FIFA 11

Shooting in FIFA 11 is a bit different from previous FIFA versions, but the changes are not too drastic. The ball physics overall seem a bit different, and in most ways, more realistic. The drop is very accurate to real life, and the power to height correlation seems to be much less drastic. My single biggest complaintwith the shooting engine in FIFA 11 is that outside of the foot shots occur way too much, and I think that they are actually quite inaccurate when compared to regular shots

Regular Shots

The traditional laces strike is the default shot in FIFA 11. By pressing the default shoot button for your particular gaming console, the player will execute this shot. More powerful than the chip or finesse shots, but they are much less predictable and sometimes less accurate due to how quickly the power bar can fill up. I recommend this shot if you are shooting from relative distance (18+ yards out) because while in the box, the finesse shot will be more useful in most cases. The regular laces shot is more useful in the box in some scenarios such as a right footed shooter aiming for the wide left post while approaching from the right side of the goal. This of course isn't the only scenario, but you will have to experiment to figure out what works when deciding between regular shots and finesse shots, which are explained below.

Finesse Shots

Finesse shots are sidefooted strikes which are particularly useful when shooting from in and around the penalty box. Finesse shots are generally more accurate than regular shots, but will be much less powerful. Finesse shots also have a decent bit of curve, the amount depending on the strength of shot and time it has to curve. To execute a finesse shot on Xbox 360, hold down RB while shooting, and R1 while shooting on PS3.

Chip Shots

Chip shots are useful shots which are used to cheekily loop the ball over the goalkeeper and into the goal. A chip shot has a high arc and is not very powerful, but is useful for when the goalkeeper is not on his line and a bit farther away from the goal than he should be. This scenario occurs a lot when a player is on a breakaway and the opponent rushes his goalkeeper out too early, giving you enough time to chip it over him before he gets too close to cut off your angle. Sometimes in FIFA 11, goalkeepers are off their line for no good reason, so you should look for this and give it a try if he is. On Xbox 360, chip shots are executed by holding down LB as you are pressing the shoot button, and likewise for PS3 although you want to hold down the L1 button instead. The goalkeepers tend to stay on their line most of the time, unlike FIFA 10, but keep your eyes open when on a breakaway to try the chip shot.

Volleys

Volleys are shots taken while the ball is airborne, making it much harder to get on target, but they look spectacular when you do so and it results in a goal. Volleys tend to be much harder than ground shots, both in real life and in FIFA. The control for a volley is the same as a regular shot on your console. Keep in mind that the volley category includes any airborne shot except for the header, so look out for opportunities to pull off an acrobatic shot such as a bicycle kick, which occur randomly and you cannot do much to increase the chances of them happening.

Headers

There isn't much to say about headers as shots. The control is the same as what it is for a regular shot for your console. Remember that a good header is usually accompanied by a good cross, so if you don't provide good crosses in from the wings, don't expect good headers. Crossing situations aren't the only ones that provide heading opportunities, but keep this in mind. Also note that you need not hold the shootbutton to get a good header, you will usually only require a short tap.

Setting Up for a Shot

When thinking about taking a shot, keep in mind the position of your player in relation to the goal. Also think about how the ball and your player are moving and how this will affect your shot. An example of an ideal time to shoot is when your player has enough room for a decent run-up, not pressured by opposing players, and the ball is on the ground and not moving fast.

Manual Shooting

By default, FIFA 11 is set to assisted shooting. This means that whenever you take a shot, the computer ultimately directs the shot and determines its power for you in relation to where you “sorta” directed the shot and how long you held the stick for. Once you set your shooting settings to manual, you will realize just how much the computer helps you get your shots on target. When you first set manual settings, don't be discouraged by how your shots go everywhere but into the net. You will improve over time and in the end it will be worth it as your shots will be determined 100% by your command. This means that once you get good, you can hit the far corners out of the keepers reach much more frequently than if you'd spent the same amount of time practicing shooting with assisted settings.

FIFA 11 is about as equally paced as FIFA 10, so passing is still a crucial skill to be able to do well. You must learn to posses the ball through passing before looking for that killer through ball that puts a striker in on goal and other useful techniques such as playing a ball to the winger and learning when to cross.

Possessing the Ball

Holding a good percentage of possession is very important. If you do not possess the ball, your opponent does, and obviously, he can score if he has the ball. Good possession of the ball is hard to teach, you must look for those short passes around the midfield. Don't be afraid to play the ball back! Even though you're loosing ground towards the goal, playing the ball backwards to an open player gives him many more options forward than you would have had. He can then play a ball to the more central midfielder who was not an option when you had the ball, and he might have some really good passing options due to the space you opened up with this quick rotation of the ball.

Inside or Outside?

There are always pockets of space on the pitch where the defending team is nonexistent. You must look at the current team stance of your opponent, are they spread out wide and long leaving many viable passing lanes? Or are they cluttered more in the center of the field, leaving options for you to play the ball outside? You need to learn to analyze how your opponent's team is positioned, and take advantage of this. A good example would be that from a goal kick, the defending team tends to push into the center of the field, leaving your wingers or outside midfielders wide open. If you are to win the header, play the ball to any open player, who can then distribute it to your winger or outside midfielder. Another example is playing against a team who is very spread out, which is usually due to his formation featuring many midfielders and defenders. By noticing this, you already have the advantage that there will be more passing lanes than normal, and the through ball will be extremely effective.

Regular Passes

By pressing the default passing button of your gaming console, you play a simple sidefooted pass to a teammate. These passes will go right to your target's feet, so if they have a lot of room in front of them to run on to, you might want to consider the through ball, which will be explained later. Although the default assisted controls will aid your passing direction and power, you do have a considerable amount of control over the power of your pass, so analyze the distance between you and your passing target and hold down the passing button accordingly so it gets to him without being intercepted. However, if you want full control over the direction and power of your shots, I highly recommend looking into changing your passing settings to manual. See more on the Manual vs. Assisted debate here.

Lofted Pass

The lofted pass is useful when your passing target is wide open, but there is a player of the opposing team in the way of this. By simply lofting the ball over your opponent's head and to your target, you can evade this problem. Another useful time to utilize the lofted pass is by passing up to a big, tall striker. Most of the time, he will out-jostle and out-jump the defenders to head the ball to another player or even chest it down to his feet. This is useful because when done well, it is so sudden that the midfielders don't have enough time to get back, and you can attack just their back line.

Crossing

Crossing is an incredibly useful tool in FIFA 11 due to the effectiveness of headers and importance of strength. Done most by wingers and outside midfielders, the cross is when a player plays a lofted pass from the wide flanks of the pitch to open strikers in the box who are ready to put it into the net. There are three types of crosses in FIFA 11.

1. The Traditional Lofted Cross – by holding down the lofted pass button on your console, your player will play in a cross that tends to go high enough that heading the ball is the best option for your strikers.
2. The Low Cross – by tapping the lofted pass button down twice in quick succession, your player will play in a lower cross to the ground that is usually put away by not only headers, but also volleys. The ideal time to use this is when your striker us approaching the near post and there is not a defender in front of him, or when the player who is going to cross the ball is very close to the end line.
3. The Ground Cross – a ground cross is executed by tapping the lofted pass down three times in quick succession. This will result in a ground level, hard cross across the face of goal. This is useful for when the defensive line is rushing back to the goal to defend the cross but haven't quite made it there yet. If your striker is in line with the defence, but is faster and will beat them to the ball, then go for it. When done well, the cross will nestle right in front of your striker nicely for him to bang into the back of the net.

*Holding down LB on Xbox or L1 on Playstation while crossing with any of these three crossing variants produces an early cross intended for when you are not very close to the endline but still think your strikers are in a good enough position to cross to.

Through Ball

The through ball is an incredibly dangerous weapon to use against your opponent. The through ball is a pass which doesn't go directly to your passing target, but rather in front of him for him to run on to. Obviously, don't try this if your target doesn't have space in front of him, or if his marker or defenders around him are faster than him. The best uses for the through ball are for when playing wingers to give them a head start on their dribble down the line, or playing through holes in the defensive line so your striker can simply run past the defenders to be in on goal. The through ball can also be utilized to quickly speed up your attack in the midfield also, your center-midfielders will have space in front of them too!

Chipped Through Ball

Chipped Through balls have the same concept as the regular through ball, but that the pass is, well, chipped! This is useful for when your passing target has a lot of space in front of him and is faster than the defenders around him, but they are blocking passing lanes through which you can play a grounded through ball.

Manual Passing

Passing in FIFA 11 is set to assisted controls by default. By this, I mean that whenever you attempt to pass the ball, the computer greatly alters the amount of power your pass will have and the direction it will go, almost regardless of what you did with your controller. If you set your passing controls to Manual, you will have full control over the power and direction of your shots. It takes some getting used to, but it is very much worth it in the end, once you get good at it.

The all-new Replay Theater of FIFA 11 organizes your replays into one space, and provides a place to view your saved replays. FIFA 11 now also includes post-match highlights – the game automatically saves your highlights of the game such as goals, close misses, shots, etc. This way, after the match you can pick and choose which highlights you would like to save to view or upload later without having to pause during the game to save an instant replay. This also eliminates the old problem of replays in online matches, previously you couldn't pause online games to look at instant replays, so the only way to record online games was through an external capture device.

However, I would recommend using a good quality, external capture card of some sort if you are planning on making goal montages or tutorials pertaining to FIFA, as the quality is rather low on FIFA's replay system when uploaded on to your EA Sports profile, but it would work if it is your only option.

If you are interested in recording better quality FIFA gameplay that can be saved on to your computer for viewing or making goal montages to put online, check out this guide to Capturing your FIFA Gameplay.