One of the few playable Xbox One games on the show floor was FIFA 14, and even at “65 percent complete,” according to producer Nick Channon, the game looks like the Xbox One version is going to be the one footy fans will want to wait for this year. Amusingly, the producers did actually confirm that the game was running on actual hardware by showing the dev kit, so I can be fairly sure that what I played is a good representation of what FIFA 14 will bring to next-gen consoles this holiday season.

The most obvious feature of the FIFA 14 next-gen experience was the overall smoothness of the game. From the transitions to the replays to the framerate to the player animations, everything felt like butter. The 1080p image popped right off the screen, and the overall feel of the on-pitch action was totally responsive and tight. Nothing felt sluggish as I tried out different runs, stops, touch passes and crosses, and the whole thing just had a real crispness to it.

Admittedly, I thought the player models, while nicely upgraded, weren't any revelation (not compared to the EA UFC demo, which, of course, is a much smaller roster), but everyone looked good. There was still a bit of an uncanny valley effect going on with some of the players, but the stiffness in the faces was less apparent than in previous games of the current generation. The rest of the character models' movements did help make up for this, as some animations are downright gorgeous. Chest flicks that hoist the ball in the air (no more ground trapping), hop-over ball receptions to keep the momentum going, headers that were driven in with proper body language and great pivoting and weight distribution when stopping and starting — these were some of the awesome new animations on display.
 

As for headers, you can now have more than two players go up for a ball, which looks great. Four different players were shown reacting to a ball in flight and adjusting their body position accordingly. Some players just tried to contort their upper torso, whereas others just angled their head to try and make contact. The header coverage in general is much better thanks to players' ability to react to a ball in flight and adjust with the many new animations for set-pieces and crosses.

There was also a lot of emphasis on players reacting with “instincts” before a defender was on them or as a ball was on its way to them. One great replay demonstrated this, with Messi lifting his foot ever so slightly to avoid a defenders tackling foot, and all the while the ball kept rolling along. Players were also able to shield the ball better and brace for contact by putting up their forearm before the defender arrived. All of this felt real good on the pitch, and there were less animations of players falling down and becoming entangled awkwardly during challenges. This definitely helped with the overall smoothness of the game.
 

The passing and shooting game both received some love as well, with some great-looking outside, inside and top-of-foot passes now being possible. All of these happen much more fluidly, with less need to take an extra touch on the ball or readjust position. The shooting has changed both in look and feel, as players now plant their feet properly before squaring up to shoot, better demonstrating the power and technique of certain shots. There is much more curvature and ball whip present on some of the driven shots, and overall I'd say the shot timing felt good since the players actually took the time to setup the shot, creating better driven shot scenarios.

The “living worlds” concept that EA was touting showed promise, but it was hard to get a good sense of the overall presentation. The sound was not enabled during our demo, so on-pitch chatter, crowd noise and commentary were impossible to evaluate. The stadiums did have a great presentation at the start of a match, with the representation of Old Trafford looking particularly compelling at night. The 3D crowds made possible by the new technology definitely seemed more substantial and alive, but it's an area that will continue to look better as the years go on, so we're not quite there yet with the crowd tech truly suspending disbelief.

As is the norm most of the time in FIFA, most of my matches featured header goals and lots of corner and cross opportunities. Shooting opportunities of any merit still require substantial patience and deft passing, all of which seems more satisfying this year when you pull it off. As an aside, I thought the Xbox One controller felt pretty good, with more of a “matte” finish than the current 360 model, and the bumpers clicked a little bit more than they do now. It did feel a bit on the light side, honestly.

Final Thoughts

My takeaway from FIFA 14 on next-gen is that it's using the new tech better than the last generation of consoles did at launch (FIFA Road to World Cup, NHL 2K6). For a game that's straddling the generation, there are definitely some nice advances in overall visual fidelity, and the animations and smoothness of gameplay are of particular note. It'll be nice to have a sense of the new modes and audio presentation sometime in the future, and that should help paint a clear picture of what this next-gen footballer is all about.