Confirmed FIFA 2010 World Cup: what FIFA 10 should have been?

EA Sports confirmed yesterday that FIFA World Cup 2010 will launch on April 27.  Rumored back in December and traditionally released each World Cup year separate from the annual iteration of FIFA, EA has detailed some actual new features in this game.

If I sound surprised at that, there’s a reason: the last WC game, FIFA World Cup 2006, was pretty awful. While it gave footballing gamers updated rosters for their favorite national teams and a simulated World Cup venue to compete in, it introduced no substantive new features and the quality gameplay seemed to even digress from FIFA 06. In my eyes, FIFA WC 2010 has tiny little shoes to fill.

But according to the title’s line producer, Simon Huber, this one’s A LOT different. In an exclusive Q&A with GameSpot, Huber has outlined a crap-ton of features, tweaks, and changes to FIFA World Cup 2010, which we’ve listed below.

They’ve made so many serious changes that I can’t help but wonder why none of this was included in FIFA10.  FIFA WC 2010 seems to be improving on FIFA 10 in every way.  We’ve got more detailed crowds, better celebrations, actual managers, and even tons of new controls.  Chest traps have been tweaked, set pieces have been altered, and everyone’s AI (opposition managers, CPU teammates, and goalkeepers) has been improved.

I have to ask the obvious question – where were all these improvements in October when FIFA 10 launched?  Why should players who prefer to use their favorite club teams be without these changes and tweaks.  As a seriously avid FIFA addict, these are serious questions to me.  And they’re made all the more serious because these changes, when added up, are HUGE.

FIFA World Cup 2010 looks set to present gamers with the most realistic simulated gameday experience to date…a claim they made only months ago with FIFA 10.  But don’t take my word for it, check out the laundry list of changes below before I blow a gasket.

Visuals

• A gorgeous new pitch: Our pitch simply wasn’t good enough, so we’ve made it look superb.
• Lighting of the players and environment: Clever changes to the lighting makes everything look more realistic.
• Camera flashes: You’ll see all the fans in the crowd using their cameras.
• Seat cards: Fans hold up cards to form national flags and emblems in a show of patriotism.
• Fans: Close-up shots on supporters cheering on their team or despairing in anguish.
• Confetti rains down from the sky in the team colors and stays on the pitch all game.
• Streamers create a carnival atmosphere as they glide to the ground.
• Populated benches: Characters sit on the benches rather than being empty.
• Broadcast graphics: The same captions you’ve seen in FIFA tournament broadcasts.
• Close-up celebration camera: To really feel the goal-scoring moment, the camera zooms in close to the player as he responds to your celebration commands.
• New players and managers: More content for star heads and many of the team managers.[England national team manager Fabio] Capello looks brilliant, and [notoriously tall English footballer] Peter Crouch no longer looks like a naughty elf.

Responsiveness:

• New chest traps that allow you to chest the ball in the direction you want to go rather than having to take midair touches after a chest to change direction.
• The ability to let a ball drop over your shoulder and move off in the direction of ball travel. Great for preserving momentum with lofted through balls.
• Improved the problem of trapping the ball too far and being “stunned,” then taking too long to go and dribble the ball.
• Defensively players will now clear an aerial ball rather than do a chest trap first when you are asking for a clearance.

Goalkeeper:

• Improved the “narrowing down the angle” logic so the keeper doesn’t come out so soon and so far, making him vulnerable to the chip shot.
• Ability to change his save direction if there is a deflection.
• Added variety to punching, which results in punches sometimes not clearing the ball out of danger.

CPU Teams:

• Added more skill moves for the CPU to use depending on a player’s flair attribute or trait.
• Better understanding of game context and situation, resulting in more intelligent changes of tactics/mentality.
• Manager now looks at who he has as subs and will attempt to give star players on the bench some playing time (i.e. Fabregas for Spain; Pato for Brazil). Previously he would rely solely on match rating and fatigue, leading to unrealistic substitutions or the same one over and over again.

Positioning:

• Teammates will now take more factors into account when looking into space inside the box when they are making a run for a cross to be delivered. I can verify how exciting this is having seen the way that Emile Heskey bulldozed his way onto the end of a cross in Andorra the other day.
• Improved marking for when the CB pushes up to the ball possessor when he shouldn’t, leaving the team vulnerable to an easy through ball and 1-on-1 with the GK.

Shooting:

• Improved the realism of where players strike the ball to give more off-center strikes leading to more swerve and variety in ball trajectory.
• Changed the chip shot to make it more challenging and also to improve the feel of it–more backspin, better trajectory.

Passing:

• Added personality to crosses to allow better players to put in more driven crosses into the box.
• Added chest and shoulder passes.
• Lowered the amount of power you can get on backwards crosses and backwards lofted through balls, forcing you to roughly have to face the way you want to pass it to for these types of kicks to succeed.

Set Pieces:

• Ability to trigger a teammate run on a quick free kick.
• Lowered the likelihood of the CPU scoring from FKs–they were too good

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