Fifa 10 Review (Nintendo Wii)

For years, Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer series has led the way in the battle of the footy game in terms of realism, despite Konami seemingly not being particularly interested in obtaining the necessary licenses required to use actual player names – I still haven’t forgiven them for giving me a player called Giggly in PES5. Despite this, the FIFA franchise hasn’t fared too badly primarily because it’s always been easier to get into and play if, like me, 30 years of gaming has left your muscles wasted and given you the reactions of a stunned sloth.

FIFA hasn’t been without its problems. FIFA 06 on the PS2 was a poor effort with bugs coming out of its ears and a simple method of scoring bucketloads of goals – just cross the ball and someone was almost guaranteed to get on the end of it to nod it in. FIFA 09 was a big step forward but it could prove to be extremely frustrating. The ball dynamics were poor and some of the AI and collision detection could be both frustrating and infuriating. You could send a player clean through on goal only for an opponent to hack you from behind and the computer to decide that it was a clean tackle. Nudge the ball forward into space on the 360 version, get clattered by an opponent, no foul because the AI thought you weren’t in control of the ball. Shooting was also a very (ahaha) hit and miss affair. You often had no idea what the shooting player was going to do next.

Move along 12 months and we have FIFA 10. Here, the development guys at EA have listened to some of the criticisms of FIFA 09 and made numerous improvements to it … on the 360 and PS3. What Wii owners have received is a completely different game that bears little resemblence to the polished hard-core versions released for the other platforms.

Upon loading, the first thing you notice is the almost ‘cartoony’ graphics in the menu screens. If you’re coming to this game after playing the 360 demo then it immediately starts the alarm bells ringing. In fact, I haven’t seen graphics like this since the days of the Amiga and Atari ST. The graphical theme is carried through to the rest of the game. EA, it seems, has two problems when it comes to porting its more popular sports games to the Wii. First, it’s the obvious frailties of using the nunchuck and wiimote. The second is the demographics of the average Wii user. No self-confessed hardcore gamer will ever admit to spending most of their time playing on the Wii. To this end, EA has dumbed down the Wii version of FIFA 10. Seriously dumbed down. It’s almost as if they have treated the Wii as just a bigger DS. Because of the changes from the other main platforms, it really does feel like it was originally designed with the handheld in mind.

The game is played with both the nunchuck and wiimote, which came as no surprise. The controls do taking some getting used to and expect plenty of frustration along the way. While passing and tackling is handled by the A and B buttons on the wiimote, shooting is done by shaking it. This is fine and works fairly well. The big problem is that all shots have the same power behind them and I haven’t missed the target once. All the fancy AI for handling shot accuracy has been stripped out. Either they are saved by the keeper or it’s a goal.

Free kicks and corners are also handled in the same semi-autonomous way. It’s very easy to score from free kicks. On other platforms, if you score from a free kick it’s a massive boost to the ego and they look extremely spectacular. On the Wii it’s so easy and run-of-the-mill that you don’t feel any pride in your achievement.

At least dribbling is easier and less frustrating than on other machines. You have a little more time but passing can be very tricky. Passes often go astray. Each time you want to pass the ball, you press either A or B on the Wiimote and a power bar rolls up so you can select the strength of the pass. Unfortunately it increases quite slowly and so you find that you tend to underhit a pass. Getting the proper direction on a pass is a problem as well unless you spend all your time with the Nunchuck. A crucial element in other versions of FIFA is the through ball. This is also lost on the Wii. You can play a through ball but only by setting a high strength on the pass, which makes it extremely difficult to pull off.

The gameplay graphics are okay but look very outdated. The commentary still has the odd glitch. When Manchester United were 2 – 0 down against West Ham, the commentary claimed that things couldn’t get any better as they were winning. Glitches of this magnitude had become a thing of the past.

The problem with FIFA 10 on the Wii is not that it’s a bad game. It’s fault lies with the fact that it was designed with the Wii in mind. If there was ever a title that should have pushed the envelope for ‘hardcore’ gaming on the Wii, then this was it. There are a few inexpensive Wii gamepad controllers out there, not to mention the fact that existing Gamecube controllers can be used, and EA should have been brave enough to make these the game’s only control system. This would have allowed them to develop the same game for the Wii as they had for the other major platforms. As it stands, FIFA 10 on the Wii is a very ordinary game more reminiscent of much earlier FIFA titles. Surely the Wii is not that bad a platform to develop for?