Fifa 11 -- PC

         If you are a Football fan, there is nothing better than Fifa11. I should say this is the best game of the series. The control you have over the ball, collision, off the ball movement everything is awesome! It can get tricky when you begin to play, but once you master the game, I bet you'd spent hours playing it. It took me about a month to get stabilized on the game play, and there is no doubt I'm totally enjoying it.
          The first thing you'd check out after installing Fifa 11 is about the controls. The game is developed for a console, and the keys are totally messed up. You might need to reconfigure the controls by opening fifaconfig.exe in the folder fifa11/Game/fifasetup and then selecting Game Settings. This is the most confusing part, you can configure your keyboard corresponding to the buttons on a joystick, but you never know what those buttons do! This is how I configured it, hope it will help you.

This config would do the following actions

• Arrow Keys - Movement
• A - Lob/Sliding Tackle
• S - Short Pass
• D - Shot/Tackle
• Q - Change player
• E - Sprint
• Shift - Control Pace
• W - Through Pass/ Advance Keeper
• 1 - Tactical changes
• 2 - Defensive mode
• 4 - Attacking mode

       These are the only buttons I use, sadly Dribbling on a PC is almost impossible. Also you cant play on the Mouse, which gave ultimate control of the game in the previous versions. These two points are a serious drawback only for the PC version, but still the gameplay is teriffic!
        So some basic tips on playing this game --

• Patience: You need to be extremely patient to master this one, its not easy as its previous versions. Every game, every team has its unique approach. Maintaining a winning streak is almost impossible. Personally I'm into the 4th season of Manager mode(Kicked out by Manchester Utd. the very first season). I'm playing the game on Professional difficulty, the higher difficulties -- World Class and Legendary seemed to be too overwhelming for me, however I'll move higher soon. So as I said, if you are going to play Manager Mode, be patient, you will lose for sure, but patiently master the tactics.
• Pass and Move : Ive never felt this true for any other Fifa game. I remember Commentator Andy Gray repeatedly saying Football is a simple game-- Pass and Move! But this game heavily depends on this, never dream that you can run to the penalty box and score a goal just like that. You have to pass it, and make slight movements. The First touch is also important. You would have a feeling that you are going to slow mo mode once you master the game! Show it to your friend and he would say -- How the hell did you do that!
• Right Formations : Right formations are important to have a good flow on the game. Every team has their own formation. Try and get used to all of those. Ive played with 3 formations, and have realised the pros and cons of each of them. Master them by practice. And not all formation would work on "Ultra offensive" mode. Certain formation work better on the "Balanced" mode. Wing play can be tough, but effective too. Try everything out!
• Right Players and Fitness : Fitness is something that would bug you, you'll find players tiring out easily(Especially on the low level teams). The first thing I do after getting on to a team is upgrade the Fitness manager. It helps to an extent.
• Finishing : Never dream that you can smash into the Nets! Its never going to happen, on the other hand, a slight tough on "D" would do the trick. Low and slow shots get into the nets easier than smashing shots!(Honestly a powerful shot has never gone in for me, neither has Free Kicks worked for me)
• Defending : The toughest one to master on Fifa 11. It took really long for me to get used to it. The best tactic is holding "Shift" when you get close to a person. Running to the attacker seldom gets successful. You got to be patient and careful on this. Also the Advancing Keeper tactic would prove lot helpful in your games.
• Possession : Try to keep maximum possession by passing around, score one or two goals and you'll find that your team is suddenly playing really well! You'll love it!

         An awesome game to play, and never ending surprises. The Menu has been crafted wonderfully! Wherein you get to play as Kaka and practice around. I have not tried the "Be a Pro" mode yet, which has been impressive considering that you can submit your pic online to get a player that looks like you! For now, I'm engrossed on Manager Mode, and I'm not even bothered to try Fifa's rival PES 11(I loved PES 10 to Fifa 10). I guess you would have more suggestion to improve my gameplay as well, feel free to comment!
          Now getting on to how the game looks. The graphics and sound effects is simply awesome and the best Fifa has ever provided. The soundtracks are also good. EA sports has worked well on the stability of the Menus. Finally I would like to put a note on how it worked on my laptop the HP Pavilion dv6000 with specs

• Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 @2.00 GHz
• 3.00 GB Ram
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard(64 bit) edition
• NVIDIA Gefore 8400M GS - 1518 MB(256 Dedicated)
• 150 GB Hard Disk

Fifa 11 does not work that well on this laptop. With settings to min and resolution lowered down to 800x600, the game gets playable. This game need a really good fps to be enjoyable. Playing Fifa 11 on an HP dv6000 is not recommended.
Check out my review of PES11 here.
Check out my review of FIFA 12 here