FIFA 13

FIFA 13 (also known as FIFA Soccer 13 in North America) is the 2012 edition of Electronic Arts' association football FIFA video game series. It was developed by EA Canada. A demo of the game was released on 11 September 2012; the demo teams included Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City, Juventus, A.C. Milan and Arsenal.^[1] The demo was downloaded a record 1.99 million times within three days.^[2][3][4] The game was released in late September 2012 in most regions, and in Japan in October.^[a] The Wii U version was released alongside the console on its launch day in all regions. FIFA 13 included new features to the FIFA franchise such as the First Touch Control.^[2][5][6][7] As of December 2014, the game remains the only FIFA title released for the Wii U, despite other Nintendo consoles receiving later games. New celebrations were also added as a new feature.^[8] The game received overwhelmingly positive reviews as one of the best FIFA's yet, praised for its fast-paced, fun feel.^[9]

Features

A new additional feature in FIFA 13 is to support Kinect for Xbox 360 and PlayStation Move for PlayStation 3.^[10] The Wii U version includes some exclusive touch-based features including the ability to shoot precisely by tapping an image of the goal and managing the match in real-time.

Leagues

The leagues in FIFA 13 have been confirmed by EA Sports through their website, with EA calling it "the most authentic football game on the planet with 30 of the world's best leagues" All leagues from FIFA 12 are included, with the addition of the Saudi Professional League for the first time in the series history.^[11]

Bundesliga clubs Borussia Dortmund against Bayern Munich in FIFA 13

National teams

There are 46 international teams on FIFA 13 as confirmed on the EA website. The Czech Republic and Paraguay are returning. India, Bolivia and Venezuela return to the main series after an 11-year hiatus since FIFA Football 2002. Croatia was removed from the international teams, as they could not reach the licensing agreement.^[12]

Career mode

Career mode this year has been updated, with players being able to manage an international team as well as a club. Players managing their particular clubs can manage to quit their jobs as a national coach. Players can choose their international squad to be played for international matches in career mode. In each match, players can decide if the football players are able to play on the next international squad. Options in transfers include counter-offers and offering a player as well as money. On the iOS platform, players cannot manage national teams and can only offer money to get players.

Seasons Mode

Seasons mode allows players to progress through an online league system by being pitted against players of a similar skill level. After the user chooses a real-world team to play as, an online player with similar skills and a similar star level team is found as an opponent.

The football player plays ten matches per season with a specific number of points required for promotion to the league above.

Ultimate Team

FIFA Ultimate team, commonly abbreviated to 'FUT', is an additional feature of FIFA 13. This game mode allows the player to build their own team from real world players, which they can then use to compete in tournaments and divisions over the internet. For each game complete, players earn coins to spend on improving their team.

Players and other items in this mode take the form of cards, which are obtained through buying packs or from buying directly from other players through the auction house. There are three different tiers of cards; bronze, silver and gold, indicating their quality (lowest being non-rare bronze, highest being rare gold). These cards can be obtained in two ways; buying packs or buying directly from other players. Player cards have an overall rating, which is an estimate of their overall in game quality. Players with overall rating of 64 or lower are bronze rated, players between 65 and 74 rated are silver and finally players rated 75 and above are gold.

The FIFA Ultimate team web app was released on September 18, 2012. This allows players to access their ultimate team from their computer and a variety of other devices, such as an iPhone app and on Android. According to EA, "A very small number of users have attempted to gain an unfair advantage" of the web application. Responding EA issued permanent bans on players who have attempted to exploit the web application. [12 ] [13] There have been reports of problems concerning the non-exploiting players failing to connect to the application due to a "mistake" in the safety of the player account. EA has attempted to solve this problem than other reports show complaints by players who have not yet been pre-published in the bonus games.

Scoreboard/Presentation

It has been shown that at least one scoreboard from ESPN is included in the game.^[13] An ESPN presentation for the intro to the match has also been seen.

Stadiums

There are 26 stadiums in FIFA 13, including two new real ones: Tottenham Hotspur's White Hart Lane and the Saudi Arabia's King Fahd International Stadium. and one new generic stadium, Sanderson Park. FC Barcelona's Camp Nou, present in previous editions of the game, does not appear in FIFA 13, as EA could not reach a licensing agreement with the club.^[14]

Commentary

• League Games - Martin Tyler & Alan Smith
• Cup Games - Clive Tyldesley & Andy Townsend
• Touchline Reporter - Geoff Shreeves
• Match Reporter - Alan McInally
• Classified Results - Mike West

FIFA 13 again features Sky Sports main commentators Martin Tyler & Alan Smith commentating on League Matches with ITV main commentators Clive Tyldesley & Andy Townsend on the Cup Matches. 3 new voices have been added to FIFA 13: Sky Sports Reporter Geoff Shreeves is touchline reporter explaining the severity of an injury, Alan McInally has goals as they go in from the other matches in a role he performs on Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports and Mike West reads out the classified results from the league or cup your team is in, he performs this role on BBC football results show Final Score.^[15]

Soundtrack

The official soundtrack for FIFA 13 was announced on 6 September 2012.^[16]

Covers

The North American cover for the game features Lionel Messi,^[17] whilst St James' Park, Newcastle, has been included as the background. Other location-based covers will be used, as in previous years, and feature Messi and other players from the respective region, except North America, which only features Messi.^[18] This is the first time since FIFA Soccer 2003 that the North American version had a single cover athlete.

Other players featured in their respective regions include:

• Austria: David Alaba
• Ireland: Mark Quigley^[19]
• United Kingdom: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Joe Hart^[20]
• Spain: Roberto Soldado
• Hungary: Balázs Dzsudzsák^[21]
• Italy: Claudio Marchisio^[22]
• France: Karim Benzema^[18]
• Middle East: Abdullaziz Al-Dosari, Joe Hart^[23][b]
• Poland: Jakub Błaszczykowski^[b]
• Japan: Keisuke Honda, Makoto Hasebe^[a]
• Australia: Tim Cahill

EA Sports offered downloadable "Custom Club Sleeve" covers with players from the Premier League after the game's release. The teams and players include:^[24]

• Arsenal: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Wojciech Szczęsny, Lukas Podolski
• Aston Villa: Stephen Ireland, Darren Bent, Gabby Agbonlahor
• Chelsea: Frank Lampard, Eden Hazard, Fernando Torres
• Everton: Marouane Fellaini, Steven Pienaar, Phil Jagielka
• Fulham: Kerim Frei, Mark Schwarzer, Brede Hangeland
• Manchester City: David Silva, Mario Balotelli, Joe Hart
• Newcastle United: Papiss Cissé, Yohan Cabaye, Fabricio Coloccini
• Tottenham Hotspur: Gylfi Sigurðsson, Gareth Bale, Kyle Walker

EA Sports also offered a downloadable cover for FIFA 13 for Major League Soccer, featuring Chris Wondolowski of the San Jose Earthquakes, Fredy Montero of Seattle Sounders FC, Tim Cahill of the New York Red Bulls, and Darren Mattocks of Vancouver Whitecaps FC. Wondolowski, Montero, and Cahill were elected by vote on EA Sports' website, while Mattocks was included for being named Best Player Under 24 in MLS by MLS. EA Sports also offered downloadable covers for each MLS team with a player from that club being featured. The teams and players were:

• Chicago Fire – Sean Johnson
• Chivas USA – Dan Kennedy
• Colorado Rapids – Matt Pickens
• Columbus Crew – Federico Higuaín
• D.C. United – Dwayne De Rosario
• FC Dallas – Brek Shea
• Houston Dynamo – Brad Davis
• Los Angeles Galaxy – Landon Donovan
• Montreal Impact – Marco Di Vaio
• New England Revolution – Benny Feilhaber
• New York Red Bulls – Tim Cahill
• Philadelphia Union – Michael Farfan
• Portland Timbers – Darlington Nagbe
• Real Salt Lake – Kyle Beckerman
• San Jose Earthquakes – Chris Wondolowski
• Seattle Sounders FC – Fredy Montero
• Sporting Kansas City – Jimmy Nielsen
• Toronto FC – Torsten Frings
• Vancouver Whitecaps FC – Jay DeMerit or Darren Mattocks

Wii and PlayStation Vita versions

The Wii and PlayStation Vita versions of FIFA 13 are recycled previous year titles rather than brand new, ground-up developments. Media outlet Nintendo Gamer pointed out using various comparison screenshots that FIFA 13 on Wii is actually the Wii version of FIFA 12 with some minor updates to club kits, listings and graphics textures, whilst menu designs and game mechanics are mostly identical.^[25] IGN also pointed out that Electronic Arts treated the PlayStation Vita version of FIFA 13 in a similar manner, calling it a "cynically re-skinned" version of the console's previous title FIFA Football (FIFA Soccer in North America; which is actually the title of FIFA 12 on the console). Whilst this version does include some of the new online features found on the PlayStation 3 version, the menus, backgrounds, modes, and most game mechanics are largely identical to the previous title.^[26] IGN justifies that the Wii version as a recycled development since the game was released in the console's twilight period,^[26] and additionally considering the game is also available on the console's successor, the Wii U, which is confirmed as a completely new development.^[27] Additionally, in an interview with Wired, EA's COO Peter Moore says, "Year on year, Wii has just dropped, and clearly we don’t make games for it anymore."^[28] However, IGN states there is no justification for the PlayStation Vita's version in either its development or the game's price, as the console itself is still in its early years, and questioning EA's official comment, “It is the same great FIFA gameplay for the PS Vita.”^[26]

Reception

IGN gave FIFA 13 a 9/10.^[29] GamesRadar called FIFA 13 "a great evolutionary step for EA's footy juggernaut", but criticised the collision engine as "unnatural", and the newly revamped Career Mode as "forced and artificial" and "archaic" – awarding it 4 stars.^[30] GameSpot gave FIFA 13 a score of 8/10, praising the new skill games, but bemoaning the lack of improvement over FIFA 12.^[31] OXM reported that the seven biggest flaws of FIFA 12 were, for the most part, fixed in FIFA 13.^[32] PC Gamer awarded the Microsoft Windows version of the game a score of 86/100, stating that it is still an "excellent football game", but "has been overburdened by features and is hungry for some real innovation".^[33] The PSP version of the game was also praised, garnering a favourable review Pocket Gamer, who described it as "worthwhile addition to the handheld's already vast repertoire", giving it an 8/10 score.^[34] FIFA 13 received a positive review on iOS from CNET, proclaiming it "not only the best soccer game, but the best sports game on an iOS device", bestowing upon it 4.5/5 rating.^[35]

Reviews for other platforms were more negative. Nintendo's Wii version received a negative review from ONM, who stated that the game was a "shamefully cynical 'update' that brings absolutely nothing new to the table", giving the game a 30% rating.^[36] Reviews for the PS Vita were equally cynical about the amount of work EA had put into the latest version of the series, with OPM calling the game an "exact clone" of FIFA Football, and stating that "there isn’t a single new feature in FIFA 13" – awarding the game 5/10.^[37] The 3DS edition received a poor review from GamingXP, with "clumsy controls" being an overriding complaint.^[38] IGN gave the PlayStation Vita version a 4.0/10, stating, "There's nothing inherently wrong with FIFA 13 on the Vita from a mechanical point of view. But something went wrong. EA has chosen not to get behind Sony's latest handheld. The potential of FIFA on a handheld certainly hasn't been realised."^[39]

Sales and revenue

FIFA 13 sold more than one million copies (1.23 million units in 48 hours) in the United Kingdom in its first week of release (the fourth game to do so after Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3),^{[40] [41]} and topped the UKIE charts on all formats week ending September 29, 2012.^[42] 4.5 million copies were sold worldwide in five days, with 7.4 millions units sold four weeks after its release, which makes the game the biggest videogame launch of 2012 and biggest sports videogame launch of all-time according to EA.^[43][44] As of May 2013, FIFA 13 has sold 14.5 million copies.^[45]

Notes

^ a In Japan, the game was published only on the following console platforms: PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, and Wii U. It is also available for Microsoft Windows and iOS, but those versions are without Japan's localised packaging/presentation.

^ b Localised covers are not included on Nintendo's platforms in the Middle East and Poland since Nintendo of Europe has no localisation offices in either territories, albeit it distributes its games in those places. In the case of the Middle East, official localisation of Nintendo's products is handled by an Emirati company called Active Gulf, a branch of a licensed Japanese distributor called Active Boeki, which imports all of its games, including third-party titles, from the North American region, in which only some Nintendo-published titles have a localised packaging. Stadlbauer Sp., Nintendo's last licensed trader in Poland since 2012, was responsible for distribution of Nintendo's products in the country before ceasing their operations in August 2013. They only locally distributed pan-European editions of Nintendo's licensed games as published for "other" European markets.

References

External links

• Official website
• EA Sports FIFA Soccer 13 on the U.S. PlayStation website