Electronic Arts; PC/PS3/PS4/Xbox 360/Xbox One (version tested)/Wii; £45; 7+
Ardent fans of the Fifa football games know two things to be true whenever the latest instalment arrives. It will be mostly the same game as before, and it will also be the best football simulation ever. EA Sports, much like Apple with its iDevices, has found a winning formula, and it is reluctant to do more than drip feed us tiny changes every year.
That said, it has long been believed that this year’s instalment would be the big one. After all, developers have had almost a year since the launch of the Xbox One and Playstation 4 last November to really get to know the possibilities and limitations of these machines.
Well, the graphical improvements are by no means dramatic, but they are noticeable. Faces are more expressive, and EA claims that there are 600 emotional reactions that could potentially be seen during the game; players from opposing teams push, shove and bark at each other after having engaged in a series of aggressive physical battles over the course of the match. Strikers look pleased with themselves after scoring a belter and assistant referees … twitch their noses when making an offside call. Unnecessary perhaps, but it’s a tiny detail that adds yet another layer of realism to the most realistic football sim on the planet.
Indeed, EA Sports is all about the small things this year. Blades of grass (and, if it’s raining, water) go flying into the air in slow motion when the ball is struck during replays, the pitch develops physical signs of wear and tear over the course of the match, shirts are visibly pulled by defenders chasing a zippy winger and the PA system at Selhurst Park warns fans in the stadium that the Northern line isn’t running (hats off to EA, they’ve clearly done their research on that one).
The game now has disallowed goals, rather than laser-accurate robotic linesmen that will instantly stop play for offside the moment the ball goes anywhere near an offending player. That rollercoaster of jubilation followed by disappointment when your team is stripped of a winning goal in the dying moments of injury time is, to borrow a phrase from EA Sports, “in the game”.
Also in the game are fully licensed stadiums for every team in the Premiership. As well as looking the part, real fan chants have been recorded, and crowds have been given custom behaviours based on the team. You probably won’t make it through a match at Anfield without a chorus of “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, and commentators notice and remark on Manchester City’s supporters doing the Poznan.
Nothing has been left un-animated in Fifa 15. Substitutes celebrate from the bench when their teams score – sometimes the camera even cuts to a close up of a major player on the sidelines, while there are 10-man goal celebrations on the pitch. Ball boys supply players with another ball when one has gone out of bounds, and corner flags bend when pushed against.
The player models have been updated, and not just in the hairstyle department. The game’s digital sportsmen have generally been given more muscular body shapes, with longer arms and shoulders slightly reminiscent of 1980s Arnold Schwarzenegger. It’s perhaps a bit extreme for all but the most ripped players, but they certainly look more like athletes than in previous games.
For all the graphical improvements, the odd glitch does remain. Far less often will you see a player’s arm pass through the body of his team mate during a goal celebration, but they do occur on the rare occasion. Gone, as far as one can see from some 12+ hours of gameplay so far, are glitches involving levitating players or getting knocked over by invisible team mates in the post-goal festivities.
He shoots, he saves
Goalkeepers are getting some long-needed attention this time round. Saves look and feel more natural – often the big man will parry a thunderous strike off to the side of goal rather than knocking it right back into the path of the opposition’s striker. Keepers also react and position themselves better overall, but that’s not to say they are brick walls. The trick to scoring in Fifa 15, as in real football, is to catch the goalie off-balance – or guide it through their legs ( a new feature for this edition.)
EA has also tinkered with the ball physics to allow for more varied flight paths than in previous titles. in the past, you could pretty much guarantee a goal when the ball was struck from certain positions. Now the ball can dip, spin, or spiral not-so-cleanly off your player’s boot. This randomisation is even more noticeable if you strike the ball off-balance, or shoot using a player with less lethal finishing. On the other hand, less predictable flight paths means more opportunities to score those wonder goals that flick into the top corner or skim in off the crossbar.
But to get a shot off on goal, you’re first going to have to beat a defender or two. Centre halves and fullbacks are more intelligent and appear to have a better understanding of when to stand off and when to go for the tackle than they did previously. EA has balanced this, however, with greater intuition for attacking runs and less clumsy dribbling – a welcome addition, considering the sometimes “clumsy” feel of last year’s game. Players now turn faster and more precisely, giving you a better chance to make it out of tight spaces.
It’s all about finesse
Off the pitch, the menus feel less laggy than last year’s game and the ability to save up to three custom team sheets, each with their own formation, strategy and player instructions, should please the tacticians among us. Plus, the addition of two new team mentalities, including “park the bus”, should please Jose Mourinho wannabes. For the rest of us, EA’s much-touted “player intelligence” means that teams will automatically change their strategy according to the events and importance of the match. Need nothing less than a win to clinch promotion? Tied 1-1 with ten game minutes to go? Your men will automatically get forward like a team possessed, or at least like Man City against QPR in the dying moments of the 2011/12 Premier League season.
All the regularly-featured game modes such as career, Be a Pro seasons and skill games are back in Fifa 15, with a new addition in the form of Friendly seasons, an online one vs one mode where you can take on your friends for bragging rights and the ownership of some digital silverware. The skill games are as creative and addictive as ever, with few new challenges such as a Soccer AM-esque “hole in the wall” style shooting challenge, a lesson on winning aerial battles and a game that encourages you to look for passing triangles – a vital component of Spain and Barcelona’s famed “tika taka” play style.
As for Ultimate Team, a football sim Top Trumps hybrid and the franchise’s most popular game mode (as EA keeps telling us), many of the old truths remain. The gameplay is faster and more arcade-like than in the other modes, and the defenders seem more error-prone. As a consequence, this encourages online players to adopt an ugly, high-pressure, route one style of football, with an over-reliance on lofted through balls to a fast striker lurking on the shoulders of the defence – simply because this tactic is so effective. Ultimate Team is a still a fun and addictive game mode, but the beautiful game it ain’t.
The trading card aspect of this mode has undergone some more drastic changes. EA has removed the ability to trade cards between friends as this was being exploited by websites selling digital, in-game “coins” for real, physical money. This would inflate the mode’s transfer market and bump top player cards like Hazard, Bale and Ibrahimovic up to prices that would make even the president of Real Madrid’s eyes water. Fifa 15 allows any and every Ultimate Team player to try out football’s elite, however, by introducing the ability to sign a player on loan for a few games.
Previously, gamers would have to visit a website such as FUThead or FUTwiz to map out their dream team but now, thanks to the new “concept squad” tool, future or theoretical lineups can be planned right within the game, using players from the entire Fifa 15 Ultimate Team catalogue.
If this is your first Fifa game on the new gen consoles then you will be blown away by all the little details that together contribute to an overall experience not too dissimilar to watching football on live television. If you owned Fifa 14 on Xbox One or PS3, Fifa 15 is still a significant upgrade, though maybe not the revolutionary product that it was built up to be. It’s a baby step rather than a leap towards perfection. Fifa 15 is still not entirely flawless, but then who cares when it’s already the new best football simulation ever?
- Fifa 15 hands-on, part one: physics and physicality
- Fifa 15 hands-on, part two – scraps, stats and sunsets
