Mondays are no fun. No, Mondays just plain suck. But thanks to EA and PopCap this particular Monday sucks a little less than usual.
Promoting Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2, which is scheduled to bloom on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in spring 2016, new wallpaper art has been released parodying various game franchises.
So, FIFA ’16 with a little PvZ flavor becomes LEAFA ’16. Halo 5: Guardians becomes Aloe 5: Gardening. Minecraft switches out a letter to grow into Vinecraft. Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst? Nope, now it’s Mirror’s Hedge: Catalyst. Recent E3 2015 darling Unravel even gets in on the gag with an Untangle spoof.
It would be amazing if PopCap actually ran with this idea and designed the game’s costumes and maps around parodies of other franchises. Too bad all of this is just a promotional stunt. But oh well, at least they’re good for a quick laugh.
Continuing our recent comparisons of next-gen console sports games to their current-gen counterparts, today we check in with new screenshots and the official gameplay trailer for FIFA 14 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Like Madden and NBA Live, you will be hard pressed to find a huge graphical upgrade. I mean, does the PS4 screenshot up top or this Xbox One screenshot…
…look significantly different from this one captured from the Xbox 360 version?
I would say not. Better, yes, but only marginally so. And the game doesn’t quite live up to the same high level of detail as these previous images released back at E3.
Still, it’s not like the game looks ugly or anything. From what’s been shown of EA Sports’ next-gen lineup so far, I would say FIFA 14 has a clear edge over Madden and NBA Live. In fact, when you see things in motion–check the new trailer below–the little details shine through and put on a more impressive showing. Those next-gen crowds are especially jaw-dropping, and details like that can make all the difference in terms of evolving the sports arena atmosphere from what has been possible on current hardware. It’s not just about having uncanny valley player models, ya know.
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Ignite is the new game engine EA Sports has crafted to usher in the next generation of sports video games on Xbox One as well as PlayStation 4. For Xbox One in particular, EA and Microsoft have entered into a “strategic partnership” to bring four sports franchises to the console within the next 12 months, including Madden NFL 25, FIFA 14, NBA Live 14 (yes, it does exist!) and UFC. Exactly what the strategic partnership with Microsoft means for the Xbox One versions of these games compared to PS4 is not clear at this time.
Human Intelligence, True Player Motion and Living Worlds are the cornerstones of the Ignite engine, as showcased in the following series of trailers. Ignite promises to deliver 10 times more animation detail, uncanny human AI and immersive stadium atmosphere on a level far above and beyond what has previously been possible. Sure looks and sounds impressive, but I’m not quite believing what’s on display in the trailer is truly representative of what the engine will be able to produce during live gameplay. But I’d be happy to be proven wrong.
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Yep, more Wii U updates from the (wonderful?) world of Electronic Arts. You’ve seen glimpses of what Mass Effect 3 and Madden NFL 13 have to offer on Nintendo’s next console gaming machine, now it’s time to take to the pitch for some FIFA footballing.
On Wii U, FIFA 13 will give soccer/football fans unique modes and methods of play built around the GamePad controller. Here’s a snippet from EA Sports’ press release explaining the new features:
In development at EA Canada, FIFA Soccer 13 features three new ways to play that bring players of all abilities together. Families can play together in Co-op Mode, where one player manages and up to four others play. Team Management Control features interactive radar to send players on supporting runs, attacking or defensive, and touch screen control to change tactics, formations or subs on the fly. Experience the thrill of managing your favorite football club in Manage Match, directing players from the sidelines and even giving half-time talks. View a statistical analysis of the match and any player at any time, enabling you to make informed decisions. Plus, connect and interact with friends like no other FIFA title. See your friends online and invite them to play, or message them in real time using touch screen typing. FIFA Soccer 13 features innovations utilizing the Wii U GamePad
that immerse players in the action on the pitch. Gamers can lift and look through the GamePad touch screen to aim the ball on set pieces and penalty kicks, then put the perfect curve on a shot and let it fly. Shake the GamePad to activate Touch Screen Shooting, removing the element of ‘hit and hope’, and allowing for pinpoint accuracy.
Kick through the gallery of screenshots to get an idea of how some of these features are presented on the GamePad touch screen.
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]]>Borderlands 2 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360):
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Mario Tennis Open (Nintendo 3DS):
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Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion (Nintendo 3DS):
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Risen 2: Dark Waters (PC, PS3, Xbox 360):
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Aliens: Colonial Marines (PC, PS3, Xbox 360):
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Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City – Spec Ops DLC (PS3, Xbox 360):
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Mass Effect 3: Resurgence Pack (PC, PS3, Xbox 360):
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Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning – Teeth of Naros DLC (PC, PS3, Xbox 360):
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XCOM: Enemy Unknown (PC, PS3, Xbox 360):
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Spec Ops: The Line (PC, PS3, Xbox 360):
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Way of the Samurai 4 (PS3):
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Ninja Gaiden 3 – DLC 1 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360):
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Double Dragon: Neon (PSN, XBLA):
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Marvel Pinball: Avengers Chronicles – World War Hulk (XBLA, PS3 and PS Vita via PSN):
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Pokémon Conquest (Nintendo DS):
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Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure -Warnado, Camo and Wham-Shell Toys (3DS, PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360):
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Skylanders Cloud Patrol (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch):
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FIFA Soccer 12 – UEFA EURO 2012 Digital Expansion (PC, PS3, Xbox 360):
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Primal Carnage (PC, PSN, XBLA):
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The Witch and the Hundred Knights (PS3):
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Mugen Souls (PS3):
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Legasista (PS3):
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There was a time when the concept of “arcade sports” meant wild, crazy and (often literally) on fire. NFL players jumped off alley walls wearing more bling than Flavor Flav. Second basemen, engulfed in searing flames, cold-cocked runners as they tried to stretch for a single. And point guards with heads the size of ripe county fair watermelons leapt 100 feet into the air to heedlessly shatter backboards into so many Plexiglas shards. We can still rock that last one—feel free to fire up EA’s NBA Jam: On Fire Edition if you’re so moved—but the rest have faded into arcade-sports obscurity. As the major professional sports leagues have embraced a type of brand management more tightly controlled than Will Smith’s movie career, the crazy has turned to cautious, and game developers have taken a hard right at the intersection of Realism and Arcade.
So it’s been on the soccer pitch. The last time we kicked the rock around in Electronic Arts’ FIFA Street series (2008’s FIFA Street 3) it was a hyper-stylized affair, with Fox Sports-like blue streaks trailing balls bicycle-kicked on goal and a meter that filled with every goofball move you pulled off, leading to a gamebreaker mode that almost always resulted in ridiculously athletic/easy goals. The new FIFA Street switches the field completely, putting the emphasis on the “Street,” but in a way the guys who start for squads in FIFA 12 would recognize and appreciate. This is a sim that approximates the kind of five-v-five scrum you’d find on the streets of Sao Paulo or at the local sports complex.
Turns out that’s a pretty great thing. FIFA Street gets a ton of things right, beginning with the ways it forces you to master complex spins, stepovers and rainbow flicks, reducing soccer to its barest essence—one-on-one battles between you and a defender. Gone are the “whoa!” moments where your player rips off an off-the-wall somersault just to pump a gamebreaker meter. Instead, you’ll be performing mental somersaults to try to memorize the various trick combos, the same way you might try to memorize attacks to take out M.Bison in Street Fighter X Tekken. Still, simplicity survives: Waggling the right stick to nutmeg an opponent (and unlocking the “Want Some Nutmeg With That” achievement) is totally cause for an imaginary high five.
Don’t freak, would-be Messis. You can still stand back from the D and show off your mad juggling skillz to your heart’s content, but your reward is both more sublime and carries less immediate impact on the game at hand. You’ll earn points to level up your player, yes, but if your ball-hawking doesn’t lead to goals and a victory, there’ll be no unlockables for you.
It’s not exactly shocking to discover that FIFA Street isn’t designed to highlight defense, and as such you’ll have to be careful how much defensive button-bashing you engage in when you’ve trapped a striker in a corner. Tap too much, and you’ll possess the ball, only to wildly pass it off the wall or down the court and right back to the opposition. That’s frustrating and lame. So is your goalie’s behavior, which swings from the brilliant levels of Iker Casillas to the absolute forehead-slappingly dumb. (There’s an achievement for that, too.)
FIFA Street adopts its more serious sibling’s international approach, lining up events on every continent for you and your squad of recruited ragtags to conquer as part of the career-building World Tour mode. Play and win an event on the gold level, and you’ll unlock sweet-looking kits that’ll have your guys feeling like Real Madrid wannabes in no time; dribble though on bronze and you’ll get only socks, a prize that stings only slightly less than relegation. The more matches and events you win, the more skilled players will come calling to join up and upgrade the roster talent, a feature that fueled the fun in classic EA arcade titles like NFL Street and NBA Street 3. It’s not always an obvious decision to nab new talent. Parting with Tony Danza—yes, the AI actually named my teammate Tony Danza–the blue-fro’d middie whose adept passing was not just the boss, but also responsible for bumping my striker up three levels was such sweet sorrow. Such is the cost of world domination.
The gameplay options really add attractive depth and variety to FIFA Street. Modes like Last Man Standing, where you’ll lose a player every time you give up a goal, redefine the momentum tug-of-war that marks every soccer match, in addition to leading to some truly epic comebacks. Play with panna rules, and you’ll bank points every time you deke or nutmeg an opponent; of course, if he scores first, those points land on his side of the scoreboard and your hard work’s been wasted. And we haven’t even mentioned futsal, the walls-free street-soccer variant that focuses on tight passing and ball control. The venues in FIFA Street are only large enough to support, at maximum, six-on-six matches, so any thought you have of long-balling your way to victory is better left in the locker room.
The game’s requisite world-beat EA Trax soundtrack is saved for the pre- and post-game menu screens. What you’ll hear when the game’s being played is what you’d hear at any place where pickup soccer’s being played—a bunch of guys shouting at each other to mark up, pass the ball and get the hell back on D. This carries the dual advantage of amping the authenticity and dodging one of the things that often sinks arcade sports titles—annoying announcers recycling lame catchphrases. (NFL Tour flashback. *Shudder*)
Like an extra-time PK buried in the upper corner, FIFA Street has nailed the feel of the beautiful game, not by kicking high into the arcade stratosphere, but by bringing it down to earth. That’s what we call World Cup worthy.
Pros:
+ Mastering complex tricks is challenging, rewarding
+ World Tour is deep and easy to access
+ New gameplay options (Last Man Standing, futsal) shake things up
Cons:
– Defense takes a giant back seat to ballhandling
– Controls can be a little touchy
Game Info:
Platform: Reviewed on Xbox 360, also available for PS3
Publisher: EA Sports
Developer: EA Canada
Release Date: 3/13/2012
Genre: Sports – Soccer
ESRB Rating: Everyone
Players: 1-4
Source: Review copy provided by publisher
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Other Sports Game Articles You Should Read:
- EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis 2 Demo Impressions (vgblogger.com)
- Review: Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational (vgblogger.com)
- EA Launches Tiger Woods 13 With a Kinect Lifestyle Demonstration (vgblogger.com)
- Review: Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (Wii) (vgblogger.com)
- Review: Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (3DS) (vgblogger.com)
- Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 Shows Off a New Swing (vgblogger.com)
Are we now entering the era of publisher-specific yearly subscription plans? It appears that’s where things could be headed, with gaming’s two publishing giants now embracing such services.
Activision has Call of Duty Elite coming for Modern Warfare 3, and now EA is getting into the game, literally, with a similar paid membership service called EA Sports Season Ticket.
Before you get too worried here, EA Sports Season Ticket will in no way charge for online gaming, nor will it try to scam players into paying for basic features that are sneakily removed from a game just to be ‘sold back’ to players as DLC or subscription extras.
Instead, EA Sports Season Ticket will offer its members four specific benefits in EA’s Madden NFL Football, NHL Hockey, FIFA Soccer, Tiger Woods PGA Tour and NCAA Football franchises, for an annual fee of $24.99 / 2000 Microsoft Points. Those four benefits include access to full-game digital downloads three days prior to a game’s retail launch; a 20% discount on all DLC offerings; free premium web content; and a membership recognition badge showing off your elite status to other players.
Here are more details:
– Early Full-Game Digital Access: Three days before a game’s scheduled release, fans will be able to download and play the full version of all five participating titles on Xbox 360 and PS3
– Discounted Downloadable Content: Subscribers will get a 20-percent discount on all available downloadable content for participating EA SPORTS titles. Downloadable content, which enhances and refreshes the core game experience, includes such items as Ultimate Team packs, accelerator packs and gear upgrades.
– Free Premium Web Content: Premium web content extends the game experience beyond the console to a web browser. All participating titles will feature premium web content that will be free to EA SPORTS Season Ticket members beginning with the premium Creation Center packs for FIFA Soccer 12. These packs provide a deeper set of customization tools and abilities within Creation Center to build your own teams and tournaments, and will be available to the consumer until the membership to the program has expired.
– Membership Recognition: Subscribers are easily identifiable with an exclusive membership recognition badge displayed both in-game and on their EASPORTS.com profile.
EA Sports Season Ticket is available in North America starting today for PS3 via the PSN Store and Xbox 360 via the Xbox Live Marketplace (Xbox 360 only in Europe, Australia and New Zealand), but the first benefits won’t kick in until the launch of Madden NFL 12 later this month. Madden 12 ships August 30th, so that means Season Ticket members will be able to get a head start on the game over the weekend, beginning 6pm EST on August 26th. So yes, the digital downloads will technically be available four days early, but that’s to give players three full days of sneak-peek gaming. The long download time surely won’t leave much room for actual play on the initial day.
The only real downer about the service is its lack of digital download purchases. If you’ve already gone through the hassle of downloading the full game, it would be so much more convenient to have the option to digitally purchase the game at the end of the three-day trial period. But that’s not how it will work. As outlined above, the full-game digital download will expire at 6am EST on retail launch day, so members will still have to go buy a physical copy at the nearest game shop. However, all save data and earned Achievements/Trophies will remain on members’ consoles for immediate career resumption.
“EA SPORTS Season Ticket is an exciting program for our core fans – it lets our biggest fans play earlier, play more and play better than anyone else,” said Peter Moore, President, EA SPORTS. “EA SPORTS Season Ticket is an important step in our vision for transforming how deeply fans connect with the sports games they love through digital products and services. We’re excited to continue evolving EA SPORTS Season Ticket as we listen to what consumers want most in their gaming experiences.”
GameStop President Tony Bartel added, “We are excited to be selected as the exclusive retail marketing partner for the roll-out of EA SPORTS Season Ticket. GameStop is in a unique position to deliver this digital product utilizing its multichannel network. We will continue to work with progressive publishers to bring great gaming experiences to our customers.”
Here is the introduction trailer with more on how the service works.
So what do you think, sports gamers? Is this a supplementary service you are interested in taking advantage of? Or do you feel like it’s just another shameless money grab?
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