We got our first look at FIFA Soccer 14 earlier this week and had a chance to talk with the producers who gave us tons of information on the latest installment in the FIFA franchise. 

It’s interesting—and better yet, encouraging—to see the importance of a steady philosophy on a game franchise. Rarely do you see, in this “era” of FIFAs, features coming in for a year and then getting taken out the next, or a dramatic shift in playing style between iterations—basically, no abrupt “change in direction” year to year. The FIFA team seems to have decided a long time ago (and stuck to it ever since) to basically make the game as close as possible to the sport you see on TV, and to a certain extent, the sport you play on the pitch. And it’s great news for us hardcore fans.

Sprint Dribble Turns / Variable Dribble Touches

NHL 14 went across the hall and borrowed the Impact Engine from FIFA, so this is may be the returning of the favor? True Performance Skating (Running)-lite, perhaps?
 
These two sound simple enough (though I am dreading at the thought of writing about them in next few months, figuring out how to incorporate “Sprint Dribble Turns” naturally into a paragraph numerous times without tearing my hair out.) Player movement looks to be improved and more realistic. The turning radius is shrunk (hopefully not too much for John Terry), and players can change angles much easier—and quicker—when sprinting.  To balance that out, sprinting now carries momentum— players have to do a hard stop and then accelerate again, simulating the weight transfer, if they need to change direction 180 degrees.
 
As for the new Variable Dribble Touches, it’s basically an extension of the First Touch Control that was introduced in FIFA 13, only now it also applies to when a player is dribbling on the run. Players like Messi and Ronaldo can maintain dribbling accuracy in high speeds, while less skilled ones will not, forcing you to make the choice between pace and accuracy.
 
First look previews are funny things to write—you don’t want to get swept away by the hype because for every wave of excitement, there’s always that Eeyore-like voice in the back of your head that goes, “yes, but how will it play?”

In theory, these features sound wonderful—more differentiation in ball control between wingers and centerbacks, more realism in sprinting physics—however, these are also the two with probably the least room for error, of all the features announced today. Sprinting is such an integral part of the game, so things like how well they will be implemented, and how dramatic the difference will be between an agile player and a lumbering oaf-- getting the balance right, basically-- are going to be crucial.

Defensive Intelligence
 
Finally.
 
For all its improvements on the offensive end in the past few years, it seems like FIFA hasn’t done much on the other side of the ball ever since the introduction of Tactical Defending. The result? Matches, especially against skilled teams, became slightly unbalanced since players have a multitude of tools on attack, whereas on defense, you’re thanking your lucky stars if you can compensate for your ultra-conservative AI teammates.
 
So this year, the promise is that AI defending will be improved. First of all, the AI players’ decision-making will take into context what happens over a period of time, rather than just that particular moment. That sounds vague (well, it is vague), but what I gathered is that there will be fewer instances of AI defenders being caught in no-mans land—like some did in FIFA 13—where moving a step to the left meant marking one player, and a step to the right marking another, and ultimately the AI ended up marking neither.
 
On that note, the second point is that the AI will mark the opponents tighter. Not much to say about this except Hallelujah, as this should result in fewer manic switching when the ball is in my own penalty box because I couldn’t trust the AI to competently close down the opposition striker. Speaking of which, the team has also made Tactical Defending just a touch easier by lessening the risk in tackling. In previous FIFAs, if you mistime your tackle, you’re done. In FIFA 14, there will be a small window where you can go for a second tackle, breaking out of the original animation if necessary.
 
And just for fun—well, not really, but I was so relieved to hear about the first two that this seemed almost like a bonus offer thrown in—there will also be “Dynamic Defensive Pressure”, where the AI defenders know what the other team is trying to do and apply pressure accordingly. An example the FIFA team used was when the opponent is trying to kill the match by playing the ball between defenders: in 13 your AI teammates will steadfastly mark the man they’re assigned to while you fruitlessly try to chase the ball down with one player (maybe two if you’re pressing the teammate pressure button.) In 14, the AI will recognize that the other team is trying to kill time and pressure accordingly.
 
On the whole, this is very promising. As usual, there’s always the caveat of waiting to see how they play in the game, but an improvement on AI defending has been a long time coming, and it seems like the devs are really bent on improving the experience.
 
Attacking AI

Building on what FIFA 13 brought to the table last year, FIFA 14 promises a greater variety of behavior from your teammates. In 13, while off the ball players are cognizant of offsides and can check their run, they only seemed to do so by slowing down. In 14, there will be more lateral running to avoid the offside trap, as well as spinning away from a defender to create space. The bigger strikers, and possibly slower players, will instead use their size to their advantage and hold the ball up, playing with their backs to goal.
 
Not a lot here overall, and just a few nice additions that should add to the variety of play. But to be honest, the game didn’t need that many improvements on that end anyway, as attacking play in FIFA 13 was done very well.

Protect The Ball
 
This is a really interesting one. It’s billed as a simpler, more intuitive form of shielding the ball. Basically, when you have the ball, a press of the left trigger will make your player shield the ball with either his arm or angling his body. The sales pitch here is that it will make midfield play much more varied, since theoretically, it’s easier for ball carriers to avoid challenges, so playmakers can have more time to probe the passing lanes.
 
Again, much of it will depend on the execution. It’s a solid idea—for all of previous FIFAs’ emphasis on making the midfield more accessible, there were still a few too many instances on relying on the old faithful, sending a pass out to the winger. If this works as promised, it will add an extra dimension to playing in the center of the park. If the balance is slightly off, it runs the risk of becoming another weapon in the exploiters’ toolbox.
 
Pure Shot
 
Vague? Maybe just a little, as it’s not really about the shot itself but rather the buildup to it. The team has expanded the available animations to allow strikers to adjust their strides and angle when running into a shot. It will also be easier for players to clue in—from the way the striker is behaving—that maybe the shot will go awry and instead opt for a pass or a feint instead.

Real Ball Physics
 
Does exactly what it says on the tin, as they say. The claim is that the team has put in a lot of time researching the aerodynamics of a soccer ball, and while there’s no reason to not believe them, let’s just say I’m no expert in drag (not in the physics kind, anyway) so I’ll just take them at their word instead of regurgitating things like curve and wind tunnel effect without knowing what they actually mean.
 
Basically, more realistic and varied ball movement is what it all comes down to—screamers, knucklers, shots bouncing right in front of goalkeepers, and even passing got some love with angled through balls.
 
It’s an overdue improvement as the ball physics in the series has always felt a little flat, and scoring a screamer was never as rewarding as it should've been. But of course—say it with me now—it all depends on the execution.
 
Other Tidbits

New skill games – not a necessity, but still, yay! Skill games are always fun.
 
Career Mode – promises to take up less of your time navigating, basically. It features a new streamlined hub (instead of going all the way into team management to see players' stamina, it’s right there on the front screen), and less emails interrupting the sim. There will also be a new scouting module where you specify traits you want in a player, as opposed to seeing their numeric attributes—though I assume once they get into your team, you will see them anyway.
 

Outlook

So?
 
The new features announced sound really good. (Of course they do.)
 
First of all, a quick recap of what hasn't been touched on in the first look:

- Be A Pro
- Online (rest easy, there WILL be something)
- Referees
- Goalkeepers
- Presentation Elements
 
Now of course, it’s only a first look, and improvements to any of that stuff may get revealed in the future (also a reason why first looks are almost always positive—anything that you don’t read about now, there’s always later.) But seriously, today marks another encouraging step for a franchise that hasn’t had any large missteps for a long, long time now.
 
None of the features announced today are as dramatic as what we’ve seen in the past two years. But if you think about it, they’re natural extensions, or maturation, of the ones we found in FIFA 12 and 13, and in a way they can be just as important as the big-ticket stuff. Again, this is what a steady direction can do for a franchise—lay the groundwork one year, and build and build upon it in the next few.
 
My pick for the most important new feature? The AI work on the defensive end. If the AI teammates smarten up as advertised, the game is going to incredibly fun to play with on both ends. It will save a lot of frustration now that you don't have to try to control your entire backline. While on attack, it will also open things up since the CPU defending should be just as—and I hope I’m not jinxing anything by using the C-word—competent, forcing players to think about the game that much more when crafting build-up plays since we can’t rely anymore on turning a CPU defender who left the striker too much space. Harder? Maybe. But it’s a good kind of hard, and I’m sure looking forward to testing my mettle.

What do you all think of the new features?