Like every modern football fan, I demand instant success. If my team loses three games in a row then I want to see the manager publicly hung, drawn and quartered, all from the comfort of my armchair. That also makes me brilliant at Fifa and Football Manager, and my opinion more important than the next fan’s.
Of course I’m writing this with my tongue pressed firmly in cheek (apart from the bit about being boss at Fifa), but as time passes, I find the difference between hardcore football fan and gamer increasingly blurred. Time was a decade ago when gamers with a large emotional investment in football would buy Pro Evolution Soccer, take time to perfect their skills and humble their friends. People with little interest in gaming, but had a PlayStation, would usually buy Fifa because of the licences and give it a go for five minutes with their mates.
Those who cared about real football emulation always plumbed for Pro Evo, but things are different now that Fifa has cleaned its act up. Fifa has amassed an incredibly loyal core following thanks to enormous practical gameplay improvements complementing real teams, players and stadiums. That core following though is also thanks to Pro Evo’s very public and visible decline. Complementing licensed players with incredible gameplay for the last few years has turned Fifa – rightly – into the definitive football experience for fans of the game and arcade junkies alike.
But I hate the new defence mechanism with every fibre of my heart. Fifa definitely needed something radical to freshen it up, I personally felt there was very little difference between 10 and 11 bar the ‘Be a Goalkeeper’ feature and greater focus on individual players. Fifa 12 always had the momentum over its competitors thanks to its previous form, so it could afford to experiment a little. And while the presentation has again improved, learning a whole new way of defending has hit me hard and exposed me as the lazy gamer I’m becoming.
I’m 27 in November, I have other things to do like go to town clubbing and find fat girls to have a bounce on. I don’t have the time to control three Barcelona defenders at once and get skinned by Danny Cadamarteri. I don’t think I’d be as bothered were I younger and if the changes were presented in a more gradual fashion, but I’m finding myself leaving my controller to gather dust rather than cracking down and practising. And I know I’d enjoy it more if I did master it.
Maybe I’m not the player I once was. Maybe it’s time for me to hang my boots up…
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