA10.5 than FIFA11, I for one, can't complain. I already really enjoyed that and thought it was almost brilliant and didn't experience these 'frustrations' and other 'faults' that a lot of people I see spend a lot of time talking / thinking about.

What I did honestly want from FIFA11 was to take everything it had and just solidify it, take away the bugs, nothing new or fancy just make the game little improvements here and there and I think that's what they've done. Nothing flashy to make you pop a boner lol but the game that was already very good and I was happy with has improved further from everything I've seen and read.

I, for one am really looking forward to FIFA11 especially now that the little things I did want improved like MM, BAP, have been and I'm counting down the days. :) At the same time, I'm glad PES from what it sounds like (haven't tried) has improved and will give that a try too. I doubt I'll be changing tho because I'm very happy with FIFA overall. I always keep an open mind though and don't care about neither company nor game so we'll see....
 
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