When we first purchase a new FIFA game, we generally tend to play with the teams we support first. Then, as we become bored with our team, we tend to play with various 5-star teams, such as the usual suspects: Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Manchester United. After that, we try and unearth our ‘online team’ – the team you think you play best with to gain points online.
After a while though, it gets less enjoyable playing with the best teams game after game; and then we play with the lower-rated teams with average players – but with the odd player we base our team around.
Here, I show which teams rated less than five stars are always a joy to play with:
Belgium: 4 ½*
Belgium boast one of the best team of individual in the world. Rated at 4 ½ stars in FIFA, when you play online, you are often pipped against weaker teams – giving you a better chance of a high-scoring victory.
With a solid goalie keeping goal for the Belgians in Thibaur Courtois, and three of the best defenders in the game – even though they are not the highest rated – in Vincent Kompany, Jan Vertonghen and Thomas Vermalen – they are one of the hardest teams to score against with their physical presence.
In midfield they boast the best defensive midfielder in the game with Marouane Fellaini and with him they have the skill and accuracy of Steven Defour and Alex Witsel – who is surely a contender for best young player in the game itself.
Upfront they possess three of the most deadly strikers in the game – who all acquire deadly speed. However, out of the three [Christian Benteke, Kevin Mirallas and Eden Hazard] Eden Hazard is their main man in the team – the player who you will always be aiming for upfront in most attacks.
It is a head-scratcher that Belgium is not a five-star rated team as their team can certainly put up a fight against the best. If you do choose to play with Belgium, you will play against weaker teams which can be easily exploited with Belgium’s solid defence, skilful midfield, and their trio of deadly strikers.
Tottenham Hotspur: 4 ½*
As I mentioned before, most FIFA players will play with their own ‘online team’ – which is usually not the team they actually support.
Well, I support Manchester United, and the team I play with online is Tottenham Hotspur.
With Spurs you get one of the best goalkeepers in the game, a physically powerful defence, a solid midfield, and two of the fastest wingers in the game in Aaron Lennon and Gareth Bale.
Their two centre-backs are physically empowering in Younas Kaboul and Jan Vertonghen; but their real uniqueness comes with their two full-backs. Kyle Walker, the young, English right-back has the pace, power, and passing ability to scare any team in the game. Benoit Assou–Ekotto is similar to Walker as he possesses undeniable pace and a dazzling left foot.
Although they may lack a star striker, playing with the ‘false number 9’ formation with Tottenham almost makes them unbeatable. With Scott Parker breaking up the attacks, it gives Gareth Bale – who, in my opinion , is the best player in the game as he possesses astonishing pace, a powerful left foot, and he can defend – to run up the wings and get a chance on goal.
All in all, Spurs are the ultimate non-five-star team to play with in FIFA 13.
The Welsh wizard is a nightmare to play against in FIFA 13
Republic of Ireland: 4*
The Republic of Ireland may not be everybody’s first choice in the quest for online promotion, but nevertheless, they have an overall strong first eleven – with a solid bench to back them up.
They have two average centre-halves in their rank in Richard Dunne and John O’Shea in an otherwise weak defence. However, their midfield is solid, and extremely difficult to break down with the likes of Aiden McGeady, Glenn Whelan and Kevin Andrews – with James McClean adding pace to the team on the left.
Up front, the Irish have three strikers to choose from – who may lack the pace to scare five-star opposition – but have to ability to put away chances with their lethal finishing in Shane Long, Robbie Keane and Kevin Doyle.
Ireland has an advantage in that they are a four-star international team: by being four-star, they are likely to be faced with 3-and-a-half-star teams or other four-star teams, which makes them favourites in most matches.
So, if you do choose to play with the Republic, it will be a hard-fought game no matter what the outcome of the game.
Honourable mentions:
Swansea City – a solid defence and their midfield has the passing accuracy to beat any team. Attack lets them down.
Sevilla – a frightening attack with the always-reliable Álvaro Negredo heading the strike force for the Spanish team. They are a team which also boasts Spanish speedster Jesus Navas and the crafty Jose Reyes. Only downfall is their ageing defence.
Borussia Dortmund – unlucky not to have made it into the top three with their star-studded line-up. Neven Subotic and Mat Hummels, arguably the two best defenders in the game, lead the defence whilst hugely-talented attacking midfielder Mario Goetze and Robert Lewandowski are the two main men in attack. Only downside for the German club is that they may be over-reliant on those four players.
Sunveer Sandhu
Images courtesy of:
PC Gamer – http://www.pcgamer.com/review/fifa-13-review/
As Sony finally announced the upcoming Playstation 4, they teased gamers by revealing many different aspects that the ‘next-generation’ console will possess. However, they still left many fans wanting to know more.
Here I explore three major questions that Sony left unanswered:
What will the console look like?
Sony certainly teased gamers across the world with their launch of the Playstation 4 at a press conference in New York on Wednesday. It may look as if they went with the ‘give the fans something, but leave them wanting more’ technique by addressing some of the accessories and gadgets that the Playstation 4 will possess – such as the games, but leaving the question of ‘what will the console look like’, unanswered. Fans were left frustrated by the lack of a physical product reveal – and they were quick to vent their frustrations out on Twitter, with one gamer tweeting: “Stayed up for two hours for the Sony press conference and they don’t even show us the console design?!?! #wasteoftime”
The reason, it may appear, is that Sony does not even know what the Playstation will look like themselves, with Sony’s worldwide studio president Shuhei Yoshida stating: “The console hardware isn’t finished, but we thought this was a really good time to show our games.”
Jack Tretton – the President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America – was quick to address the complaints of the fans as he assured gamers that the design is not the most important aspect of the console, and they will care more about “what comes out of the box, not what it looks like. I can promise you that it will be plastic, it won’t be triangle-shaped or round. You’ll see the box in due time.”, he stated.
So, should Sony have waited until the Playstation design was fully completed before setting out a press conference watched by millions around the world; or was this an intelligent ploy to leave games on the edge of their seats – imaging what was described as “the next generation console” might look like?
Although Sony failed to show what the PS4 console will look like, they did introduce what the controller will look like – prompting positive feedback across the globe.
Release Date
Sony have stated that the Playstation 4 will be released sometime in 2013 – for game consoles especially, it is unheard of to confirm a brand new console will be released in the same year that it was announced.
We have seen over the years with the likes of Microsoft and Nintendo Wii announcing the release of game consoles – they’ve showed segments of what the game will possess in one year; the following year they would show an upgrades version of the console; and then later that year they would show the world the final, completed version with a confirmed release date.
However, Sony have built up the excitement for the Playstation 4 before their rivals could do the same. Now, when Xbox do announce their newest version, it will be compared with the Playstation – and not the other way round.
Price
There have been many rumours regarding the price of the Playstation this past week, with many suggesting that it will be near the £120 mark; whilst others suggest it will be nearly £700. Though we still don’t know the exact price at which the PlayStation 4 will launch, SCEA CEO Jack Tretton assured fans that the price of software will not be rising [above the £450 mark which the Playstation 3 originally cost].
The pricing issue has sparked huge debates worldwide, with Playstation fanatic William Usher predicting that “if the console arrives at more than $400 this holiday season then I can see only core gamers picking up the Playstation 4. If the console launches for anything less than $400, then it opens up for a wide range of demographics.”
With Jack Tretton confirming that Playstation 4 game prices will not be increasing, and stating that games will vary from “99 cents up to those $60 games”, could this pave a way for Sony to go for a higher starting price for the Playstation 4?
Sunveer Sandhu
Image courtesy of:
Tech Radar – http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/ps4-controller-revealed-introducing-the-dualshock-4-1132650
“INTEGRATE”
“SEAMLESS”
“CONNECTIVITY”
“SOCIAL”
“MOTION”
“INNOVATE”
BUZZWORDS. BUZZWORDS. BUZZWORDS.
Please kill me.
Sony have really made a push towards ‘social connectivity’ for their next generation of console. This is clearly a logical step for them to take. I immediately associate playing games in my smelly man-cave with ‘being social.’ A natural evolution.
This social integration includes users displaying their real names and faces whilst playing online. I’m sure everyone will be eager to share every facet of their life on the PlayStation Network with Sony’s stellar track-record of user security.
You will also be pleased to discover that the library of PlayStation 3 games that you have accumulated over the years will be playable on the PlayStation 4… as long as you’re willing to pay for them again.
That’s right, there is no backwards compatibility with your PlayStation 3 disks unless you download them again from the PlayStation store.
But rest assured, not everything that you own will become obsolete once the PlayStation 4 launches. You will all be glad to know that your glow-in-the-dark sex wands will be compatible from the word ‘go.’ I know how much you all love those.
I’m sure you’re able to tell that the announcement was a great success, but there were just a few very minor topics that Sony forgot to address.
Release date?
Price?
The console, itself?
At the event of the PlayStation 4 announcement, it didn’t cross any of the Sony employees’ minds that it would be a good idea to actually bring a PS4 along with them to be shown to the masses. Not a big deal though, right? I’m sure that they must’ve had more important things that they were thinking about.
Charlie Staples
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Images Courtesy of:
http://i.imgur.com/EvJ0UtL.png
New High Score 
