Reviewed on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
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October 16, 2014
Note: Read the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 version of this review here.
The curse of the annual sports franchise is that developers have to keep finding ways to justify the existence of a new iteration beyond roster updates and minor visual tweaks. Rarely has this dilemma felt more apparent than in FIFA 15. It’s a game that, at times, gets closer to the real sport than ever, but at others, is clearly a long way from capturing the nuance, the ebb and flow, and the glorious unpredictability of The Beautiful Game.
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This year, EA Sports is aiming to play up the game’s emotional side, and it achieves this almost entirely through its audio-visuals. It’s about animation and atmosphere: players will more frequently react to on-field incidents, and crowds will bellow team-specific chants from the stands of all 20 authentically modelled Premier League stadiums. This is the sort of thing FIFA has done well for a while, and this year it does it better than ever before.
However, while the fans may be more animated in an emotional sense, they’re still the same cardboard cutouts, and their reactions don’t always correspond to what’s happening on the field. They’re noisier than in previous years, but that’s also true when you’re performing badly. They even celebrate each goal with equal fervour regardless of context: I couldn’t tell the difference between the reaction to my scoring the 13th goal of a 14-0 win and Barcelona edging El Clasico by the odd goal in five thanks to a last-minute winner by Neymar.
At least they’re consistent, which is more than can be said for the AI. A range of new save animations and improved intelligence means goalkeepers are more capable of responding to rebounds and deflections. At times they seem almost superhuman. And yet at the same time they’re prone to horrendous mistakes, letting daisy-cutters through their legs and exhibiting wildly unpredictable behaviour when the ball breaks loose in the penalty area. Team-mate positioning is extremely questionable, often leaving huge gaps for smart opponents to exploit, and they’re less likely than last year to make intelligent overlapping runs, even when you couldn’t make it clearer that you’re looking to play them in.
The inconsistencies carry over to dead-ball situations, too. Corners and free-kicks are unusually snappy – as soon as the ball goes out of play, you’re maybe a couple of seconds away from slinging it into the box, without having to sit and watch a player slowly, deliberately placing the ball down. And yet you’ll be kept waiting for players to jog over to take a throw-in, unable to hurry things along, no matter how much you mash the buttons.
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Elsewhere, the collision, momentum and ball physics have been tweaked, which sometimes makes for a more organic game. Witnessing a truly scrappy goal where the ball dribbles over the line courtesy of an unfortunate ricochet can often seem more authentic than a thirty-yard thunderbolt. And yet, the more it resembles the real thing, the more you notice the occasions when it doesn’t. In one case of freakish physics, my centre-forward wheeled away to celebrate a goal and, as he attempted to hurdle the opposition keeper, the two became attached at the waist. When the same player notched his second in stoppage time, he sprinted straight through the advertising hoardings at the side of the pitch.
It’s symptomatic of a general sloppiness you wouldn’t ordinarily associate with FIFA. Playing against the AI is frequently an exercise in frustration. Headed clearances are the most irritating of the game’s scripted moments: it doesn’t matter which position a defender is in, or how much pressure they’re under, they’ll always be able to head the ball a good 20-30 yards clear of the box. What’s worse is that this will frequently coincide with your midfielders haring towards the penalty area, leaving acres of field for your opponent to race into and prompt a dangerous counter-attack. It simply can’t be serendipity when it happens at least once every game.
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