I will start off this review with a little side note, the first FIFA game from Electronic Arts I have played was FIFA International Soccer sometime around 1994. It was the first in a series of games which ultimately became the most successful sports franchise ever. From that day on, I have played every single FIFA iteration to date, this includes World Cup and Euro editions. Why am I telling you this? There is a simple reason, FIFA Soccer 12 on the PlayStation Vita has brought back the feeling I had, when I was 10 years old and discovered the franchise.


One of the first thoughts I had when the PS Vita was announced, 'we need to play FIFA on this device'. Of course EA Sports already had a game in development at this point with the first FIFA title on Sony's new handheld. Before going into the nitty gritty of my time with the game, I will say that FIFA 12 looks absolutely amazing on the PS Vita. EA sports has used the same engine that powers FIFA 12 on consoles and PC to run the handheld version and it shows. The presentation is second to none and probably one of the best looking Vita launch titles. The game runs super smooth and without a hitch during matches, even when throwing everything at the game. There are some frame rate slow downs during the clips in between halves or fouls but it didn't bother me one bit.

FIFA 12 is pretty much the entire console experience fit into your hands, while not suffering much at all. EA Sports' first PS Vita title includes all the features from the PS3 version I have been playing for months. Players can chose to create a virtual pro (minus the gameface download), take on an entire season or career mode as well as online competition. If you buy FIFA 12 on your new shiny Vita, there will be no shortage of things to do. Since the engine was ported to the Vita version of FIFA 12, you also get to use both sticks to control the action on the pitch which includes all the skill moves from its big brother and the 'Be a Pro' point of view. Everything works without a hitch and the gameplay is as addicting as ever.

There are some twists to this FIFA title on the Vita and they are quite smart and useful rather than tacked on gimmicks. While players can utilize all the cool new control options the Vita provides, including the back touch pad as well as the screen's touch capabilities, the game can be played completely using traditional controls. I tend to combine them and use a bit of both depending on the scenario. My favorite part specifically are the shooting controls using the rear-touch. At almost any point players can touch the back of the Vita to shoot on goal with the location of the touch placing it on the net in the game. Touch the upper right corner of the Vita's rear-touch and Lionel Messi will put it there, this is an excellent use of the touch pad. Additionally I was able to touch onto the goal directly on the screen if it was in sight. This works especially well during free kick scenarios, since swiping the finger across the screen, will curve the ball around the wall. Again, this is a very clever use of the touch controls.

There are more unique and useful input techniques such as touching the player you'd like to control when on defense. This can avoid the constant back and forth between selecting of defenders. Of course there are also touch based passing controls. This method of passing allows for a snappy and smooth way to move the ball around the pitch. I also found it quite cool to be able to touch a player to cross it to him on a corner kick, as you can see, EA really made good use of the new hardware.

Typically in a review you'll read a bunch of good features in a game as well as the negatives. The problem for me is that EA's FIFA 12 on the Vita doesn't have many downsides if any. EA sports was able to take the fully fledged FIFA experience on the go and even utilizing the great input options the Vita has to offer. I have been incredibly addicted to the game and would almost place it in front of my PS3 version in terms of fun factor, that is just how good FIFA Soccer 12 is on the PlayStation Vita.

Score: 9 / 10

FIFA 12 was developed and published by EA Sports for PlayStation Vita on February 14th. A retail copy of the game was provided to us by EA Sports for reviewing purposes.