The truly beautiful game

FIFA 13 hit shelves on Tuesday after months of anticipation and did not disappoint. The game is the greatest masterpiece EA Sports has ever completed.

IGN describes the newest edition to the world’s No.1 soccer video game franchise as “a refinement of a winning formula rather than an entirely new equation.” This is spot on. It is not a completely different game than its predecessors. It is simply an improvement.

There are a couple of awesome new features this year, but the biggest difference is in the gameplay itself. FIFA 13 is very realistic. You will get frustrated if you are used to playing the old FIFAs, where touches are always perfect. 

Soccer fans are lying to you if they say they do not have several mini heart attacks during their team’s games. Those will now happen during FIFA, when your striker is put through on goal and takes too heavy of a touch because he’s coming in too fast.

Players will need to rely more on their own skill and knowledge of the game in order to be successful. The mechanical style of FIFA from the past is gone. If you aim slightly too far to the right or left, your pass will miss. If you go to a ball too quickly, you will take too heavy of a touch. The realization is there in unprecedented ways.

Adding to the realism is the live form of players in the game. Player ratings constantly change based on real life performance. If a player is struggling, their rating will go down. For example, former UConn star Tony Cascio of the Colorado Rapids would normally have a 62 rating, but because of recent form has dropped to a 59.

Along the lines of real life situations come two new game modes: Live Fixtures and Games of the Week. Live Fixtures allows players to choose a team and play any of their four upcoming matches. Games of the Week is a mode that chooses five of the top games around the world as marquee match-ups.

Gamers be warned: in these two game modes, players that are injured, suspended or on international duty are unavailable to use, at least for the games they are scheduled to miss. If you are in Live Fixtures and want to play a game three weeks in the future but a player is injured for two weeks from the day you play, he will still be available.

The old game modes, such as Career, Ultimate Team and Seasons mode online are still available and as fun as ever. In career, there is now the possibility of international call-up for players and to coach national teams as a manager, adding to the incentive to play well.

FIFA 13 is brilliant in every way possible. At times you will be overjoyed and at others you will be frustrated, but such is the life of a soccer fan.