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| Source // Giant Bomb |
I must admit to being a little perplexed by the lack of FIFA on this 1001 list. The tug of war between it and Pro Evolution Soccer should surely have been in full swing for several years now, but as the end of the list draws near it is FIFA 10 that is the one and only FIFA video game we must play.
Why? Apparently, this is the game that finally knocked PES off its perch. Hmm. Let's have a look for ourselves.
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| Source // Giant Bomb |
Fond Memories
The ugly mug on the cover this year is Wayne Rooney, and if there's one thing a Liverpool fan doesn't like, it's anything to do with Manchester United. The cover star for PES, behind Messi, seemingly as usual, was Fernando Torres, so you know which game I bought back in the day.
Truth be told, I don't know whereabouts I stopped picking up yearly PES titles but after a quick look at the covers for the next few games, it must have been shortly after 2010. I know it was a few years before I returned to playing football in video games, and that was definitely with FIFA, so the times were changing.
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| Source // Giant Bomb |
Frustrations
I've got FIFA 10 for the PlayStation 3 with all the bells and whistles that the other consoles aren't capable of, except the Russian Premier League for some reason. I guess the power of the Cell processor can't handle that. Anyway, I played through a few games of the Be a Pro mode, where you take yourself, usually, through a short career with a team of your choice (no prizes for working out who I opted for).
Sadly, I was dumped into the reserve squad to play alongside such greats as... El Zhar, Plessis, uhm... Voronin popped in for a bit. Oh, can't forget Jay Spearing. Yeah, I wasn't having the best of times languishing with the reserves, in the rain, in matches that didn't really matter.
Most of that was down to the fact that I've somewhat recently played whatever version of FIFA I was going through on the PlayStation 4, FIFA 19 I suppose (I'm behind on the modern stuff too), and so I'm expecting my players to be able to do the things that the modern games offer, but the past is very much a different time and place.
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| Source // Giant Bomb |
On the one hand, it is nice to be able to see the FIFA I know in its early stages, but on the other, it's a bit of a slog to get back to. It's not as crisp as modern titles, and the lag between pressing the slide tackle button and my player actually sliding was just ridiculous.
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| Source // Giant Bomb |
Fun Times
And yet I can see how easily playable it is, and the menus - dated though their appearance may be - are crammed full of modes for you to play. Everything from a quick match to a complete tournament, online multiplayer to revamped managerial careers, and even FIFA Ultimate Team is here as a cheap DLC.
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| Source // Giant Bomb |
You can specialise in whatever role you like, with a camera that follows you around the pitch like you're the most important player on it. Increase your stats over time, unlock bonuses, wear your kit in the way you've always wanted to (long sleeves, untucked, thank you very much) and pick from a long list of boots that will surely have one that matches your current team's socks.
When the servers were still up and active, that facsimile of you could be taken through a bunch of game modes online, or you could even download real-world results and try your best at altering history with the same teams.
Today, those features are long gone, so I'll just have to stick with playing a local game or two against the AI, picking from a stupid number of teams across the world. The physics may not have been to my liking back in the day, but it was generally annoying to not be playing as fully licensed teams in PES, thanks to the growing juggernaut that was FIFA.
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| Source // Giant Bomb |
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| Source // Giant Bomb |
Today, those features are long gone, so I'll just have to stick with playing a local game or two against the AI, picking from a stupid number of teams across the world. The physics may not have been to my liking back in the day, but it was generally annoying to not be playing as fully licensed teams in PES, thanks to the growing juggernaut that was FIFA.
It feels a little old for sure, and you'll have to play with a bit of a footballing brain, rather than arcade gamer's, picking out your passes and playing to your strengths. You'll get used to it, have fun, feel like you've done whatever there is to do, then you buy another copy next year and do it all over again.
Final Word
In the ten or so years since, a lot has gone on in the world of FIFA, and it's nice to see how much of it remains pretty much the same. If you've got a core that you can build off, I guess you don't have to worry about a great deal. Just spruce it up, make sure it still works, update the look a little and out the door it goes.
Of course you can argue against all of that. At one point the commentary team of Martin Tyler and Andy Gray got into a conversation about when Liverpool last won the Premier League. "1990" "So what's that? 17 years ago?" Yeah, Andy, we'll go with 17... I wouldn't be surprised if I'm still using the same commentary name in FIFA 19 as Martin recorded for FIFA 10 or earlier, frankly.
It's always difficult going back to old football games, knowing what you know now but not having a clue which specific gameplay feature was introduced when, or which game had horrible exploits against the defence that would always lead to goals - doubly so when I'm not a FIFA fan, or wasn't at the time of FIFA 10.
As such, it's hard to recommend that you go back and play FIFA 10, but I suppose that seeing how far we've come, and yet how similar everything still is, there's something to be gained by doing so. I honestly could have carried on playing, though I would have picked a different mode so that I was no longer be in the reserve team. The only reason I stopped was that I was getting a little bored - I'd played many football games, and FIFA 10 wasn't one I needed to play a lot of.
Back in 2009, though, it was the latest and the greatest - though PES was clearly still better...
Fun Facts
500 teams from 30 football leagues, and another 41 national squads on top of that. Surely you can find your favourites in that lot.
FIFA 10, developed by EA Canada, first released in 2009.
Version played: PlayStation 3, 2009.