This is intended to be a more manual form of defending, requiring greater timing and precision when compared to the defensive 'press' system used in previous FIFA games. When defending there will be more of an emphasis on slowing attackers down and containing them, and pressuring them into making mistakes. The new Tactical Defending system aims to change the approach to defending by placing equal importance on positioning, intercepting passes and tackling. The Impact Engine also directly affects injuries sustained by players during a match.
The Impact Engine has been cited as a game changer, making FIFA 12 less structured and synthetic than its predecessors, and has been described by producer David Rutter as the biggest technological change to the series since the transition to the current generation of consoles.
This affects all players, so even those off the ball may have collisions. A new advanced procedural animation system is used along with collision physics to produce different results depending on the players and physical forces involved. In development for several years, the Impact Engine improves collision variety, accuracy, and momentum preservation.
It was released in September 2011, on consoles for, and on handhelds for, and and on computers for. It was developed by, and published by Electronic Arts worldwide under the label.
In addition, the patch is officially Online Compatible, allowing fans to fight for the UEFA Champions League trophy in a much more polished atmosphere.