FIFA 12 3DS Review: It’s Own Breed of FIFA

FIFA 12 3DS Review

FIFA 12 on the 3DS is certainly not the FIFA we know on other consoles. It is it’s own breed of FIFA redesigned for the 3DS system. This comes with a few good things and a few not so good.

The gameplay still plays like a fairly good soccer title but only on the hard level of difficulty. One of my frustrations is not being able to switch to the defender nearest to the ball which makes it difficult to play defense in this game. Your defenders do alright though there are still times when you question the position of some of your defenders. When it comes to settings you are limited in how much time you can choose. You can’t play more than 5 minute halves. You have the option of 2, 3, 4 or 5 minutes but no more than that. Usually 5 is OK for some people but I usually like to go with 6 in other soccer titles.

You have a selection of different modes to play in, including your usual career mode and Be A Pro mode. You also have a tournament mode which you can select from many different leagues and cups for you to play in. In career mode you still have a large selection of teams to choose, from many different leagues. You have your official team names and logos of course but on the field you are not wearing your official badge on your jersey which is a minor detail but one I feel should be there. You still have a good selection of options when starting your career mode; Choosing your sponsor, coaches, and of course managing your team in detail. Transfers work instantly in this version if you wish to transfer your players. It’s less of an official sim than the regular version of FIFA. It has its bonuses for doing that instead of simming ahead a few days to see if they accept it or not.

Be A Pro mode is a good feature on this title. It won’t take you long to earn XP to build up your character to become a top end player that you can use to dominate games. You start out your career playing street soccer in a 4v4 match up. Sometimes you’ll go up against goalies and sometimes you will just have a small target to hit. You don’t have many games to play in the first few seasons of Be A Pro mode, so it won’t take you long to get through the first few seasons. The second season you’ll have a selection of low end top soccer clubs to play for which gives you a real soccer experience and non street play. Though you’ll still have practice games which play in the 4v4 street mode. As you continue to play, eventually you should end up at the club of your choice.

The difficulty level in FIFA 12 comes with easy, medium and hard and I must say that you will want to play it on hard if you want any kind of challenge at all. Easy and medium are just ridiculously easy and provide you with little to no challenge what so ever. The defending and opposing team’s offense make stupid moves or present no challenges to go up against. Playing on the hard level is the only option for a good challenge, however you could play medium until you get use to the 3DS version.

Overall gameplay in FIFA 12 for the 3DS is still a fun soccer experience and has its quality moments in gameplay. As I said earlier, you will want to play on hard difficulty to get a good experience, otherwise you won’t be challenged. The AI can be pretty questionable on marking of players but it still works out alright. You can also use the touch screen to shoot when you get into scoring position. It’s not necessary and you will need to be quick about it. When you get into position, a picture of the net will show up on the touch screen. You then will quickly select the area of the net you would like to shoot at on the touch screen, which can be a lot of fun to use. Some of my best and most fun goals that I scored where from using the touch screen. So that is certainly a fun feature that the 3DS provides you with.

Visually the game is alright but it could work on details better for the next version, including my little pet peeve of not seeing the official team logos on the jerseys. The 3D looks decent as well but can look awkward in different camera angles. In Be A Pro, it looks fine but when I played in my career mode I like using the side angel for my camera view. The 3D looks very odd and bothers me at the bottom of the screen so I usually avoid using it when I play that way.

The soundtrack has a couple good songs but they grow tiring when you hear them all of the time. They need a larger selection of music to use for this title as the songs repeated far to much. Towards the end I just left the volume down.

In the end, FIFA 12 on the 3DS is a far less superior title than its console version. It was made specifically for the 3DS and functions well enough, even though it lacks in many details, it gives you just enough to have a good experience. I loved using the touch screen to scroll through the menus, set my line-ups and formations. I also loved using the touch screen to shoot once in awhile. It provided for some pretty good fun and great goals scored. You certainly don’t want to walk into this version expecting it to be nearly the same as it’s console version or you will be disappointed. However, as I said, it was just enough for a good experience with Be A Pro and Career. It was certainly built for a fast and quick game play experience, more than a sit down investing long hours within a deep title. I still had a lot of fun playing this version of FIFA 12 and it’s an enjoyable soccer title for the 3DS that I would recommend.

Score: 7/10