PS3, XBOX 360, Wii, PC, 3DS

It’s football, okay? Just get used to the idea that soccer is really football. It’s the most popular sport in the world, there’s so much drama in the sport. The fans are more intense, and they don’t stop in the middle of a play to line up every four seconds. If any of this made sense, you should take a look at FIFA 2013. Here, the FIFA franchise gets an update though not a real change of any sort. Please note this only really applies to the XBOX, PS3 and PC. The Nintendo versions are substantially different.

For those uninitiated, FIFA 2013 is a great way to begin learning to play the beautiful game known as football. With tutorials from the first time you power the game, wonderful animations, engaging in-game presentation and a robust assortment of online and offline modes, FIFA 13 has the goods to keep you glued to your TV or PC monitor for days at a time. If pulse-pounding sports are up your alley, be prepared to call in sick for about a week.

Two of the most touted additions to the long-running series are Attacking Intelligence and First Touch Control. Attacking Intelligence is the AI behind computer forwards and attackers making runs toward the goal with better efficiency. First Touch Control allows the player to take much more control over the first touch once the ball hits your man, whether at your head, foot, chest, what have you. These make the game feel much more realistic. Unfortunately, they are not the type of great, revolutionary changes one would hope FIFA could accomplish this decade.

This soccer hegemony features most of the popular leagues around the world, like the Premier League in England, and Major League Soccer here in the US. Players can play as managers or players in Career Mode, or one can build a fantasy team from almost scratch in Ultimate Team. These modes are holdovers from the previous game. Added is My Club mode, where online updates about the popularity and success of other fans of another addition is recorded and ranked, as well as the EA Sports Club, an online update of current football scores, highlights and form (who’s good, who’s not so good) that can actually affect rosters of an exhibition or online game if you wish. These are cool tweaks, but again, not game changing.

For those who’ve played more than one version of FIFA, this one can be boiled down to new rosters, animations and some cool, but marginal, online integration. Still, while nothing major has changed, the gameplay is so good, and only getting better. Even minor changes, like player growth models, have been worked on. With all the modes, all the ways to compete and pound your virtual chest, it’s quite worth putting down the money, especially for sports fans. FIFA 13 actually, believe it or not, is a deeper sports game and a better one at that, than Madden is this year.