PRO TIPS FROM THE FIFA 12 EARLY RELEASE

Hey all and welcome to the new season of Prospective, here to bring you all the insights, experiences and tips from a FIFA veterans virtual pro career now into his third year with the soon to be released FIFA 12.

Like many others thanks to the EA season pass I’ve been able to get stuck into the virtual pro side of FIFA 12 for the best part of a week now, investing some serious play time in my pro in order to boost up his stats. It’s time to share with you what I’ve learned so far.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

The setup is exactly the same as FIFA 11 for unlocking your players abilities. Complete a set task and you’ll unlock a stat to go with it, for example “score two goals from distance” would improve your long range shooting by +2 etc. The only thing I’ve noticed that is different this year is a new stat for interceptions to go along with the all new defending mechanism, and the fact that there seems to be more goalkeeper challenges this time round.

CLUBS

Not a lot to report again here, the layout looks different to go with the new graphical interface for FIFA 12 but overall everythings exactly as it was the previous year making you feel right at home in the club lounges. One change there is though is the ability to edit your Pro without the need to leave the club room thanks to a new menu option, that and the fact that clubs for the Xbox 360 this year seems to work fine so far with no lag issues whatsoever.

IN GAME EXPERIENCES

The first thing I’ll mention is that it does feel very different without the ball at your feet. The new defending might take some getting used to and what I think many people will find is that there’s a heavy emphasis on positional play in order to cut out passes and make the right challenges. The key is to read the play and to not overreact by pressing the tackle button a lot. Each time you press the tackle button in order to win the ball or block a pass there’s a recovery animation that stops you from doing anything for a period of time, so you really need to choose your moments when it comes to putting a foot in. On the flip side your player feels very much in control of the ball with it at his feet. An early tip I’ve found is that the new precision dribble button (LB/L1) does not need to be used every time you have the ball. If you are close to a player it automatically switches to a precision dribbling mode allowing you to twist and turn to try and beat a player effectively, if you press the button in this situation it seems to hamper the players ability so reserve it for when your just trying to show off some fancy footwork at a distance.

IMPROVING YOUR GAME FROM THE OFF

Without a doubt I think everyone needs to boost their players defensive stats as a first port of call. Your tackles will feel sluggish to begin with but by unlocking some standing tackle stats you will notice a great improvement. Find a buddy to do this with online and don’t forget that some of the best ones are only unlocked in consecutive games and that only the host can unlock accomplishments so share the workload. Secondly I’d suggest unlocking any stamina stats and laying off that run button as this year too much over use results in your player pulling up clutching his thighs, groin and calves leading to a very long injury animation that leaves you standing there as play moves on around you, not something that will help your team mates out in clubs at all.

In the next article I’ll talk about unlocking some of those more difficult accomplishments making your pros abilities that much greater without the need for illegal performance enhancing drugs.

THANKS for reading and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to post them up.

Clark I HD