Some games roll around each year with the inevitability of Christmas or the X Factor. Another year, another Call of Duty, an Assassin's Creed, another FIFA. Yet this year isn't just like any other for the world's favourite console football game. Most obviously, it's the first where EA Canada has really got to grips with the PS4 and Xbox One, resulting in a mass of changes to the graphics and animation engines. Some are merely cosmetic, and some so subtle as to be almost unnoticeable, but many have a genuine impact on the gameplay. Player AI has also been bumped up to suit a more realistic on-field experience. With FIFA 15‘s new Emotional Intelligence system, AI players will react to given situations much like they would in a real game. They will complain to the ref if he misses a call, or they will play more aggressively after losing a tough challenge. Even some players will stop mid-stride, knowing full well they’ve earned the foul.

 

The real killer, though, is all the details. The animation is so absurdly lifelike most of the time that the odd weird or unrealistic motion sticks out like a particularly sore thumb. Rain now seems to water-log the pitch, sending up spray as the players sprint around, and covering them in more layers of grime as the game goes on. You can, however, take talk of believable emotions with a pinch of salt - the players react well to goals, missed opportunities and referee decisions, but otherwise it comes down to some players looking mildly despondent when their team is 4-0 down. FIFA 15 unquestionably looks awesome, but not everything about it is a game changer. Building off that, team tactics will adapt to suit different scenarios, like becoming more aggressive when down one goal or cradling the ball when up. It’s a slight change that only becomes apparent at certain points in the game, but helps give each match an ebb and flow. So much so, that a natural tension sets in when injury time begins. That isn’t to say that players have become smarter across the board - there are still those head-scratching AI moments - but the players at least feel a little more like real human beings. Granted, some gamers will have gripes with the system, but it’s hard to deny it reinforces the realism.

 

There are other leagues, of course, and they all benefit from the richer lighting and little highlights like persistent turf deformation from slide tackles, or divots left by cleats. The entire goal structure moves when a screamer plunges into the back of the net, a beautiful little exclamation point on the moment. The replays also include goal-line technology showing how the ball didn't fully cross the line before getting kicked out. It was agonizing when it happened to me, but it adds to the broadcast authenticity. The modes through which FIFA 15 serves all of this do not differ greatly from previous editions. Playing as a manager or as a single professional is still largely the same experience. Player fatigue still has little palpable effect from game to game (or much within a game, either). FIFA 15 Ultimate Team brings in the ability to loan out (or be loaned) players they way they are in international club competition.

 

Aside from the philosophical issue of whether “largely the same” will fly as the basis of a fresh ￡50 purchase (largely unlikely), the lack of big gameplay changes might reflect an uncomfortable truth about a genre that’s now over two decades old. It’s beyond argument that time and technology have made football games better, giving us lavish broadcast-style presentation, minutely detailed physical representations of players, and a complex causal physics environment which accurately recreates not just the sport of football but, by extension and existential implication, the fundamentals of our entire universe. And yet, awkwardly enough for the guy whose job it was to program that universe, it’s difficult to argue that this advancement has translated into more fun.

 

Did we really enjoy 2004’s Pro Evolution Soccer, or even 1994’s Sensible Soccer, any less than modern FIFA? No, despite the fact that FIFA 15 is obviously, demonstrably better. We’re either experiencing some kind of pleasure inflation, expecting more and more each year in order to return the same quantity of joy, or all that added sophistication simply isn’t making for a better game.Reviewing FIFA tends to get harder as the years pass, especially when there are no new gameplay innovations or drastic blueprint alterations to shout about. Last year's entry felt like a step up purely because of the graphical and technical improvements that came courtesy of new hardware, but FIFA 15 is obviously unable to enjoy the same situation - unless this is your first foray into the beautiful game on the PlayStation 4.