FIFA Soccer 13 Review
Game Emblems
The Good
The Bad
FIFA Soccer 13 isn't all that different from last year's outing, but it still remains the most in-depth, entertaining, and compelling football game out there.
When it comes to the action off the pitch, FIFA 13 sticks to what it knows, improving on existing game modes. The majorly addictive Ultimate Team mode--FIFA's mix of role-playing-game-like card trading, Top Trumps, and football management--has seen numerous tweaks that make it even more compelling than before. In addition to the usual trading and swapping of cards, there are new seasons to compete in and devilish manager tasks to complete, all of which unlock new items for your team, as well as give you access to bigger and better players.
Modes like Head to Head Seasons, Online Friendlies, Virtual Pro, and Manager all return largely untouched. There are some additions, though, including presentational tweaks that make menus easier to navigate, the ability to get international jobs in Manager mode, and a refined transfer system that's more competitive and gives you much more freedom to sign new players. The biggest and best change is the inclusion of up-to-date real-world statistics for teams, which are updated weekly, and can be taken into account before the start of each match. Wins and losses in the real world are displayed, along with increased or decreased attack, midfield, and defensive stats, depending on the team's performance and injuries. Even the commentary is tweaked to coincide with any changes--albeit with generic phrases--highlighting injuries and your team's recent performance.
Tying the whole thing together is EA Sports Football Club, which keeps track of any experience points earned and ties them to a real-world team of your choosing. It's exciting to see your favourite team rise up the online leaderboards thanks to your efforts and those of fellow fans, and there are numerous challenges based on real-world events for you to complete, which also help boost your team's standing. This year's addition to Football Club comes in the form of a shop, where you can use money earned from playing the game to purchase vanity items like new boots, kits, and goal celebrations. As with most vanity items, their value isn't immediately apparent. But when you take your team to compete online, those little things that make them stand out from the crowd suddenly become a big deal.
Even more of a big deal are the new skill games, which replace the old keeper-vs.-player loading screens of the past, and are accessible via the practice hub too. You're now treated to bite-sized challenges, such as having to score as many goals as possible in two minutes in various scenarios and places on the pitch, or kick a lob pass into a certain zone. These quick challenges are lots of fun and help to teach you some of the fundamentals of the game. They get very tricky too, which makes them addictive, and you may find yourself spending more time completing the challenges than playing on the pitch.
While the skill games are an excellent addition--barring some flaky Kinect implementation that lets you change your tactics with voice commands--they're also the only major one. FIFA 13 is mostly a collection of subtle tweaks and ideas that, while an improvement, aren't all that essential, particularly for casual players. And there's no getting away from the fact that PES has made serious strides in its gameplay this year, offering up a very credible alternative to EA's footballing juggernaut. But until PES can get the rest of its act together, FIFA Soccer 13 remains the best football game on the market--beautifully presented, in-depth, and a hell of a lot of fun.
By
Mark Walton, Senior Staff Writer - Reviews
Writer, riff maker, purveyor of fine foods. Mark currently spends his days trying to overcome his small (large) obsession with high-top trainers and mobile games. He's known to respond well to Long Island Iced Tea, falafels, and karaoke, but not necessarily in that order.
173 comments
Not having the camp nou is a big fail. What I really hate of this game is that they improve the physics and all that crap. But what about the enviroment? that is the key for this games success. I mean, the crowd is the same from fifa 10 if not earlier cause i didnt play earlier fifas, the stadiums are always full, the crowd doesnt respond properly. They did a great job chaning el perro bermudez, that guy really wanted to make me hear the game in english always, now with Fernando Palomo I feel i am watching Fox Sports. I really think they should put more up to the crowd and stadium ambience.
Great review Mark. I think this is the most overrated sports game out there. Its fun but only for so long. UT is a rip off!
gamespot given this shit game 8.0..is complete nonsense.. the whole reason to play this game is take it online..no one play against the computer...and if you only do..that's because you suck and afraid to go online.
sorry the patch did not work for me. http://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/ea-sport-corporate-headquarters-recall-all-fifa-13-or-authorize-retailer-to-refund-without-any-receipt
is anyone else having serious glitches with this game?
soo disappointed:( my manager mode is corrupted and i have to start agian:(
Such a bad review. I have been playing football games for about 12 years. Went from Fifa to Pes, back to Fifa. And i have to say that this is the most perfect football game ever.
The physics are incredibly realistic, all complaints about the pace in 2012 is gone.
This game is as close as it gets. Real football fans will recognize it .
It has various modes, like ultimate team and be a pro wich are more extensive ever.
The only point where they could improve would be the graphics. Wich did not improve much.
2 Like 2K get into football games please. Neither FIFA or Pro Evo is realistic as it can be yet. Both are still just games.
If i played a 90 minute game of FIFA or PRO Evo no way would i get a realistic score. (regardless if you think that would be boring or not) it would be something stupid like 10-8 or 15-22, i should be FIGHTING for 1 goal for 45 minutes. Like a game of Starcraft with its strategy on the field that lasts 45 minutes. that has yet to happen in football games, accept Football manager on PC.
EA will never make it truly realistic,they never do. So we need another company to start bending the rules of how we see a football game as a complete strategy game...
2K Sports ever thought of football?
Good game, I agree with the rating. Ultimate team is a speed fest which is so sad. Their is so much potential. I think for online all controls should be set to semi. This would slow the game down a lot and make the overall experience better.
1 Like The Bad- Not a vast improvement over last years game? Ahh what about COD of which gamespot gives a 9ish year in and out when nothing changes. Not to mention a sports game you are quite limited to changing an awful lot. Give me a break just make sure when BLOPS comes out you give it an 8 or less then for not being a 'vast improvement' LOL what a joke.
1 Like Not to drag up the debate but it isn't entirely fair to criticize the "automated feel" when you have the ability to set the controls to manual.
Fifa started with a good formula, but since this game has to be released annually for some reason, there's little room for innovation, which is a shame. Sure it's a good game, but how much better is it than the game I bought one year ago?
A new standard in game quality would be interesting.
So I should continue to play Fifa 11. . . . . I never got 12 because I didn't like it. I still play 11 continuously.
1 Like Game is a mess, feels automated and unbalanced specially on more difficult levels. Fifa 11 is still the best football game, good ideas by EA but poorly executed.
Thank you for the honest review
I love football/soccer in general and have been a big fan of the FIFA series but I'll wait until it's on sale before i get FIFA 13.
Great review, for these reasons the gamespot reviews are the best and most reliables, congratulations for the impartiality.
Glad to see someone still has some journalistic integrity. I noted on Metacritic there is a huge blitz on this game. The AAA franchise every year that remains the same every year then doesn't get downgraded for it.
You just got a brownie point, Gamespot.
2 Like @RussellGorall too bas they couldn't have that same integrity when reviewing Call of Duty games.
1 Like One of the reasons i bought was because of the new spanish commentators for latin america :P
2 Like Gamespot has lost some credibility due to the reviewers ignorance. I am sorry but how in the world can you give pes 13 and fifa 13 the same score. This is pathetic.
I think mark should go back to mobile games and let the Real reviewers deal with the AAA titles.
1 Like Stop buying this garbage people and supporting EA's licensed game monopoly, it just settled a lawsuit for NFL for 27 million btw.
On the Wii for FIFA "13" all they did literally was change then number and update the rosters, the game is identical:
http://www.nintendo-gamer.net/2012/09/27/fifa-13-wii-vs-fifa-12-wii-the-shocking-truth/2/
Roster update and changed the packaging to 13 from 12 for $50.
@Telekenesis123 Sounds like just about every EA franchise out there. I tried the Madden 13 demo and it is the same exact thing as last year, even with a new game engine and commentators.
2 Like This review is pretty poor to be honest. And seems nothing more then wanting to get website hits.
Gamespot know Fifa is one of the biggest selling games on the planet and giving it a poor review when everyone else has praised it will make people visit the site.
The review itself seems odd as if it was written by someone who doesn't watch football or more importantly doesn't watch football outside of the US.
You complain about the speed of the game when its actually the same as last year. The game id modelled on the English Premier League which is probably the best league in the world. It is played at a fast pace. You can't compare it with MLS....
It annoys me when reviewers slate games for being more of the same. Where you expecting to play a fighting game when you picked up your football game copy?
Sports games are about refinement and adding in little features to make the game improve. The first touch system changes the game totally.
Fifa 13 is the best football gamer ever made as it is better then fifa 12 which was at the time the best football game ever made.
As I said review is designed to annoy people and generate hits. Which is sad.
Eurogamer are the best website for reviews and this one shows just how bad Gamespot has become with theirs.
@FalconerX Well Mark Walton is British so your comment about watching outside the US is wrong. He's right, as far as I'm concerned. It's not a major overhaul, but it's still an excellent game.
1 Like @FalconerX First of all, Premier League is not the best league in the world. It is probably the toughest, but not the best. Regarding the review, if you can't see a lot of improvement from Fifa12, then the game hasn't changed that much, and that was what I read in this review, it didn't strike me as an attempt to get visits. But hey, it's just an opinion...
The Premier league is the best league in the world as it is voted the top league by coefficient. Add to that it has the current European Champions who beat all the spanish teams.
I am curious to know which league you consider the best though? And did that league roll down to the final day of the final minute to be decided or was it just about two teams and was sorted months before the league ended?
@FalconerX @cOldBloOd_ Soooo...how did the premier league teams do in the champions league this year? All of them got knocked out by the round of 8. Shut up with the "premier leagues is better" crap already. German and Spanish teams are way more entertaining to watch these days.
@FalconerX You're kidding right? You think because Chelsea won the Champions they're a good team? Chelsea was handled by At. Madrid in the Supercup like amateurs, and At.Madrid was 5th last season in the spanish league... Just because the Premier was decided in the last game doesn't mean it is the best league, it just means there was a smaller difference between the first and the 3rd or 4th contender, because the difference in points between the 3rd in Premier and La Liga was 3 or 4 points, and the same happened till the 6th or 7th team... You should really check your statistics...
@Victorious_FizeBrB i love PES but this last 2 years FIFA is much better.I only want a giid game and this moment compare FIFA whith PES is the same compare Sega Rally Whith Colin or WRC
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