It’s been many years since I actually regretted a game purchase to the point of anger, and I am shocked and saddened that FIFA 13 for the PS Vita would be it. With the lack of any sort of information over the past few months, I wrongly assumed that EA would have taken some of what’s great about this year’s overhaul and shrink it into the Vita version.

I knew that there would be no cross-play between the two consoles, so my plan was to take my Virtual pro that I have been meticulously working on and move him on the Vita and build while on the go. That was strike two.

Strike three was getting home and eagerly tearing it out of the pack, slapping it in the Vita, firing it up only to find that the game was a kit and roster update. What the heck? After all of the praises I heaped on the console version, I was seriously upset to see that EA took no effort to even make this game anywhere near its console brother.

Now I understand why there has been nearly no information or updates about the Vita version all through the summer.

This game is simply a repack of the FIFA Soccer title that came out when the Vita was released running on the FIFA 11/12 engine. Hardly any of the extra bells and whistles made it into this package. No Ultimate teams, no Match Day, no internationals, no mini games, nothing that is making the console version great is in here and it’s a shame that EA even bothered with the paltry effort. Even the career modes are still the same as the last iteration.

Some of the 1st Touch mechanics may have made it in but if I had never played the first release, this would have been a passable game at best but because I did, this repack at $40 feels like a serious slap in the face. I played this game for maybe an hour just to see if there was any difference in the controls but truth be told, it doesn’t really feel that different. The graphics looks exactly the same as the last version as well as the menus and game modes. This shows the lack of effort that EA Sports made in helping the cause for Sony to make the Vita a vital gaming machine.

At best, I can only recommend this to anyone who seriously needs some footy on the go or if you never played the last iteration. Otherwise, leave this game on the shelf and if you have the earlier release, do a roster update and continue playing it, or if you have an iOS device pay $6 and play that one.

1 out of 4 stars.