This feeds into FIFA's other great strength: its presentation. I'm not including the commentary in this plaudit, however, since Martin Tyler and Alan Smith are as forgettable as ever, an occasional stunted conversation about a team or player's performance at the World Cup aside. It'd be nice if EA could emulate the NBA 2K approach to virtual commentary, perhaps integrating the statistics of the teams into the banter rather than just a bland one-liner about a win or a loss. After all, EA knows a thing or two about football statistics: the English Premier League's official performance index relies on numbers crunched by EA Sports. Those figures are used on a weekly basis to rate the performance of every single player in the league, data which can be fed back into FIFA to update the online rosters week in and week out.
They look like human players that will occasionally make miraculous saves and just as often miss a couple of sitters, while handling everything in-between with relative ease. I’ve had more than my fair share of balls slide between the keeper’s legs on a wet day, and frankly pitiful drops of balls he should have easily taken, which opens the door for a cheap goal. The balance here isn't quite right, but at least it ensures one-on-ones are always unique. This is what makes football exciting. I was apprehensive about EA taking the realism mantra too far in 15, as once upon a time I thought they hit the nail on the head in FIFA 13. But I was wrong. FIFA 15 makes it feel like anything can happen, and while we normally like video game mechanics to be predicable and fair, that’s not football, or any sport for that matter.
The additions to the popular
FIFA 15 Ultimate Team feature will be enough to keep some players satisfied. Loan players are available to see how they will fit into your team. Arjen Robben was a choice for the author as he started the campaign. There are concept squads in fifa 15 to help with planning. EA Sports has even taken steps to bring an inflated transfer market back to earth. Players who have sunk hundreds of hours into fifa 15 Ultimate Team will have no reason to stop now.
Pro Clubs in FIFA 15 really is a team game. It requires working together, communicating constantly, and understanding no one player is the superstar. Some teams in Pro Club trot out 11 real life players, a huge advantage against a team with many more computer controlled players, but even that doesn’t guarantee success. In Career Mode, I am currently testing out some ideas I’ve mentioned before on Twitter and otherwise to better the Houston Dynamo. Unfortunately, I’m unable to perform any transfers for the first 2-3 months of matches due to the Major League Soccer season not lining up with international transfer windows. I do, however, get the benefit of a healthy Tony Cascio and Mark Sherrod.
The player models in FIFA 15 have also been updated, again looking better than ever before and are increasingly getting near to photorealism. The big stars such as Messi and Ronaldo are incredible both in game and in close up replays. I do have to point out though that the arms on some players look odd, making them appear top heavy and of course players further down the football pyramid will look nothing like their real life counterparts. This year also sees a full license with the Premier League – this means that all twenty clubs have their stadiums faithfully recreated in the game. These stadiums do look brilliant and it just adds to the realism that EA are striving for, even the chants from the crowd are unique to the team they are supporting. It hopefully points to future titles having even more leagues fully licensed with stadia and fans all being unique.
The improvement is well-documented but in many ways AI goalkeepers are slightly too good. It’s fair to say scoring goals has become much tougher, so run-touch dribbling, correct contact, and ball movement comes in handy. Still utilizing a number of skills FIFA Street employs, moves like the nutmeg can be used in your arsenal of tricks. Fútbol is a team sport, so strategy is extremely important. With customization at an all-time high, tweaking characteristics to one’s team is almost a must. Also available are pre-formed team sheets. Different opponents call for different game planning, and here it is possible to customize up to six team sheets that can be selected at any time for the better management of your club. And that’s precisely what it delivers. It’s a good entry into the series, maybe my favorite of this decade. The proof is in the pudding of my playtime, and it’s easily leading in that category in the week that it’s been out, beating out the absolutely incredible Endless Legend and my renewed wanderings in LOTRO. FIFA is good, loud fun this year and that’s more than good enough.
