Earlier this week, I was invited to the confines of EA Canada for a look at a handful of the sports games they have coming out this fall/winter. One of the games I was most excited to look at was FIFA 10. Last year’s game was incredibly enjoyable and fun to play, and was certainly a step in the right direction after the miserable first few incarnations of the title on next-gen consoles. FIFA 09 was such an improvement over previous iterations I wondered just where EA planned to take the franchise next. After spending some time with the game, and speaking with producer David Rutter, it appears the series is in good hands.

Before he started showing people in attendance some of the new features of FIFA 10 in action, Rutter explained that this year was mostly about refining the gameplay to make players’ time on the pitch more in-depth and enjoyable. Most importantly, gamers can expect more effort from the AI. That is, computer players will respond more reflexively than they have in years past. For example, instead of letting a ball out of their reach pass freely, you can expect the computer to throw a leg out to try and prevent the ball from passing by. Head tracking and trapping have also been tweaked for the better. In 09, players almost always trapped a ball in the air off of their chest and down to their feet. Rutter said that this year, instead of the AI always taking the easiest path for trapping, it would take the quickest. Like in real life, that won’t always translate to a perfectly controlled ball. While all gamers can expect to see plenty of new animations on the field, one place where they’ll be more noticeable is in the net. Goal keepers have been given all-new animations to allow for secondary saves off of previously defended balls. You’ll no longer be able to instantly blast a deflected ball past a keeper still stuck in a pre-determined animation since there’s a possibility they’ll branch into a new animation to try and save the shot. Of course, it all depends upon the keeper’s ability. None of these little details may be game changing, but nuances like these go a long way towards creating an air of realism.

The two major features that were shown off were 360° dribbling, and the ability for gamers to customize their own set pieces. Until this year, you could only move players in eight directions when traveling with the ball. The new programming allows for players to rotate around completely without feeling like a tank. Players will keep the ball at their feet with new animations, and since the physics of the ball are once again independent of the men on the field, you may lose control of your dribble if trying to maneuver too fancifully with a player less adept at keeping the ball in check. Should you be in control of someone more skilled with ball movement, Ronaldo perhaps, you’ll notice how the player transitions from foot to foot seamlessly, while dodging defenders jockeying for possession. With the new AI in place for non-user controlled players to analyze what’s happening on the pitch with better accuracy, learning how to make the ball do what you want it to has never been more important.

Custom set pieces were put in place because according to Rutter, “… set pieces were falling behind the rest of the game.” While newcomers may be turned off at the thought of having to create soccer’s equivalent of drawn up plays, the actual process is very simple. If you’ve played FIFA on a next-gen console, you should be familiar with the Practice Arena. This year, instead of limiting you to one-on-one play against a goalie, you can open the Set Piece menu simply by hitting Back/Select. From there, the pitch will be broken down into eight quadrants, where you can then choose which type of free/corner/penalty kick you wish to create a play for. You can move any player to any position in real time while a telestrator line follows them so you can more easily remember who came from where. While in Practice Arena, you can practice your creation (or just goof around) instantaneously against a full squad, 5v5, or 5v3. Once you’re happy with what you’ve created, you can program it to one of the buttons on the D-pad for use in game. It’s that easy. Custom set pieces won’t be able to be used online, which is both good and bad. It’s good so that people can’t create exploiting plays. It’s bad because I may want to show a friend that doesn’t live in my zip code an insanely over-complicated set piece I made. I can’t say for certain just how much of an impact this feature will have until I use it more extensively, but I’m certainly excited to try the whole mode out.

After getting a walkthrough of these features, I had some time to play half a game against one of the other members of the media in my group with a 70% complete build. While his time was spent trying to win (not that there’s anything wrong with that), I tried to use my time to see just how many of the small changes I could notice. After two or three possession changes, the difference between a match in FIFA 10 and FIFA 09 was pretty obvious. AI players ran better routes, stayed onside, and fought for every inch of the pitch. While the aggressiveness on display was refreshing, the computer was too aggressive at times. Last year I tried to never let the computer act without my input. During my time with 10, I had no problem letting the AI handle scrums for loose balls. I’ve never been the best shot in this franchise, but I did manage to get a few shots on goal (yes, the keeper stopped them all), and did catch one secondary save attempt. If the final product is a tighter version of what I got to play (which was good in and of itself), football fans around the world will be extremely happy.

Before I moved onto another of the games at the presentation, Rutter hinted at a revamped Manager Mode… but that was about all he was allowed to tell us. I wasn’t sure if FIFA 10 was going to have enough improvement and new features to make me want to get rid of my copy of 09, but after my time with the current build, the game’s release this October has officially been marked on my calendar. There are a few issues I hope get adjusted before the retail version hits stores (namely the aggressive AI), but it’s clear that this year’s game is much more than just a roster update. Be sure to check back for more of my impressions from my trip, continuing with a look at FIFA 10 on the Wii this Monday.