Along with the usual raft of promised game improvements for EA’s football sim (new set-pieces, overhauled physical play and AI) the most intriguing announcement for FIFA 17 came in the form of a story mode called The Journey. Starring a young Premier League star, Alex Hunter, the trailer shows off Rocky-esque cinematics as it charts his rise. Fifa 17 players will be able to enjoy a full story mode for the first time in the series by taking on the task of guiding Alex Hunter to glory.
EA Sports released the latest trailer - entitled 'The Journey' - on Sunday night, with Fifa 17 to offer a story mode similar to the developer's NBA 2K16 series, which was directed by Spike Lee. Looks like the network is having some difficulties. If you're expecting to watch a livestream, then the video feed may be offline right now. We've been notified of your error and we're looking into it. Try refreshing the page in a couple of minutes and trying again.
Tottenham and England star Harry Kane has been named as a 'story consultant' for Fifa 17, helping on matters of authenticity given his recent rapid rise from Spurs' reserves in 2014 to England's first-choice striker at Euro 2016. While FIFA has dabbled in a single player career mode before, this is the first time it will have a full-blown story. No mention made of improvements to women’s clubs in the game. Last year, Then it was back to London for more FIFA 17 news. An entertaining trailer showing the improvements in the graphics from the first ever FIFA game segued into an actor playing the Alex Hunter character from the FIFA 17 story mode.
The Journey. It's also using the Frostbite engine and it will feature the English Premier League club managers for the first time. This is apparently quite exciting. FIFA 17 has been revamped with new gameplay physics, new attacking techniques and an active intelligence system all apparently inspired by real life players. FIFA 16 made a token gesture to introduce women’s national teams to the game. While it’s applauded that this was finally done after over 20 years of FIFA without, this mode was incomplete. It has been rumored for a while that more may be added this year but unfortunately, this was not discussed during the conference.
No mention on improvements to FIFA 17 Manager’s mode or Career mode. This goes without saying. These two areas have been in need of an overhaul for years. There have been unrealistic transfers made, the stats and graphics have uniformly been getting more drab, and much of what’s there now has essentially been unchanged since 2011. It would behoove gamers to keep their eyes out during this year’s E3 as hopefully this gets addressed. There are increased options for passes and shots, goalkeepers can now create more chances with a greater array of throws and kicks and set pieces have completely revamped.
FIFA 17 Corners and free-kicks into the box now require the player to aim the ball with a reticle in the box before charging their kick, and players can move their in-game player around the ball before striking free kicks and penalties, opening up new possibilities. FIFA 17 will also feature real-life managers in game, with Jose Mourinho joining Peter Moore at the London EA Play event to announce the feature. No news on whether current consoles have the processing power to handle all those egos, however.
