FIFA 11 At E3

Squirrelled away in the corner of the EA stand at E3 was a small room, and in the corner of that room, amidst screens displaying the latest Madden and NBA games, I got my hands on FIFA 11 for the first time.

David Rutter from the EA Sports development team was on hand to take me through the playable build.

“As always with FIFA we’re looking to build on our success and refine the gameplay according to consumer feedback,” he said. “The two things we’re talking about today are Personality+, which is a holistic umbrella for how we’ve made individual players more realistic, and improved passing.”

He demonstrates Personality+ by taking control of Andrei Arshavin in the Practice Arena. As you would expect, his feet are quick and nimble, and the ball is never far from his feet. Conversely, when he switches to Sol Campbell, the player takes longer strides and has to push the ball further in front when dribbling.

“The three areas in which we’re looking to convey personality are in the way the players look, their movement and their attributes, and we currently have more than 30 attributes in the game engine. We have also trebled the number of body types so we are able to support a wider, more distinct range of players,” he explains as we wait for a match to load.

“What we’ve also done this year,” he adds, “is respond to feedback that it was too easy to ‘ping-pong’ passes up the pitch, so we’ve included a far more believable passing simulation.”

There is now a power bar for passes along the ground with a small marker that tells you how hard you should hit the ball for the perfect pass. Missing it won’t affect the line of the pass, but it might mean at arrives at the feet of your target too slowly and is intercepted, or too fast, making it harder to control. You’re also penalised for trying difficult passes like a full 180 degree turn – your player will spin and make the pass, but he’ll more than likely fall over and lose accuracy.

The presentation over, I jumped on and beat an American journalist 6-0, with him asking me at one point: “which button do I press to score?”

Rutter promised more announcements towards the end of the year; I’m particularly looking forward to creating my own crowd chants, including this Kidderminster classic:

“We’re red, we’re white, we’re [deleted] dynamite, Harriers… Harriers!”

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