The Fifa titles want to be like televised sport – that much is certain. EA Sports has its deal with the Premier League, sharing stats and even goal-line technology. Nowadays, the build up to a simulated game on your PlayStation is almost identical to the build up on Sky TV. Commentators mull over team sheets, bullet point facts shoot across the screen, the camera zooms in over the packed stadium.
Fifa 15 does more than ever to simulate this sense of emotional authenticity, bringing it into the matches as well as the build-up. Throughout the 90 minutes then, players continually interact with each other, creating moments bordering on actual humanity. Rivalries start to get physical after two or three enthusiastic tackles, opponents push each other and exchange shouted insults. After one crazed scything tackle, the recipient, Nemanja Matic, gets up and shouts something that would have Mark Lawrenson giggling into this commentary mic.
According to producer Nick Channon, the game’s crowd animations track the narrative of the match too. “We’ve done a lot of work on the context of the matches, on players and teams knowing what’s at stake,” he says. “United v Liverpool is a big game, one of the biggest in the season, so that atmosphere will feel different, much more intense – the intelligent crowd know that. If it’s not going to well, they react.”
There are quieter moments too. While I’m playing as Liverpool, Mignolet makes a dramatic save and Skrtel comes over to give him an encouraging slap on the shoulder. Later, during a Man City vs Chelsea encounter, Aguero misses a penalty and his team mates sprint up to offer support. It’s a really small thing, and something Fifa titles have moved towards for years; but the animation and variety is there now, to draw you in to the personal sub-plots playing out on the pitch.
The framing of the game
The presentation accentuates this sense of drama. Before each match the commentators now go through the teams, mentioning any debuts, or players returning from injury – according to Channon this ties in with the game’s Match Day Live functionality, so the comments reflect the real-life season. And at the end, the highlights package now picks up on moments of drama – good challenges, scuffles between players, amazing saves – as well as the usual goals and near-misses.
And it has to be said, on PS4 and Xbox One, Fifa 15 is beautiful to look at. A new lighting engine, designed around the Battlefield 4 system, uses global illumination to light each stadium from a single “sun” source. On fine evenings, an authentic golden hue descends over the pitch, while rainy nights get the shroud of mist and blurred floodlights.
There are other nice little touches too. The pitch remembers every foot print and will start to show wear in busy areas, as well as the familiar brown streaks of a sliding tackle. Kits too get muddy as the match progresses.
So with the visual additions, and the physics enhancements we looked at in our previous hands-on, Fifa 15 feels like a significant move on. There’s a better more comfortable and convincing feel to the play, and the graphical touches are coming together to produce something that looks almost as epic as a Sky Sports HD broadcast.
It will be interesting to see how an apparently resurgent Pro Evolution Soccer matches up. The word from Gamescom is that Konami’s series is heading toward a new zenith, not just for the faithful acolytes but for footie simulation fans in general. We’ll preview that game soon. For now, Fifa 15 is doing what Electronic Arts has always wanted to do – it is looking like the football we watch on our televisions and in pubs, and it is playing in a way that makes us feel like we belong on the pitch and not in the stands or on the sofa.
Fifa 15 is released on 23 September in North America and 25-26 September throughout Europe on most current platforms. Keith Stuart attended GamesCom on a press trip with accommodation and travel paid for by Electronic Arts. For information on paid-for trips, please see the Guardian editorial code or this article on transparency and trust.
