FIFA 13

For a good dozen or so years, one of the first symptoms of autumn, apart from falling leaves, is the premiere of the next installment of the FIFA series. The commander-in-chief of this cycle - David Rutter and his devoted company once again return to the virtual pitches to once again comfortably sit on the football throne with their latest football creation. Although the competitive series created by Konami this year is pushing extremely hard, EA Sports's production again turns out to be better by one goal, and scored after a beautiful team action. The creators again served a lot of long-awaited changes , although it seemed almost impossible after last year's large-scale revolution.

The scope of changes in the new FIF turns out to be so large that it would be a sin to extend the text and tell the story of the series - so we are starting out. The first step is a completely new play mode called "Training Games", which will satisfy fans of raising qualifications on the pitch and constantly grinding the most difficult technical games. The challenges included in it will tame every self-proclaimed master of virtual ball - although quite a large part of the set of tasks uses automatic assists to make them much easier, the real fun begins with exercises in which we limit ourselves only to manual control. Performing a dozen or so precise passes while playing grandpa requires an incredible amount of composure and constant training - one false move causes the ball to fly out of the designated field, which results in an immediate selection of the "Try again" option. After a while, we actually do it again, in a moment again, and then a dozen or so times in a row. Although the tasks contained in this mode seem as simple as the construction of a flail, believe me - reaching even the level of a professional in the challenge that crowns each training block causes a truly unintended burst of joy.

For those who prefer to sit on the bench, write down accurate notes in a notebook and then implement them, the EA Sports team has also prepared a lot of new (and good) ones. The managerial career mode in this installment gains a new face thanks to the option of leading a selected national team (of course, without having to resign from work in the club). If you want to play the role of Waldemar Fornalik and prepare our team for promotion to the world championship, well - first you will have to work hard for it. Poland ranks a little higher in the EA Sports ranking than South Africa, Bolivia or Venezuela, so only dealing with less known teams will allow you to taste the fight for the highest, world laurels, standing at the forefront of top teams.

Of course, the successes to which we lead our club also have an impact on the prestige and respect in the coaching world. Now we are watched more closely by all kinds of media and the players themselves, who literally bombard us with various requests and information that build the atmosphere of an endless football turmoil. The apogee of the news raid takes place, of course, during the transfer window - if only the resources and flair for negotiation allow us, we too can become the main actors of this cyclical "spectacle" using a more complex transaction tool. From now on, our transfer struggles are supported by a virtual agent who suggests the best solutions in terms of the proposed amount or length of the contract offered. In the event of a lack of cash or the desire to get rid of an unnecessary player, we can give such a culprit in the settlement, reducing the amount of money that will reduce our budget. It cannot be denied that the creators have thoroughly rummaged in the players' statistics and modified them accordingly, thanks to which their skills now turn out to be much closer to the real ones.

Thanks to the EA Sports Match Day option, the authors constantly confront the strength of individual teams with their results in real competitions . Thus, we can see, for example, that Real Madrid, which did not start the Primera Division season well, lost a few points from their statistics, while the undefeated and on the wave of Bayern Munich gains advantages mainly in offensive formations. Every week we also get the chance to play some of the most interesting league matches, which are accompanied by additional commentary. A similar option is also offered by the EA Sports Football Club online tool, well known to fans of the previous installment - here, however, we can find special scenarios, created on the basis of matches already held.

So it's time to come back to the pitch and see what's new in the game itself. The key improvement is the First Touch Control module , which largely affects the flow of action and the behavior of players controlling the ball. The message from the creators is very simple - only the exact play can make the "spotted" suddenly not start playing unforeseen tricks. No more unbelievable "sticking" of the ball and unrealistic-looking passes - every mistake in playing, too strong a pass or a rapid transfer of the ball to the other side of the pitch creates the risk of losing it due to a bad reception or unsuccessful attempt to continue the action "from the first ball". We will swear under our breaths many times, watching how one careless move destroys all the effort put into constructing a positional attack or a quick counterattack. Football - although beautiful - is often brutal and the new FIFA sometimes shows us a place in the row.

Online gameplay modes still offer a wide variety of options. Of course, the basic variant of the game is the Seasons module, in which we fight for promotion to the higher leagues, while trying our strength in weekly cups. There was also the opportunity to create your virtual star and present our skills against the background of the network community or the option of playing your own tournaments or friendly matches . From year to year, the FIFA Ultimate Team module is gaining in importance, which in retrospect can be considered a really good idea for "Electronics" . Now we can systematically face the "team of the week" and the victory of course results in an additional reward; in addition, we can try our hand at special managerial challenges that give new profits. What is nice - the creators did not forget about those users who spent a lot of time playing online in FIF 12 - the experience level is transferred to the "thirteenth", and players are given a special currency to use in Ultimate Team and items that improve the statistics of our players while having fun in career mode.

Of course, the new FIFA is still not a perfect game - unfortunately, the referees still love to play football poker, the effects of which we see on the pitch in the form of highly controversial offenses . The refereeing problem has been plaguing this series for several years and although we have fewer and fewer mistakes, sometimes you can get very upset when you see an arbitrator groundlessly pointing to "lime". There are also still technical imperfections related to the already famous physical engine, which, despite the great efforts of the authors, still does not look like it was in the original assumptions. Graphically, FIFA maintains a constant level - in the latest installment there are no big changes compared to the previous ones, of course, there are new celebrations, a set of animations or details in the form of players warming up behind the sideline, but we have already got used to such annual attractions. The soundtrack turns out to be in a class of its own - as always, the creators did a great job in this respect.