September 10th

FIFA 08 PS2 blog Marcel Kuhn, Producer Game play – Custom Formations First of all, I want to thank all of you for taking the time to read my past blog (Game play – Control and Freedom), and even more for posting responses. For today, let’s have a look at “Custom Formations” and “Club Specific Formations” both new features in FIFA08. We wanted to implement team personality in FIFA 08, so we added “Club Specific Formations”. What this means is that our database team and their editors researched the real world formation of each club featured in FIFA 08. The result is that in FIFA 08, every club has a different formation. For example, in the real world, multiple clubs may play a 4-4-2 on paper, but their formations vary a lot once they enter the pitch. Some teams might play with more offensive wing backs, others play with a diamond in the middle, or stagger their strikers rather then have them in-line. Every match-up will be slightly different based on the chosen formation, and we hope to increase the tactical awareness of the users, who will have to react to the different formations in order to be competitive. Also, we feel this feature has added another level of authenticity to FIFA 08 that we’ve been missing so far. But FIFA 08 is all about the user control, and therefore we also added a “Custom Formation” feature which allows every user to create their own formation. This feature will encourage users to create their own tactic and the users will be rewarded for investing time into creating the “perfect formation”. During development, this feature created a back and forth within the whole team, as it became a match-by-match challenge to create a better tactic than the next person. We’ve kept the creation of a formation easy and accessible, without losing any of the options you need. There are 6 easy steps you will have to go through to create the formation of your dreams. To give you a practical example, I applied the formation creation process to my club, VfB Stuttgart. I enjoyed this a lot, since the custom formation feature allows me to act as their coach, and makes them play like I want them to. They are currently playing in a 4-1-2-1-2 formation…but I don’t like the formation or the starting 11.

Let’s change it and create a “Custom Formation”…

Step 1 – Chose base formation I prefer a 3-5-2 type of formation. The biggest advantage a formation with 5 midfielders provides is the opportunity to own the middle of the pitch by aggressively pressuring your opponent. This type of pressing forces them to give up possession before they even reach your half. Once you win the ball, you have a lot of options to start your own attack via the wings, or straight through the middle.

Step 2 – Customize positions Of course, I am not done with simply choosing an “out of the box” formation, since each player on my team has individual strengths that I want to cater to. Step 2 of the formation creation process gives you the ability to select any player and place him anywhere on the pitch.

Step 3 – Assign offensive runs Now that you have all your players in position, you can add up to 2 offensive runs to each player. This will influence the direction the player runs into while you are in possession of the ball. For my team, I want the defense to spread out and make the game as wide as possible. The five players in the midfield can chose to bring up the ball through the middle, or send the right midfielder down the wing, since I put him down as very offensive. While the centre forward will come towards the play and assist the midfield in bringing the ball up the pitch, the right striker acts as a target man inside the box.

Step 4 – Assign defensive runs After assigning the offensive runs, you can also add up to 2 defensive runs to each player. This will not only influence the running patterns on defense, but also impact the positioning and the area a player covers while you are not in possession of the ball. Note that I assigned the right striker a forward pointing run on defense in order to make sure he stays up while the rest of the team is defending. This makes him a target man for fast counter attacks, while the centre forward and the attacking midfielder build the first wall of defense. The remaining four midfielders clog up the middle and are going to put pressure on the ball carrier. The centre back has to stop the remaining attacks that come through the middle, while the fullbacks have to cut off the support from the wings.

Step 5 – Name the formation To finish the process off, you have to find a name for the formation you’ve just created…

Step 6 – Assign the formation …and assign it to any club you like. At this point you can also assign the same created formation to multiple clubs if you wish.

Final Formation – Starting line-up What’s left for me is to make some adjustments to the starting 11, and to justify why I want to play a 3-5-2 formation with Stuttgart: - Meira as a sweeper in front of the 2 man markers can lock down the middle by himself and also is able to contribute offensively - Tasci and Delpierre are strong man markers that can take the opponent strikers out of the game - Pardo and Khedira are excellent ball winners and have the ability to open the play as well - Bastuerk (when healthy) is a great offensive midfielder, who can dribble or play the deadly pass - Hitzlsperger and Hilbert can bring up the ball via the wings and provide good service for Gomez and Cacau

Always remember, every change you make will have an impact on the pitch, so make sure you practice your formation before playing against your mate. As usual, only practice makes perfect! Cheers, marcel