Following a recent trip to EA Sports Vancouver, we've been able to uncover the first details on FIFA 11, including a first look at this year's 'Pro Passing' system, 'Personality ', and the new custom chants feature. Read on to find out ten things you need to know about FIFA 11!



The passing system has been completely revamped:

FIFA's passing mechanics have been totally overhauled for this year's game with the introduction of 'Pro Passing', a new mechanic designed to make ball behaviour and passing significantly more realistic. Every time the ball is played, the accuracy and power of the pass are determined by algorithms taking into consideration the ball's height, spin and velocity, the player's perception and pressure, and the angle and power of kick. A player's attributes can also greatly affect pass and shot accuracy, with a higher ranked player having an easier time whipping in a good cross than a lower ranked player, meaning effective player positioning is more important than ever. The Pro Passing system removes the 'ping-pong passing' problem found in previous FIFAs which made it fair too easy to make difficult passes, leading to contextual errors and noticeably more realistic football.



Personality makes players instantly recognisable during gameplay:

Though FIFA 11 has had its usual array of cosmetic enhancements (new photo-scanning technology now makes players' faces appear more true-to-life than ever before, while eye movement, blinking and enhancements to player expressions attempt to further distance FIFA from Uncanny Valley), player individuality is also something EA Sports is keen to push in this year's game. Custom poses and run animations have been applied to star players, and each player's animations are determined based on their skill. Rio Ferdinand makes a significantly cleaner and more confident tackle than a striker, for example, while natural dribblers like Andrei Arshavin are considerably more light-footed on the ball than Sol Campbell. A player's work rate has also been taken into consideration, with a determined AI-controlled Rooney chasing after the ball, while the relatively slack Berbatov stands around waiting for the ball to come to him. The idea behind Personality is to make players instantly recognisable during gameplay, rather than simply via close-up replays or action shots.



AI-controlled players read and react to ball trajectory:

Rather than being able to tell where the ball is going to end up directly from the kick, every player on the pitch - including goalies - now reads the trajectory of the ball on the fly, leading to more realistic behaviour and reactions. The split-second reaction time it now takes for a goalie to respond to ball spin or a deflection can make all the difference - and help make FIFA 11 the most realistic football video game ever released.



You can create your own chants:

If you enjoy shouting from the terraces, you're in for a treat in FIFA 11. You're now able to record your own chants to be played back during a match, associating the chants to particular teams or match conditions - or having them scroll through at random. Unfortunately, you're unable to share them with your mates due to potential copyright issues, but shout and swear all you like - this is your FIFA.



You can import tracks and playlists to play at specific moments:

Further building on FIFA 11's push for customisation, you can now import tracks playlists from your console's hard drive to play back at specific moments of a match. Want England to walk out onto the pitch to Three Lions? Well now you can.



There are custom body types for 'special cases':

Rather than being modified versions of existing body types as per previous FIFAs, football's oddballs like Peter Crouch and Aaron Lennon have now had their own custom body types created so they look as close as possible to the real thing. And yes, EA Sports does actually refer to them as 'special cases'.

Martin Tyler and Andy Gray are back:

The kings of commentary will be taking to the box again this year, with all new soundbites recorded specifically for this year's game.

AI-controlled players now attempt to score:

Rather than leaving balls from crosses or corners for user-controlled players, AI-controlled players will now attempt to score if they're given the opportunity. Whip the ball into the box and, if they're in the right position, the AI will have a crack at goal for you.

FIFA 11 includes features from FIFA 2010 World Cup:

Though they've been developed by separate teams, FIFA 11 contains a number of features first introduced in FIFA 2010 World Cup South Africa, including the two-button "Dad Pad" control option. "In the past the World Cup team would do their own things and there would be no connectivity between FIFA and the World Cup games," executive producer Kaz Makita told us, "but we actually did a posterity programme this time so you can apply all your controller settings, difficulty and Pro to World Cup. Those are the big steps forward for us; how we want to put each project into one vision rather than spinning off and wasting efforts." Kaz also reckons that "the visual side of FIFA 11 is actually taking a lot of stuff from World Cup".

There's a new handball option

You asked for it, you got it. Though EA Sports seems reluctant to put it in, FIFA 11 contains an option hidden away in its menu screens to toggle handball on and off. "The team were loathed to put in handball until the AI mechanics allowed players to pull their hands out of the way," said Creative Director Gary Paterson, but without said mechanic in this year's game and an obvious lack of confidence by making it an optional feature, let's hope handball adds to the game rather than detracts.

And that's not all! Though EA Sports is keen to keep them close to its chest for now, we're promised plenty more new features alongside the ten listed here, too. Make no mistake; this year's FIFA is going to be the best game released so far in the series.