Breaking! EA Sports/Playfish lovechild, FIFA Superstars, arrives on Facebook

FIFA Superstars, the first collaboration between EA/Playfish lands on Facebook today, and will answer the question: can a successful video game franchise be translated into successful casual/social game?

Both FIFA Superstars and the FIFA World Cup games (on which this Facebook game is based) have one thing in common -- likenesses of real-life soccer stars can be found in both. Aside from some light management, that's mostly where the similarities end.

FIFA Superstars is more of a coach simulation, where you choose your lineup from a selection of players, train them and then send them off to play. You don't actually 'play' the game like you do in the FIFA video games, it's more of numbers game that plays out behind the scenes. Whomever has the most skill and training will win in the end. (In fact, it's very similar to completing missions in another Playfish game, Gangster City.) Win enough games, your custom-created team will level up, and that will give you access to better players.

Right off the bat, one of the big things we'd like to see in FIFA Superstars is the ability to do more than watch your team go through the motions on the field. If your team is getting beat, it'd be great to make changes in real-time that would affect the outcome of the game.