FIFA 13: How Can It Win GOY Without Fouls? - Radja's Blog

Radja's Blog

FIFA 13: How Can It Win GOY Without Fouls?

Posted on January 16, 2013 at 12:13 PM.

I am just amazed at the amount of awards Fifa is going to win this year for outstanding video game when an entire section of the sports is missing, at least in offline play. FOULS ARE RARELY CALLED.

A big part of soccer games is fouls and free kicks. Missing this is such a huge omission, it would be equivalent to basketball games without shooting fouls, baseball games without walks or called third strikes. Yet, FIFA gets a free pass and awards.

Don't get me wrong, I liked Fifa. I played around 60 to 70 games. The first 1/3 I was trying to learn the game. The second 1/3, I was enjoying the game, then I spent my remaining time trying to fix the penalties. I failed. I then wondered how the best spors selling game in the universe can get away without including a large part of what make soccer, soccer.

Every time a player is fouled in real life soccer, the player writhes on the ground as if his Femur bone was broken. Yet in any game of Fifa 13, 12 or before, you cannot get more than a couple fouls called all game. Believe me I tried. Players get run through and shoved aside, but the ref swallows his whistle. I will give Fifa this: in the penalty box, he actually does his job for some reason. Everywhere else, he is just the guy with the best seat in the house.

Without fouls, you don't get yellow cards. You don't get red cards. This is a large part of the strategy that a soccer manager has to deal with. How can this be missing and no one seems to care? There is never the game where you are playing a man short. There are no suspensions of players because they have too many red cards. It is all missing. It is all unrealistic.

But this is the crux. People don't always want realistic. The game has a lot great features. The franchise is quite fun. The game play, aside from the lack of fouls, is pretty good. There are a million modes that provide fun for other things. So I can see some mode type awards going there way.

I cannot help but think that if NBA 2K put out a product that included all fouls but shooting fouls, the 2k crowd would scream until there was resolution. We all know what happened when MVP 2004 had the lefty HR bug. The video game crowd now is much more picky. There would be effigy's burning. Yet Fifa will get awards. How? I cannot even think of a single review that has mentioned the lack of fouls in any of the last couple years.

Evidently, their fans don't care. I get that. They want to take their guy and dribble through everyone and make a Sports Center shot every time they touch the controller. But how do the people who review, the people who criticize for a living, overlook fouls missing from the game?

Maybe it is better online. If that is the case, then I can understand. I don't play online. I play offline. I don't buy the DLC for Ultimate Team. I don't, nor people like me, provide enough money to make a dent in EA's coffers for my opinion to matter. If the people playing online and spending money don't care, why should EA fix this? It would be stupid. But maybe next year, it will be a bullet point in their features list. Dare to dream.

Comments

# 1 inkcil @ Feb 25

Good blog man...I just got into soccer videogames and fouls appear to be the one thing missing from this game. It's crazy how no major review sites mentioned this at all.

# 2 Radja @ Feb 26

thanks, man. i really tried to make it work and every once in a while think of trying again, but cannot bring myself to.