As far as EA are concerned this year’s FIFA is all about emotion. Emotion and intensity in fact, if you go by the game’s tag line. Not only are the next gen visuals good enough to show the pain and elation on player’s faces but a new artificial intelligence system has them sulking, shouting, and celebrating just like a real player. So much so that they’re in danger of ending up more excited about the game than you are. Describing a new FIFA always involves a shopping list of newly invented marketing catchphrases, and ’emotional intelligence’ is the one used to describe the more passionate computer players that now fill the game. Thanks to new efforts to recreate the atmosphere of each individual stadium – including all 20 from the Premier League – the game now feels more theatrical and alive, and not just a clinical simulation.
The improved gameplay is FIFA 15's most notable distinction. Conversely, the career mode has seen only small organizational improvements. The ability to set instructions for individual players (like telling a back to always overlap his runs) is great, but in general the career mode hasn't changed enough. Fatigue still isn't a factor (and there's no reserve system), international management has stagnated, and while more players are uncovered by your scouts, the transfer network still goes inexplicably dark at times. For a game that has such strong online modes, the lack of an online franchise mode is also surprising. FIFA 15 feels like it’s been in a few extra training sessions to sharpen up. Its reactions are faster and it’s found an extra yard of pace since last season. It maintains the realism but injects a bit more ‘heavy metal’ as Jurgen Klopp would call it. Players seem more responsive to movements of the left stick, with a last-minute nudge to either side often enough to beat a defender or draw the foul when running at speed and if the momentum is with you. With the right player it’s also more effective from a standstill, shifting the player’s weight one way and then bursting the other past the defender.
FIFA 15 can play a great game of football. The players and pitch look better than ever. The progressive degradation of turf, coupled with the licensed stadia and improved matchday presentation makes this the most immersive FIFA yet. Possession tackles improve defence while more intricate passing aids attacks. But despite taking many steps forward, as ever it takes some back too. One of EA’s big pushes has been the evolution of goalkeepers. What wasn’t explained was ‘evolution’ referred to humanity. These are T-1000s. Their shot-stopping is unbelievable. Couple this with the nerfing of most finishing to the level of which world-class strikers can’t finish their dinner, it leads to too many 0-0’s with over 20 opportunities. Like heading in 14, keepers are overpowered and in need of urgent fixing.
The game's AI tended to boot the ball out of bounds needlessly on moderate difficulties occasionally even dribbling it out to change possession. While that was problematic for my teammates in the single-athlete career mode, it was a game-saver against FIFA 15's cagier CPU opponents. I still managed precise slide tackles, but it seems as if fouls are given out a little more regularly by default (though you can adjust the frequency of fouls, among other things, in the options). On offense, I found that crosses into the box were more difficult to pull off, but that jogging and shaking an opponent before whistling past them was much easier. As a result, most of my goals came from breakaways and deft one-two passes down the middle of the field as opposed to crosses from the wingers. FIFA 15's offense feels dominant in that way, and satisfying goals are even better with the aforementioned player emotions factored in.
As for the future, it's really hard to say. Every year I wonder how EA Canada can make material improvements without breaking the game and cooking their golden goose, but every year they manage to surprise me, as they've done with FIFA 15. It's for that reason that FIFA remains secure in its position as the best all-around sports sim, and should remain at the top of the heap for the forseeable future.
