FIFA Soccer 11 is the newest iteration in the long-standing FIFA series of soccer simulations. Using the latest graphics and allowing for new interactive options like upgraded team-building and player creation, FIFA Soccer 11 offers the chance to lead a favorite team, or a team of the player's own creation, to soccer glory. The Career mode has been upgraded to allow for greater team and player customization, while also allowing for three different styles (Player, Manager, and Player Manager). Game mechanics, like dribbling, passing and complex tricks, have also been improved.

FIFA Soccer 11 has various game modes. The largest is Career mode, in which the player takes a team of his or her choosing and leads it through multiple seasons as a player, a manager or a player-manager. The Career mode also allows the player to create special avatar to represent the player on the team who will then grow and develop over the course of the game. To only play in games and control the course of the avatar's career, the player can choose the Player option; to control both his player and the team, the Player Manager option can be chosen.

FIFA Soccer 11 is the 19th game in EA Sports popular FIFA series. The series began in 1993 with the original FIFA and has since been yearly developed in the style of the Madden or NHL series of games. Standing alone, as it were, in a genre without serious competition, FIFA has improved over time, adding layers of complexity and quality to each successive release.

So, you want to be a FIFA super-star? Before you dive into a career, it might be a good idea to familiarize yourself with the game mechanics. You can do this in several ways. One way is to set up a random match between two teams and play until you have a strong grasp on the game's camera, the controls and the basic mechanics of virtual soccer.

Another option is to use practice mode. Your player (who you must create beforehand) is set on an empty field with only a goalie to square off against. You can practice combos (special dribbling and passing tricks) which you can look up from the control menu, or you can test yourself against the goalie. Practice mode will also allow you to run drills with your team (as soon as you begin a career), as well as playing test matches between your strikers and defenders.

Soccer teams are set up this way: there are strikers, midfieldsmen, defenders and goalies. The strikers are at the front of your side; their job is to seize the ball and run it to the opposing goal box. The defenders stick close to the goalie (though not too close) and work to push the ball away from the your goal box towards the center of the field. Midfieldsmen assist in both tasks, running back and forth between strikers and defenders. A single goalie, meanwhile, guards your goal.

Take some time in practice mode or quick-games to learn the basics, then dive into a Career!

When beginning a Career, you can select from three options: Player, Manager or Player-Manager. The Player option allows you to create your own individual player using the player-generator: use the stat points to set your stat levels, configure your player's appearance and body-type and assign your player a position on your team.

The Manager option allows you to take control of a team as it moves through a season of play. You can sign new players, use funds to increase or decrease payment for your players, and organize the team calendar.

The Player-Manager option combines these abilities into a comprehensive top-down style of play. You create a unique player who you then sign to a team, and as Manager you can determine your new player's pay and position. As you lead your team through its season, you can adjust your player's stats and positions accordingly.

When setting up a new game, take care to adjust settings (like difficulty, realism, game and career length) that might impact your style of play. This can be done in the settings' menu as you set up a new Career. You can also choose the league, club and team you'll be playing for (the clubs are all filled with accurate teams).

Before the Career begins, your player is offered a contract by the team manager. Accept the contract to start your football career.

Your first game is schedule a week or two into your season. If you have time and want to practice, you can improve your player's stats by entering practice mode via the Career menu. Use this mode to train your player against other teammates. When you're ready, simulate the days until your first game is reached.

Depending on your pre-arranged settings, games can last from 10 to 90 minutes. Obviously, you must score goals for your team in order to win games and improve your team's standings.

Strategies to succeed in each game are varied. You can opt for a defensive strategy, working hard to keep the ball away from your goal and keeping your strikers back to help the midfieldsmen and defenders protect the goal; or you can use an aggressive strategy, pushing your players forward and trying to constantly wrest control of the ball. Beginning players, especially if they're playing in Player mode, should focus on keeping their men spread out and their own player near the center of the action (its a good idea to make him a midfieldsmen or striker).

Your first few games will be tricky, since it takes some time to get the mechanics of the game down and learn the finer points to dribbling and scoring (for tips, see the text and video sections below).

Occasionally, disaster can strike your player: he can be injured during a game and pulled from the team roster. If this happens, and you're playing in Player mode, you can't play in any games til your player recovers from his injuries.

In the meantime, your team might succeed or fail depending on its stats. If you've signed onto a good time, your absence may be a blessing: it can allow your more-talented AI players win on the field without you. However, since your player is an important part of whatever team you've signed on with, odds are that if you're absent your team will suffer for it. That's why its important to keep your players healthy and out of danger on the field: don't try any risky or dangerous maneuvers, and don't keep them on the field for too long without substitution.

After a few weeks (depending on the injury), your player will return to his team and you can resume your career. Watch below to see how John Mahalo makes it through his first full-length game since his injury.

Like FIFA 10 before it, FIFA Soccer 11 uses a complex system to determine unique player attributes and skills on the field. Great players will of course act differently than rookie nobodies, and that distinction affects your own player just as powerfully: as he increases in rank and stats, your player becomes a more skilled football player.

Pro Passing, a mechanic first introduced in FIFA 10, determines the speed, strength and accuracy of a specific player's passing. A poor player will pass the ball slowly and sloppily, while a high-ranking player passes with precision and great speed. Of course, your own skill at manipulating your controller or keyboard will affect the passing quality as well.

Personality+ is a new system whereby minor attributes in each player's stats will affect his specific play style. An aggressive player will slide tackle and physically manhandle his opponents more than a player focused on speed or agility. Your own player will build his personality based on how you use him in action: are you more in favor of dodging opposing defenders or plowing through them? Is your player defensively or offensively minded.

These dynamics all combined to form your player's unique style, making him seem more an organic creation and less a simple computer-generated avatar.

When a game concludes, you can peruse the various game stats as they appear in the screens in front of you: which players scored goals, how their ranks have improved and how your team now compares to others in your league. You can also see the results of other games which occurred on the same day and which might change the standings in your league or club. It's important to pay attention to this information, as it will let you know which teams its important for you to beat in coming games.

As player rating increase, you can change up your starting lines by moving players on and off the bench. Over time, some players will prove more gifted than others: their stats will naturally increase, making them more valuable additions to your team. If you're playing as Manager, this may cause them to demand more money at the end of the season when their contracts expire, and if the team hasn't been winning games then you may lose your good players to other teams.

So really, you should find a balance between nurturing your best players and keeping those players who don't improve as quickly in the rotation. If you focus all your energies on a few stars, giving them long periods of play, then they might become excellent players but you might also risk losing them to injuries or other clubs. As for your own player, try to keep him in games as much as possible: the higher his stats go, the more in-demand he'll be and the more money you can make as a player.

Soccer seasons usually last a couple of months, and depending on how many games you simulated or missed due to injury, you could be through 10 or 12 games by the time the season wraps up. If you team ends the season at the top of the league, you may go on to the league championship and eventually a championship cup against other league champs. If not, however, your player will definitely have improved by the end of the season, which means you could see an increase in pay or even job offers from other clubs.

When a season finishes, your contract with your club will expire and you'll have to renew it to continue playing. If your player has performed well and become an important part of the team, the club will probably ask you to stay and offer you an increase in salary. You can also look through your other offers. Each offer comes from a club, and includes your weekly salary and starting position. Beware, however, that some new contracts will stipulate that your player must maintain a certain level of excellence: if your player's performance is poor and he drops in rank, you may lose your contract and be out of work for the rest of the season.

Once you've chosen to stay at your old club, or selected a new club, continue on to your next season.

Now that you're on a new team, and possibly in a new position, you need to adjust to a few new conditions. For one thing, you won't be going up against the same teams as before, and your own team may be better or worse than the team you played for last season. Don't expect the same amount of success; or, if your first season was a dismal failure, expect some improvement!

In the videos below, John Mahalo plays his first game with Juventus, having made the move from the LA Galaxy. Juventus are a better team, and John is now in a Starting 11 position, meaning he'll start the game on the field. If your player is starting, you'll get a few chances to practice on the field before the game begins. Also, be aware that your coach could pull you from the field if you don't perform, or if your player becomes tired.

See below how John does against Hannover.

Now that you've seen some games in action, learned the basic game mechanics and rules, grown accustomed to increasing your stats, moving your player from team to team and enduring injuries and other game events, it's time to strike out on your own.

A career in FIFA Soccer 11 can last 15 seasons. Your player could be on the field well into his forties, moving from club to club, increasing his salary and his stats, and eventually become the greatest player in history. If you ever get tired of your player, it's easy to make a new one and begin a new career, or you could begin a Manager or Player-Manager career for a greater challenge. Either way, the choice is yours.

Here's a few strategies for winning a single game of FIFA Soccer 11.

1. Don't focus entirely on your strikers and midfielders. Keep in mind that your defenders can send the ball to the other end of the field much faster.
2. Your defenders should be staying between the half-line and the goal-box; don't let them wander to far forward.
3. Be wary of using single players to make surges past opposing defenders; two players can manage a ball between them much better than a single player.
4. Keep from making too many fouls, especially close to your own goal-box. A free-kick can quickly turn a runaway victory into a close game.
5. While soccer isn't a full-contact sport, it's easy for your players to be injured by slide-tackles, bicycle kicks and various types of collisions. Injuries can put your best players out of action for whole games, sometimes whole seasons, so rotate your roster as often as possible.
6. Off-sides is a common penalty for trying to dodge opposing defenders. Don't let your strikers move to far forward or you'll find this penalty occurring often.
7. Of the various formations possible, try starting with a basic 4-2-4 lineup ( defenders, 2 midfielders, 4 strikers). If you're leading a game you can pull more men back to act as defenders, and if you need to catch up you can add strikers or midfielders.

Here's a rundown of all the nations and leagues in FIFA Soccer 11, including the hardest teams to beat and some distinguishing characteristics:

AUSTRALIA

1. One league (A-League) with 11 teams.
2. Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory are the usual front-runners, with the Central Coast Mariners and the Sydney FC vying for second place.
3. The small size of the league means that rivalries are strong and teams develop strategies for combating one another.

AUSTRIA

1. One league (Austrian Football Bundesliga) with 10 teams.
2. Though Red Bull Salzburg won the 2009-10 season, the Austrian Wien are the usual leaders (they finished 2nd).
3. Alexander Sickler is the best player in the league, with the top goals scored in 2008 and 2009 for Red Bull Salzburg.

BELGIUM

1. One league (Belgian Pro League) with 16 teams.
2. Each team in the BPL plays 30 games, 2 against every other team (one at home and one abroad). The games are separated into 30 matchdays with 8 matches happening per day.
3. Licht, Anderlicht and Bruges are the three teams vying for supremacy over a league filled with quality teams and talented players, many of which saw action in star clubs in England and Brazil.

BRAZIL

1. One league (Campeonato Brasileiro da Série A) with 20 teams.
2. The Brazilian league is dominated by Sao Paolo (victor in 06, 07 and 08), though there are other teams such as Santos, Flamengo Gremio that are eager to oust them from the top spot.
3. Brazil is a football-crazed nation and her teams are some of the best in the world; hence, this league can be a difficult one for a new player to thrive in.

CZECH REPUBLIC

1. One league (Gambrinus liga) with 16 teams.
2. Two Prague teams, Sparta and Slavia, contest the top spot in this league.
3. With even the top scorers collecting on 12 or 13 goals in a season, this league is not terribly challenging for a starting player (caps and salaries tend to be low).

DENMARK

1. One league (Danish Superliga) with 12 teams.
2. The Danish league is the top among Scandinavian countries and has attracted a few star players, including Eric Djemba-Djemba for OB Odense and Dame 'N Doye for FC København.
3. The top team of the Danish league is Copenhagen, collecting the gold several times between 2000 and 2009.
4. In terms of difficulty, the league fits somewhere between Belgium and Czech Republic.

ENGLAND

1. Four leagues: Premier League, FLC, Football League One, Football League Two
2. England has some of the best clubs and players in the world: Manchester United, Leeds, Arsenal, Chelsea and many others.
3. The Premier League has 20 of the best English football clubs and is dominated by the football powerhouse Manchester United, though Chelsea has emerged a close second.
4. The remaining three leagues each have 24 teams and three pyramid levels each, with the FLC being just below the Premier League and League Two forming the bottom.
5. A player should consider making into onto an English premier team as the pinnacle of a successful career: the salaries are the highest and the chances for glory are unbeatable.

FRANCE

1. Two leagues (Ligue One and Ligue Two) with 20 teams each.
2. Ligue One is among the best leagues in the world, ranking behind the English Premier League and the Spanish La Liga.
3. The best teams of Ligue One are Lyon and Marseille, with Auxerre and Lille coming up behind them.
4. Ligue Two includes France's tier-two football clubs, and while still competitive does not contain the caliber of teams and players in Ligue One.
5. Ligue Two's best team is Le Havre, led by high-goal scorer Guillaume Hoarau.

GERMANY

1. Two leagues (Bundeslinga 1 and 2) with 18 teams each.
2. The German leagues are both highly competitive and rank among the best in Europe.
3. Bundeslinga 1 is dominated by Munich, while Bundeslinga 2 is led by Freiburg and Gladbach.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

1. One league (Premier Division) with 10 teams.
2. A small league that is nevertheless challenging, the Irish league is led by Shelbourne and the Bohemians, both Dublin clubs. Drogheda United is also competitive.

ITALY

1. Two leagues (Series A and Series B) with 20 teams each.
2. Series A is among the finest in the, ranking with the English Premier League and the French Ligue One. It contains three of the finest clubs in the world: Juventus, Internazionale and Milan.
3. Competition among the Series A teams is extremely high; a player that fails to perform can quickly see his contract voided and his term as a player expired.
4. Series B is less highly-ranked but just as competitive. The old leader Genoa has been supplanted by multiple teams yearning for the top spot.

NETHERLANDS

1. One league (Eredivisie) with 18 teams.
2. The Dutch league is ranked below those of England, Spain, Belgium and Italy but is still more competitive than third-tier leagues like the US or Czech leagues.
3. The league is led by PSV from Eindhoven, with Ajax from Amsterdam the perennial runner-up.

NORWAY

1. One league (Tippeligaen) with 16 teams.
2. A small league, good for beginning players, the Norwegian league is behind the Danish league in most rankings.
3. The league is led by Oslo, which has captured the championship several times in the last 10 years.

SCOTLAND

1. One league (Scottish Premier League) with 12 teams.
2. Like the Irish League, the Scottish has a small number of talented and competitive teams. It should be considered a second-tier league, behind those of England, Spain, Belgium, Brazil, Germany and Italy.
3. The Glasgow Rangers dominate the league in most respects; they also possess the league top scorer, Kris Boyd.

SPAIN

1. Two leagues (La Liga and Secunda Division) with 20 teams each.
2. La Liga is one of the most competitive and highest-ranked leagues in the world, regularly vying with the English Premier league for the top spot.
3. A player should consider a place on one of the Spanish teams a worthy prize, though a difficult one to hold onto.
4. The league is dominated by a fierce rivalry between Madrid and Barcelona, the country's two greatest football capitals.
5. The Secunda Division retains Spain's second-tier teams, and is led by Cordoba.

USA

1. One league (Major League Soccer) with 16 teams.
2. Though they possess more money than most smaller leagues, and one big name (David Beckham on the LA Galaxy) the US league is among the second-tier leagues, like those of Scotland, Ireland, Denmark and Russia.
3. As it is a very young league, there has yet to be a stable front-runner. The current favorite is the LA Galaxy.