EA Manuals. Where's the Beef? |
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Written by Craig Gonzalez
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Monday, 01 January 2007 |
I just picked up yet another EA game today, FIFA 07, and I stopped off at a restaurant by my house to get a bite to eat afterwards. I figured that I would open up the FIFA game and pull the manual out to read while I ate a bit of lunch. So, I did, and to my not so surprise, FIFA comes with an instruction manual that is a whopping 9 pages! Needless to say, it didn't take me very long to thumb through it. So, after thinking about how thick the manual is for NBA 2K7, I decided to pull out the manuals of all the EA Sports '07 series games that I own. NCAA 07, Madden 07, NHL 07, and now FIFA 07.... all 360 games. After further inspection, it seems that ALL of these games instruction manuals are a whole 9 pages. 9! Meanwhile, the manual for NBA 2K7 is 49 pages counting all the credits and all that jazz.
I'm starting to get really irritated by the fact that EA doesn't find it very important for us to know how to operate the game. Yeah, they have tutorials in the game and everything, but that doesn't do me any good when I want something to read in the "library" or if I wanted a printed manual in front of me while I play the game. Besides that, we are in the next gen in our video game systems and now EA is starting to add some new, more extensive, controls to their games, but it seems they just don't want to tell us what they are.
Case in point, I find if preposterous that NHL 07 has a 9 page manual. It has an innovative shot system and the game has been completely revamped. I know for a fact that there's all kinds of different shots that you can pull of with the R Stick, but it's not written in the manual. I find it very odd that they choose not to let us know about those. I'm an adult and don't have time to figure out the hidden moves like I'm playing Mortal Kombat. That's not what sports games are about!
Also, in the FIFA manual, I found this little gem,
"Most of the game modes in FIFA Soccer 07 are self-explanatory and are not covered in this manual".
Really?
I know soccer is big worldwide and all, but I hardly follow the sport and how is a novice like myself supposed to know the intricacies of the Manager Mode? FIFA Lounge? What is that? This is the first soccer game that I've owned in years, there isn't a damn thing that is "self-explanatory" to me. Not to mention, there's all kinds of moves to pull off when you're the ballhandler. They have some moves listed, but how about a nice comprehensive listing showing us what they are? Is that too much to ask?
2K Sports doesn't seem to have a problem listing the different moves you can pull of in NBA 2K7 with *gasp* explanations of exactly how to do it. Not only that, but they seem to take it a step further and explain to us when would be a good time to pull of such special moves. It seems that they break down every aspect of the game and doesn't leave a stone unturned.
It's getting really frustrating. It's bad enough that we have to pay for alternate uni's that never come out, extra stadiums that slowly come out, and deal with several disconnects when playing Madden, but it's another when we aren't getting the information that we need in the manual, while paying $60 for the game itself. I thought with all the new hardware and extra stuff they could put into the game meant that we would be a bit more fulfilled with the gaming experience. As of right now, I am not feeling fulfilled. I am more or less starting to be slighted when it comes to some of the simple things that we're used to.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 29 January 2007 )
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