Preview: FIFA 11

Dodgy commentary lines and a player rating system (essential for the Be-A-Pro mode) that was a bit overly clinical were but a couple of examples of the more nitpicky shortcomings of FIFA 10. By far and away though, the most significant gap in the game could be found in player traits and abilities. This has been a problem since long before FIFA 10 though. For all of FIFA's mo-capped footie superstars that have featured on the cover of its games over the years, bearing ridiculously lifelike appearances in-game, the level of distinction between players throughout the gameplay has been notoriously weak.


For too long, the defining factors between players came down to physical presence (i.e. their size, speed, and strength). By the admission of David Rutter, FIFA's Producer, the best way to win in FIFA 10 is to place seven huge defenders at the back and one very fast striker up front. Now, EA Canada is turning its attentions to the subtler side of player characteristics, like their first touch, vision, and tendency to run at opponents. This is what should finally make players like Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta as dominant as Christiano Ronaldo or Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

At a recent hands on event in EA's UK offices, we got the chance to put this new 'Personality+' FIFA 11 feature through its paces. To do this, it struck us that the best way to make 'Personality+' really sing would be to play one lowly squad against a Premier League powerhouse - what better combination than Rutter's own Stevenage FC against Tottenham? With Tottenham as the AI side and us playing as Stevenage, the level of differentiation between players was immediately noticeable. For example, Tom Huddlestone played his bullying defensive midfielder role faultlessly, always in the right position sitting just above the centre-backs and consistently jostling opposing forwards off the ball.


Another example of these improved player traits was how Jermaine Defoe and Aaron Lennon relied on their speed and dribbling skill. As soon as they got ball to feet, both players had a strong tendency to run at opponents and dart at confusing angles to dupe defenders. Also noticeable was how much the AI used skill moves to achieve this. You could play through FIFA 10 for hours on end before seeing an AI player even attempt a skill move, let alone in the right context. EA Canada is approaching this problem head-on in FIFA 11 and, even from our short playtest, the positive results of the studio's hard work were clear to see.

In terms of modes, EA's only announcement on this so far is not so much the confirmation of a new mode but the tying together of two already established ones. In FIFA 11, the Manager and Be-A-Pro modes will be wrapped-up into a single Career Mode. As with Be-A-Pro, gamers can start the mode as a real player, created player, or Virtual Pro and then build up their career to become a player manager or manager (ahh, player managers - that takes us back...). Alternatively, players can chose to simply skip the Be-A-Pro features and start the mode as a manager through a potential 15 seasons of football.

Review: Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is still one of the best platforming games on the PC and while UbiSoft has repeatedly tried to match the charm and flow of the original, every sequel so far has failed to match the original. The whole series feels like an exercise in trial and error as to what made Sands of Time work so well. But Ubi isn't giving up - enter Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands

With a launch almost simultaneously with the Prince of Persia movie, one might imagine that we would get a direct movie tie-in. That is not the case - the story of Forgotten Sands has nothing to do with the movie. Instead we get a new story set somewhere between Sands of Time and Warrior Within. The story kicks off as the Prince travels to visit his brother, Malik and runs into a problem - Malik's kingdom is under attack by a massive army.




Malik has a bright idea to defeat the invaders by releasing King Solomon's Army, locked away under the palace for eons. An army, that turns out to be creatures made of sand, as numerous as the grains of sand in the desert. If this sounds like a partial re-run of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, you would be right - however, at least this time the Prince is not the one to blame for the disaster, even if he ultimately does have to sort out the mess his brother unleashes.

As the story starts to roll, the first fundamental problem becomes clear. The Forgotten Sands is very much a "cinematic", scripted affair where you are constantly tossed about by increasingly implausible random events. The magical seal used to release the army just happens to split into two. Both Prince and Malik just happen to end up with one half of it. Then the Prince just happens to be separated from Malik as the sand army is released and, as by random chance (read: the on-rails environment offered no other path) the Prince runs across a portal to a magical domain where he finds a Djinn, Razia, who seems to have all the answers. Razia bestows the Prince with the power of rewinding time (just like the dagger in Sands of Time) and explains that the Prince must find his brother and unite the two halves of the seal to undo the whole mess.

Both games help out the player to figure out the route. Sands of Time used foreshadowing clips of future events while Forgotten Sands goes with a very detailed fly-through of each area - yet there is a subtle difference between the two and in Forgotten Sands there is never any doubt as to what route you need to take - there is always just one available route and it is spelled out without any ambiguity. This downgrades the experience into an exercise in controlling your character - no thinking or problem-solving required - save for a couple of puzzles that are a nice break from the linear platforming action.