Norman Rhodes | On 08, Oct 2012

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The beautiful game, that is the one of the many descriptions people have who watch this international sport named Soccer. It’s heavily adored overseas with an okay following here in the United States. That doesn’t stop the FIFA franchise however as it has not only educated people all over about the sport, but has become one of the best-selling sports games in recent years. FIFA Soccer 13 has come out and we finally have the verdict on it!

What We Liked
The first thing I like to do when I get a sports game is play that games Dynasty or Career mode. One of the major reasons why sports games are popular, because you have a mode in the game that put YOU in control of your favorite team and build them up. FIFA Soccer 13 does not disappoint fans in this mode as they will find a much improved mode with some new features. The first thing you’ll notice is the transfer A.I. and options made available during the transfer periods. You can now enquire about a player you want, make counter offers and even use a player to get another player! All of these are wonderful additions to the already deep and fun manager career mode. That’s not it however, for the first time in FIFA Soccer 13, your manager can finally manage an international team. This option is also back for players during career mode as they can partake in international friendlies if their country calls on them to do so. As a player, you will also be notified of any transactions that involve your player. That means if your player is listed for a Season-Long Loan, you will get an email about it. You can also request a transfer as well, again, features that are very much welcomed to the career mode in FIFA Soccer 13 and will add more time for the couch-manager/player.

Graphics and presentation in this game have been upgraded from last years game. More the presentation than graphics actually as you will witness the ESPN-authentic presentation for international cups and friendlies as well as most normal league matches. It’s great to see EA finally using ESPN in their game as the presentation in previous years have been leading up to this. They have always had a tiny bit of ESPN or some other sports channel in the past but now it’s official!

The last thing that made a good impression on me, the skill games. Addicted to these things, and they’re good time killers while your game loads. While facing the CPU, you might forget you need to hit start to progress into the game because of how much fun you’re having in the skill games. I like the addition and the opportunity to tighten up my skills before a game or even when I have time to kill.

Dislikes
I had the game for a week with no problems and all of a sudden, it started to skip and freeze at times. The freezing occurs when I try to load my manager career either through an auto save or from the list of manual saves. EA is apparently working on the issue, but god knows WHEN we’ll get a solution to that issue. One quick fix that has worked for me, is deleting my game face data from my hard drive. If not for that, I would not be able to play manager career mode until the game was patched.

The other thing I didn’t like is that they took out the option for Player-Manager, and option I used last year to combine my need to manage and have my player on the pitch at the same time. I don’t know if it was a popular option for Career Mode or not, but I liked having it there to be both instead of just one or the other. Hopefully it will make a return in FIFA Soccer 14.

Verdict
Minus the freezing issues that will eventually get patched by EA Sports, this is a solid game. Defensive A.I. (which we didn’t talk about in the liked section) is much improved and will give you a run for your money. Also teammate A.I. isn’t half bad but still needs major improvement before it’s reliable, they take advantage of the open space to make plays. You’re going to love career mode no matter if you’re a player or a manager and have your life stolen away from you while trying to complete every level there in the skill games. Go out and buy this game if you haven’t already, it’s one of the best FIFA’s in the franchise!

*This review is based off a retail copy of the game purchased by the reviewer*