FIFA 12 is a step backward that allows PES to catch up slightly. They should call it FIFA 12: Online, because the offline game is a terrible experience. Tackling is terrible, with the CPU cheating to beat you. Go into replay mode and you'll see the CPU's animation firing off the same time you make the tackle. It's near impossible to take someone down with a slide tackle. The new collision engine just ignores them. There are still only a few ways to score. Running up the box line then Finesse shooting is still the easiest way. The heading system is awful. They had it perfect in 2010 with regard to who wins the header. When you do get an opportunity the CPU will block your shot 90 percent of the time. All the games play the same, with both teams passing to the edge of the box within 2 seconds, then passing like Barca around the box until a player finds space. Counter attacks are impossible because of the sluggishness of the players when recieving a pass. Truly boring offline gameplay even after mastering Tactical Defending. FIFA needs a new development team.… Expand

The new fifa earns the prize of the number 1 overrated game.Defense is broken and so is the offense.There are some very limited ways to score and opposed to the cpu AI,your teamates are completely useless and they make runs or cover in the defense whenever they feel like it .It is very slow and in terms of gameplay maybe it is worse than 11.The only reason for this game to exist is because it is a slightly better football game than pes but to me,it is the cyclops against the blind once again.Who knows?Maybe next year.… Collapse

FIFA 12 is without any doubt the worst FIFA I've ever played, to the point I already regret buying it after just a week of playing. Which is remarkable to say the least since I've played 9, 10 and 11 to death, loved every minute of them, and had been looking forward to 12 for months. With FIFA 12, EA tried to make the game more like real soccer, focussing heavily on defense skill. This is not a bad thing per se, but in the process they removed all the action-packed fun from the game and made it boring, frustrating and just plain unenjoyable to play. At first I accepted the fact that I'd just have to adapt to the new tactical defending and would get better over time, but 25 games in I'm starting to realize it won't matter if I did, since this is simply not how I want to play a footie. Playing the AI is like masochism, especially if you play a weaker team yourself, and no matter what team you play against. Your own defenders will miss 9 out of 10 tackles, and if they do the AI will simply walk past you, often 2 or three players in a row, score, and leave you completely helpless. Trying sliding tackles doesn't help since they are the complete opposite of the sliding tackles in previous FIFA games: even if you really try, you'll have a hard time even just hitting the player, let alone the ball. Try a standing tackle in the box and you have a 50/50 chance on a penalty, even if the tackle lands exactly on the ball (which is rare). So how *do* you defend in FIFA 12? By trying to push back the attacker using contain and jockey, and trying to use teammate contain so you can cut off passing opportunities with your own player. This is what EA calls 'tactical defending' but there is hardly anything tactical about it. Since you can't rely on the standing tackle, you'll be spending all your time off the ball chasing the AI, which passes the ball around without breaking a sweat or making any mistakes, no matter if you play against Barcelona or some 2-star team. Teammate contain doesn't help, because half of the time the wrong teammate goes for the ball, or the AI simply passes the ball before your teammate gets there. Again, even if you manage to get your teammate in position, it doesn't usually help a thing because he can't do anything anyway, just stand in front of the attacker. You cannot even make teammates tackle ffs. So ultimately, the only thing you can hope for is that when the AI is busy passing around the ball around the box, that it either makes a mistake, it doesn't find an opening and has to run the ball all the way back to it's own half and decide to shoot the ball out of play (which happens quite often, how 'realistic' and 'tactical' :-/), or that it passes to exactly the player you are covering while using teammate contain. None of this is fun, and none of it works reliable. The AI on the other hand has almost a 100% success rate with their tackles, almost never makes a foul, manages to sneak between almost every through pass, and is deadly accurate when countering and crossing. The AI is so good that it seems EA tried to 'tweak' the scoring to at least make the scores look less unrealistic, because in a typical game the AI will hit the post about 6 times on average, even on almost open-goal chances. Note that all of this is playing on World Class, not even legendary :-S With FIFA 9, 10 and 11 I could play the career mode for hours on end, with FIFA 12 I get fed up, bored and extremely frustrated after 3 games max. It doesn't feel like playing a game, but like some kind of sick joke, a punishment for being so daft trying to play career mode with a weak team. Like the game plays you, instead of you playing the game. I don't care if someone thinks I should just try to suck less and learn how to play FIFA 12 because I don't see the point of that. FIFA 10 was very different from 9 as well, and also gave me hard time at first, but at least it was fun to play even if you were losing. With about 1500 hours of FIFA experience I would have expected to at least have the idea I'm going to have a head start, but playing FIFA 12 makes me feel like a total noob, no matter how hard I try. It makes me want to kill my controller. I haven't tried online yet, but from what I read everywhere it sucks even more because of gameplay exploits. Apparently half of the players online use the back button to switch control to the keeper when they lose possession, and let the AI defend for them. So even online no one seems to know how to beat AI defending. Summarizing, I'm completely and utterly disappointed with FIFA 12, EA ruined the game for me and I expect a lot of other long-time fans. I was really looking forward to another year of FIFA and all the improvements FIFA 12 would have, but the way things are looking right now, I think I will keep playing FIFA 11 and forget about the 50 euros I wasted on 12 :-(… Expand

Fifa 11 but worse... ruined any good defensive player as well as slow game play. Computer AI is awesome while human AI is retarded. 7 as opposed to last years 10. Downgrade for me.

First off let me start by saying I've been playing soccer games since 1998 and and have played pretty much all the brands out there. And when I say FIFA 12 is the best soccer game of all time.after a distasterous outing with FIFA 11 EA has pulled out all the stops and its made for an excellent game.this year I am confident in saying FIFA is king!!!!!!

After almost a week on the full game, I'm very impressed with what EA have served up this year. Tactical defending now makes FIFA 11 more rewarding when winning back the ball, but at the same time gives the game a more realistic flow.
The AI was what stood out most for me. Playing as Liverpool on career mode I cut inside with Johnson only to lose the ball just over the halfway line against Arsenal. Wilshere picks up the ball, has the awareness that my RB position is open & sprays a delightful ball the Arsharvin who squares it to RVP.... 1-0! This wouldn't of happened on FIFA 11. Also, playing Stoke City, who had a more direct style of play & try to whip in as many crosses as possible for the giant forwards is very tricky to defend. Strikers with good arial ability now make bending runs to the near post in anticipation for incoming balls. I now find myself using man marking in tactics & adjust formation depending on opposition.
In career mode you get the chance to set up a scouting network for youth players, balance your squad rotation to keep players happy thus avoiding a transfer request, but best of all.... deadline day! I'm only touching the surface of FIFA 11, but will finish off by saying this is without doubt, the best football sim I've ever played.… Expand

Massive backwards step! I can see what they have tried to do with this game making it slower and more tactical but they failed. first off there is no point playing against the AI because it is unbeatable it knows what your going to do before you do. the online play system is great matching you with a equal leveled player and team, however online play gets boring as soon as you've mastered the defending system. All you have to do is hold A put the pressure on and wait for the crap passing to do the defending for you! speaking of passing this is the problem with fifa 12 it feels like the players are passing the ball through treacle and nearly imposable to pass to the correct player. this leads to slow play and never getting the ball where you wanted it, very frustrating! If you want a plodding frustrating football game then this is it!… Expand

It is football simulator is very sstrange game/ Nice graphics, great physics engine - best in this game. Mixed gameplay, boring some mods - the worst in FIFA 12. Waiting for PES 2012.

FIFA Soccer 12 the most beautiful I've ever played, compared to the previous chapter improvements everywhere in every respect, clean graphics and sharp, contrasting ever more real and stunning ball physics also comment more precise and effective. Lacking only the champions and official competitions of the UEFA and then the perfection is near. If the next chapter will be added to this there will be no challenge from other football video games. FIFA 12 the number one. fifa 12 the best ever. Congratulations !!!!! sports and it's in the game!!… Expand

The good:

-Every year FIFA manages to make their games even better than last year, this time FIFA has done an amazing job at how you defend players, now if your a new player you basically have no chance against someone who plays FIFA 12. Defending is completely different, you can no longer just rest your thumb on A and hope to steal the ball, that is old news. Now you have to time when you want to tackle the player and steal the ball from him.

-Graphics are a lot more polished and smoother than fifa 12, the game feels more realistic and bumping into other players and overall player movement, as hard as it is to believe, it is more realistic!
-Passing has improved by a lot, when you pass the ball with players like Messi or Ozil the game does an amazing and accurate pass of the real Messi and Ozil.
-FIFA ultimate is back and is now easier to use.

The bad:
Virtual pro accomplishments are almost the same as FIFA 11.

Overall: There is a lot of other things I am missing in "the good" section but all you need to know is that the game is amazing, if your a football fan, go buy FIFA 12, or you will be missing out on THE best sport game out there this year.… Expand

Fifa 12 has it's problems, however it is a step in the correct direction. EA made FIFA 12 a very difficult game to start playing. I'll be the first to admit that I thought I was going to hate the new defense, and ripped on it a lot at first, but after about 30 online matches, I feel I have finaly got the swing of things. It can be difficult to time tackles correctly, and nearly impossible to tackle the computer, but once you have the timing down, it works everytime, and quite well. One major complaint I do have, is the computer AI. Even on lower difficulty levels, the AI is way too strong. In FIFA 11, I could play a match on World Class (the highest difficulty) and win 3-1 or even 5-0 against a 5 star team while playing as a 3 star team. However, I find myself unable to score on even Professional (difficulty 3 out of 5) and struggling on Semi-Pro (2/5). It feels like the revamped AI needs quite a bit of work as it is nearly impossible to break it. Career mode has had some tweeks, and I still find it to be an enjoyable diversion from Ultimate Team (I'll get to that later). I feel like it can be a bit too difficult to scout for a good player, as many times a player ends up at a much lower skill level then what was predicted. (Predicted 68-83 : Actual 43) But overall, my Philadelphia Union won the MLS Cup with little difficulty.

Virtual Pro has returned aswell, and is nearly identical to last year, with very few tweeks. (Ron "Atari" Jerhamy is a very strong ST, who will hit a header from outside the box, but can't run for crap) It was nice being able to use my pro in career mode, but it really was the same as 11.

Now the big ass elephant in the room... Ultimate Team. It's back for the third year in a row, and hasn't changed at all. Now that would be fine, except that it really needed some changes that were not made. Why, three years in, can we not have a better search feature for the market? It took me almost 20 minutes to find a 4-3-3 card for my striker (who is inform this week :D) I mean come on, for something as specific as that, could we please get a better search feature? Also, I am tired of everyone building the same team, if I face one more Liga BBVA squad with Benzema and Nilmar up front and Valdes in goal I'm going to jump off a cliff. Just a little variety please.

And that brings me to the core problem with FIFA in general, PACE = VICTORY. This means that great players like Fernando Llorente get left in the dust for speedsters like Nilmar. This also means that you have to build your team to stop these players, in turn you see a lot of teams being built purely around pace and nothing else. The game has it's problems, but it is quite enjoyable. There's a good reason why I day-dream of playing FIFA while in class. One thing I would suggest, is playing the game in 4:3 aspect ratio. This may seem odd at first, but when streched out to 16:9 players seem to move much faster and it makes it difficult to keep up with the game, but if your TV supports 4:3 players move much slower and it is easier to read the opponent's moves and react accordingly. My record improved greatly once I made the switch.… Expand

This game is joke. Game play boring and predictable. You are spending most time running to get a ball. CPU is unbeattable on World class. Whats more ? First of all Fifa 12 ONLINE is broken, ppl on xbox already cheats using a gliches so they cant loose a game. There is much more gliches and problmes but generally game sux. Its not a football. Even in manager games simualtion all looks better and more realistic.… Expand

FIFA 12 is simply the BEST soccer simulation EVER MADE. Tactical Defending, Precision Dribbling and Impact Engine works perfect together, offering a freedom never experimented before.

First off let me start by saying I've been playing soccer games since 1998 and and have played pretty much all the brands out there. And when I say FIFA 12 is the best soccer game of all time.after a distasterous outing with FIFA 11 EA has pulled out all the stops and its made for an excellent game.this year I am confident in saying FIFA is king!!!!!!

I'm sorry folks but this is the most overrated game in history,. Fifa still doesn't succeed in offering a realistic football experience. I've been playing it since Fifa98 and I have fun doing so but that's fun as in Tekken: it is what is: PRE DEFINED ARCADE MOVES! NOT FOOTBALL WHATSOEVER...

The "secret" code in FIFA 12 is "patience". Oh...and forget everything or almost everything you know about previous FIFA's or FIFA 11. When I started playing I was baffled. I knew about the changes. I was aware, but still...I was playing the game "the old way". I was out of context. Then slowly, trying to adjust I realised what EA had done. They simulated. They really simulated, trying not to alienate gamers, they created the closest digital football to the real thing. If you have patience you will be rewarded after the first 20 games. If not you will believe its a strange, broken beast. And turn to PES 2012 arcade pick up and play game, because, well...its arcadey and soooooo easy to score or keep the ball. Your money, your decision.… Expand

I love the FIFA franchise. Therefore, I have desperately been waiting and waiting for there to be an installment that garners a 10/10 rating. I am sad to say this still hasn't occurred, however this game takes a definite step forward from last year's release. Yes, the tactical defending is unbelievably awkward when you first start playing, and it is the main reason why people are giving poor reviews, but with time it can be adapted to. I believe some facets of the game still lack a certain depth, mainly career mode, although it has been improved upon. The main thing I find is this - rarely am I winning 7-0 as in FIFA 11, but more regularly I am winning with such scores as 3-2 which makes the experience much more interesting. Good game.… Expand

I was shocked to see a user score of 6.4! FIFA 12 is definitely the most difficult FIFA yet, but I don't want the same game every year. Career mode is fun again and the pro clubs AI players are actually useful. Don't be put off by the bad scores and steep learning curve.

I honestly cannot believe the massive critical acclaim that has come with this game! I have been a proud backer of PES since the early days of ISS Soccer and moved into Fifa11 after a few years of shoddy updates from the konami back game, now comes Fifa12 and disappointed is not the word. I do not understand how you can remove something as fundamental as tackling from the game, it is no different from removing shooting or passing and as for the idiots saying it is more realistic I cannot remember a Premier league game where every player had a 2 foot invisible barrier around him.


I adored Fifa 11 as it reminded me of the early days of PES where the lightening fast counter attacks of United could be recreated, and the Ultimate team was a massive draw with me spending over £200 on it over the last year or so... EA will not be receiving my money this time, I am shocked at just how bad this game is compared to Fifa 11, with the much vaunted "impact engine" resulting in nothing more than knocking players off their feet in crucial situations and blatant penalties being ignored one end whilst simple taps are given the other.

The shooting, dribbling and passing have all had any speed taken out of them resulting in a boring defensive containment fest which results in one of the most tiresome and excruciatingly frustrating games of football I have ever played, there is simply no sense of fun!

This has taken Fifa12 back to the bad old days of passing the ball to your front man for him to run the field whilst walking past 3-4 defenders who are incapable of getting within the 2 foot invisible barrier surrounding each player - This is not due to a lack of skill as a + 500 wins record on UT Fifa 11 will testify - Every player I have played against online uses this tactic and seems to have forgotten the pass button... quite simply boring, frustrating, repetitive and a newbies paradise, I will be returning to PES12 for some fun. This is the first review I have written on this site as I felt I had to put the common mans opinion up against the "critics" acclaim.… Expand

I am very disappointed with FIFA 12. I expected a step forward from FIF 11, but instead, it was one giant step backward. Confusing controls and game play along with very similar aspects to FIFA 11 make this game a recipe for disaster.

Great, great game, i think the best football game ever created.
I don't really understand all these negative user reviews: sure, the game is totally different from the previous chapter; sure, the game is difficult - at first damn difficult-, it requires a lot of practice and the first times it will make scream like an angry dog; sure you'll need more than pressing the "A" button all time to stop opposite attackers..but once you'll catch how tactical defending works then you'll discover a new way of intending football games.
A must buy. Wonderful… Expand

The best FIFA to date, the tactical defending takes a few games to get to grips with, but after that, you wonder why EA didn't think of it years ago! A truly awe-inspiring achievement and a game that just gives and gives.

The best FIFA yet, there's no doubt about that. A lot of controversy around the new Tactical Defending system for sure. (Love it or hate it - it's here to stay!). I find the updates from last years edition refreshing, but there are certain areas I feel EA should have spent more time polishing the game. Take celebrations as an example. They still look as unnatural as ever. But gameplay is very solid, and with the addition of Precicion Dribbling it's even more intuitive. The Impact Engine is nice, even though it does have some minor bugs. The peer-to-peer online service seems a lot more stable than last year. I find the game more challenging on every difficulty from Pro and up than I did in earlier FIFAs. A good game and a "must have" for football fans, but still not "perfect", hence a score of "just" 7.… Expand

Its a great game, the best football simulation out there, if you can actually play it! hundreds of thousands of players have reported all offline game modes freezing, requiring memory resets just to play again. online modes like Ultimate Team are also afflicted by this issue.

Best soocer game on the planet for the options alone. Dont believe the haters buy it love it play it... the soccer plays very realistly other than in Ultimate team when playing below pro level, the defenders on the opposing side are pretty bad you can run with the ball and score pretty easy. The physics are amazing and accurate as hell.

Fifa 12 is amazing like Fifa 11, but in different ways. The new defensive game is totally new, wich cause some frustration to some people... but not to the hardcore one's... Fifa could not be the best football ever, but its way better than PES, this i can say, as one ex-PES player.

Not quite as good as FIFA 10 - which I think was the best football game I've every played - but definitely an improvement on FIFA 11. UI is still confusing as hell, and online is full of both bugs and idiots - although the latter is hardly the game developers' fault.

Well thats a surprised, average user rating 6.6. I bet thats because people don't like the new defending. Yeah I don't like it either. But there is a way round this. But less of that. What do I think of this?

THE BEST IF NOT THE GREATEST FIFA EVER!!! I can't put anything else, cos this would be filled with thousands of superlatives. JUST BUY THIS GAME, ABSOLUTE FOOTBALLING PERFECTION!!!