FIFA 10

FIFA 10 (also known as FIFA Soccer 10 in North America) is the 18th title in Electronic Arts' FIFA Football series of football video games. Developed by EA Canada, it was published by Electronic Arts worldwide under the EA Sports label. The game was to be released on 1 October 2009 in Australia, but, as a result of unknown circumstances, it became available on 30 September. It was released on 2 October 2009 in Europe and 20 October 2009 in North America. It is available for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and Wii. Handheld versions of the game were also released for the iPhone and iPod Touch, Nintendo DS, Nokia N-Gage, PlayStation Portable, and mobile phones.

The demo of FIFA 10 appeared on Xbox 360, PlayStation3, and PC on 10 September in Europe, on 11 September in Australia, and on 17 September in North America. The playable teams were Chelsea, Barcelona, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Marseille and Chicago Fire. The stadia used in the demo were Wembley Stadium (Xbox 360 version), and FIWC Stadium (PlayStation 3 version). The demo offered friendly matches with half lengths of three real-time minutes. As well as playing a friendly match, the demo allows users to upload created in-game videos and screenshots to EA Football World. The tagline for the game is "How big can football get?", and "Let's FIFA 10".

Manager Mode
Manager Mode enables the player to take charge of any club in any of FIFA 10's featured leagues.

The Manager Mode has been revamped for FIFA 10, with many previous issues and criticisms addressed. EA has claimed over 50 key improvements have been made to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions] Among these improvements are:

Changes to gameplay
The "Total Football Experience" is a new feature in which football news from around the Manager Mode world is visible, including player transfers, fixtures and results in foreign leagues. A new "Assistant Manager" can be used to take care of the team's line-up and to rotate the squad based on importance of the upcoming match. For example, if the next match is against a low rated team, he will make sure that players normally on the bench will start the match. Pre-season friendlies have been introduced to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game, as a chance to flatten out any wrinkles in a team's lineup before the domestic season begins.

Results for simulated matches are more heavily based on team strength and do not appear to be as "random" as has been the case in the past. This results in more realistic performances and eliminates instances where stronger clubs would be fighting relegation and clubs with weaker players were winning the league. Non-player clubs also now rotate players more often based on factors such as fatigue, player form, and the relative importance of a match, so the lineup for a top team in the early rounds of a domestic cup may consist of less-able and younger players as opposed to a full-strength squad.

The names of the "generic" stadiums can be changed in Manager Mode to reflect the name of the player's club's home ground.

All financial matters are based less on a team sponsor and more on the club's board of directors, who provide two overall budgets: The wage budget, a yearly amount for paying players, and the club budget, for buying and selling players as well as making other improvements to the club. There is a "Board Difficulty" setting, which determines the financial generosity of the board.

The transfer system has been made more authentic, as money is no longer the monopolizing factor in acquiring a player. The acceptance of an offer will be based on factors such as the number of players in your squad in the same position, and the promise of higher-level competition outside the domestic league, such as the Europa League or Champions League. Furthermore, obtaining a player will be more realistically prolonged as other clubs may also attempt to sign the same player. Bids can be submitted for several different players simultaneously, and if the clubs accept, the player has the choice of which, if any, of the players to ultimately sign.

Players
The "Player Experience and Growth System" has changed. The manual experience growth from FIFA 08 and FIFA 09 has been abolished; player growth will now be determined by in-game performance, demands placed on the player, and achievements based on the player's particular position. There are three categories for gaining experience: "mental", "physical", and "skill". Younger players with higher potential will gain experience much faster, and each player will have an individual growth point, which in turn promises more authentic player growth patterns.

A "Live Season" feature has been implemented within Manager Mode, whereby a player's "form" rises and falls based on performance (within Manager Mode itself rather than real-world events). He will receive a temporarily higher or lower rating along with temporarily higher or lower stats, to reflect this.

Fictional players that are added to Manager Mode by the game itself now have localized names, so for example a player from Brazil will not have an English-sounding name."Virtual Pro" allows the player to create a footballer and take him through the four Be a Pro seasons, include him in the Manager Mode career, use him in Kick off, Tournament, and Lounge mode, as well as using him in the Arena. Game Face has also been added to FIFA 10 as in other EA Sports games, where gamers can create their Game Face on the web at easports.com or easportsfootball.co.uk, then download them into the game. Once a Game Face character is created, he can then be applied to the player in game. Faces can be changed on the web any time. The game face is used as the player's avatar in online play. Players can also grow their players attributes and player traits, celebrations, and kit can be unlocked to make the player realistic and unique.The list of stadia and weather conditions for each one were announced on 27 August 2009. The game features 50 stadiums, including most of the larger stadiums from Europe's most prominent leagues, such as the Allianz Arena, Camp Nou, Emirates Stadium, Anfield, Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge and San Siro, and as well as a range of generic stadia and practice arenas. Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabéu was made available as a free download on launch day. The weather conditions possible in each stadium range from day and night versions of clear to cloudy, rain, or snow.

The stadium names of the generic stadiums can however be changed in a Manager Mode to reflect the name of the users club's home ground if the user chooses to do so. The capacity of each ground is also listed so that a capacity similar to a club's actual stadium capacity can be chosen to make game experience more authentic. On 1 December 2009, EA Sports announced that the Ultimate Team game mode expansion that was introduced in FIFA 09 would be released in February 2010 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game. Like the previous version, the mode allows for the creation of a custom team based on the collection of various types of cards. This expansion will also include new PlayStation Network Trophies and Xbox Live Achievements for FIFA 10.Each regional version of FIFA 10 features different players on the cover. The United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland covers feature Theo Walcott, Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney the Australian cover features Wayne Rooney and Tim Cahill, the New Zealand cover features Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard, the German cover features Bastian Schweinsteiger and Wayne Rooney; the Italian cover features Ronaldinho and Giorgio Chiellini; the French cover features Steve Mandanda, Karim Benzema, and Guillaume Hoarau; the Spanish cover features Karim Benzema and Xavi; the Polish version features Wayne Rooney and Robert Lewandowski; the Portuguese version features Frank Lampard and Simão; the Russian version features Sergei Semak; the Hungarian version features Wayne Rooney and Balázs Dzsudzsák; and the North American version features Frank Lampard, Cuauhtémoc Blanco and Sacha Kljestan.

Commercial
According to EA, the latest edition in FIFA series is the fastest selling sports game ever in Europe, selling 1.7 million copies in its first week. FIFA 10 sales could rise as much as 30 percent year-over-year in Europe, making FIFA the most profitable EA Sports title, thanks to its global audience and lower license costs, compared to the Madden series. It is the biggest All Formats No1 launch since Grand Theft Auto IV, generating 48% more sales than its predecessor, FIFA 09, managed when it was launched exactly a year ago, edging past Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (which was launched only on PS2, while FIFA 10 is on Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, and PC).

Critical reception
The first review was a 9/10 from PlayStation Official Magazine (UK), commenting "This not only plays the best on-the-pitch football of any FIFA title, but it has an incredibly smart and compelling way of tying it all together, too. Brilliant, again.