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Goalkeepers now make more realistic saves based on momentum
Goalkeepers now make more realistic saves based on momentumGoalkeepers now make more realistic saves based on momentum

The FIFA team has also made an effort to bring the physicality of modern football to this year's game. Described as Freedom in Physical Play, players will now jostle much more aggressively, running alongside one another, shoulder to shoulder. Out on the wing the attacker can try and keep the ball protected by ensuring his body is in the way. Vice versa, the defender can use his body to lean into the attacker, pushing him off balance, and either forcing the ball out of play or winning back possession.

On top of these improvements there are tonnes of smaller tweaks that should go a long way to making FIFA 10 the best FIFA yet. Goalkeepers now make saves dependent on their position and momentum, lofted through balls have been balanced, hitting the woodwork will be less frequent, off-side and the advantage rule has been adjusted, and you can no longer set your team out in an ultra defensive manner and let your fast striker do all the work - formation exploits have been looked at to ensure cheap tactics aren't so easy to pull off.

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Visually it's still a superb looking game, with an added dose of realism from the improved animations and more realistic player AI - by behaving in a more life-like fashion, the game looks much more like a real game of football. Little things like referees handing out cards now happen seamlessly, meaning there's no interruption to the gameplay - no more semi-cutscenes as in previous FIFAs. Player models and the general visual quality is what you'd expect, and the commentary doesn't appear to have received any significant changes.

As well as improvements to the on-pitch gameplay, Manager Mode has seen extensive changes and tweaks to make it far more realistic than before. Matches are based on team strengths and weaknesses and calculated minute by minute. Transfers are now based on multiple decision points, with finance, prestige and career prospects playing key roles. Players improve in a more life-like way, based on a number of factors including the playing environment. As is the modern way, managers will also use squad rotation based on game importance, and the biggest transfers are made public knowledge to crate bidding wars.

The build we played of FIFA 10 was still some way from completion, but it's already looking extremely good. It won't be the kind of leap we saw from the series a few seasons ago, but the changes and improvements are in key areas and should make for the best FIFA experience yet. With EA set to reveal more new features and game modes in the coming months, there seems to be no chance that EA is going to sit back and let the competition catch up.

FIFA 10 is due for release on all leading platforms later this year.

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