From the moment you first set foot in one of FIFA Soccer 13’s
beautifully detailed stadiums, it’s clear that EA’s latest football
outing isn’t the revelation that its predecessor was. Sure, it’s still
feature-packed and entertaining, but where FIFA Soccer 12 revolutionised
and updated the classic FIFA formula in some wonderfully inventive
ways, FIFA 13 merely maintains it. Its long list of
improvements–enhanced physics, AI, player physicality, a better
defending system, a tweaked Ultimate Team mode, and a new Skill Games
mode–are welcome and well-implemented changes. But on the pitch, it’s
hard to tell that you’re playing a dramatically different or better game
than FIFA 12.
Indeed, some of FIFA 13’s new marquee features are mere tweaks of
those introduced in FIFA 12, one of which is the infamous player impact
engine. It has been overhauled in an attempt to reduce those odd,
fumbling, and sometimes-hilarious collisions that players made as they
bounced over each other on the pitch like rag dolls. But while there’s
certainly a noticeable improvement in the physics system, with far less
slipups, it’s not infallible; there’s still the odd glitch here and
there as players do inhuman backflips over others and flop along the
pitch like weird anthropomorphic fish
.
