As I detailed in my review, there's a lot to like about FIFA 14 on next-gen hardware. I had gotten a good feeling about the game back at E3 2013, as it's framerate, animations, pace and overall fidelity seemed like promising indicators of what the final product would deliver. This made it all the more satisfying when EA was able to provide that experience in the full release. By actually leveraging some of the new horsepower in some subtle but meaningful ways, EA was able to broaden the “feel” of the FIFA gameplay even if they weren't actually messing with the core engine in drastic ways.

To that end, I think FIFA 14 was a very good game, particularly for a launch title. If you think back to launches of the past, most sports games were quick and dirty ports of what had been seen the year before. While I firmly believe the FIFA series is capable of exploiting the new hardware much more than it has in FIFA 14, the initial effort created a smooth-playing, attractive and highly enjoyable game of footy.

Still, it's hard not to think about where the series could go and, more importantly, where it still needs to go. The nature of launch titles means there will always be some concessions in terms of features and scope, and you're still not really seeing the true graphical potential of titles when developers are only just grasping the hardware.
 

One concept that has still eluded the FIFA series to an extent is the idea of players and entire teams feeling unique from one another. Recent entries in the series have started down this path a bit, but when compared to PES, teams in FIFA still seem less cohesive. Certainly, FIFA 14 allows you to customize strategies and formations, and players with a higher skill will generally be able to handle the ball better and take cleaner shots, but there's still something missing — an intangible component that makes several players move towards the net as a unit and react more deftly to a developing play.

FIFA 14 starts to address the presentational components of this issue, purely thanks to improvements in animations and camera work. The added animation fidelity allows certain players to demonstrate fancy footwork and slick moves in traffic, something which is readily apparent in replays. The game's custom “presentation director” also aims to showcase star players and key performers. To a certain extent, this presentation is noticeable, but oftentimes the proceedings still lack a bit of focus.
 

I feel that an increased emphasis on the camera work and the crowd when certain players have the ball would do wonders to accentuate the abundant skills of certain players and teams. Take Chelsea's dangerous front-end players, for instance. If you've seen how players like Frank Lampard, Fernando Torres, Juan Mata and Eden Hazard play as a group, it's truly something to behold. Hazard, specifically, has a particular type of menace when he's approaching the net, and this needs to be captured in a more fulsome way in future EA products. The crowd reactions, the camera presentation, the player positioning and the feel of each star — all of those components need to come together in a more meaningful way to create squads that feel more distinct from one another.
 

I really enjoyed what EA did with the “Living Worlds” concept for FIFA 14. The added animation fidelity helps create a decidedly cleaner feel for the on-pitch action, but when you meld that with the improved camera work and frenzied crowds, the whole game just comes to life a lot better than it has before. It was also nice to see increased camera work and presentation from within the crowds and from different angles, which added to the atmosphere.

All of these improvements, unfortunately, make for a stark contrast when you've got some of the bigger stadiums getting full exterior treatments and better camera work. Now, to be fair, this is definitely an issue that's mainly about manpower — the time it takes artists to render all of these stadiums and create a unique feel for each one. All the same, I'd like to this concept blown out fully for as many stadiums as EA can realistically do. I totally accept that some smaller venues will probably have be treated in sort of a stock way, but I think most of the bigger league stadiums need to receive this treatment.
 

Further to this, I feel the sideline presentation and camera work still needs to be go further than it currently does, as we don't get to see enough when it comes to bench players, manager reactions, sideline officials or random events off the pitch. To make the stadium seem truly more alive, EA needs to address this aspect of the experience.
 

Many users were understandably upset about the removal of tournament mode, so it's possible that EA might do something about that for the next release. They claimed that their efforts were being focused on other modes and that very few people seemed to use the tournament feature, but there certainly has been a vocal contingent of players decrying its removal. Fair enough. For those that want to customize their own tournaments and who still enjoy playing with actual human competition in person (what a concept!), there's no reason that EA can't include that feature, even if the audience for it isn't massive.

Just the same, the removal of guest play for co-op season (and other modes) needs to be fixed, as does the missing creation centre features. I expect that these are once again omissions that will be remedied in subsequent games, but it doesn't make their absence any less annoying. Even if these features aren't leveraged by many users, it seems that they could make their way back in, at least in some rudimentary fashion that didn't require a lot of fiddling by EA.
 

As much as I've enjoyed the feel and pace of this year's game, there are still some quirks in the gameplay and AI that show themselves from time to time. For starters, the frequency in which the CPU goes offside or commits fouls needs to be adjusted. I wouldn't say this is as much of an issue in FIFAas it is in something like NHL 14, but the CPU still seems to commit very few slide-tackle fouls and only seems to occasionally get punished for being overly aggressive while jockeying for position. For offsides, they are something of a rarity for CPU teams, and it would be nice to see some squad variance here, where certain groups would try riskier lobs and throughs but get burned once in a while.
 

My other beef is with the lingering bits of “mechanical” feel to the gameplay — where the game seems to want to put players in certain places and not encourage some CPU teammates to go after loose balls. I applaud the improved pace and animation fidelity, and the first-touch and ball handling is a lot more organic than it used to be, but I still find myself occasionally fighting with EA's predetermined player positions and animation routines. In the moments before I switch to a different player on my team, he should be reacting to a loose ball or challenge situation, and there are still times where that doesn't happen.
 

Again, I'm totally satisfied with FIFA 14's slick feel, right down to the menus and load times when getting in and out of games. Everything feels smooth, and there's lots to see and do (even if a few options were removed or changed). That said, I'd like to see EA get out of their rhythm of just iterating on the same — admittedly good — modes that we've had for a while now. I know that FUT is a big cash cow, and I don't expect that to go anywhere in the foreseeable future, but it would be great to see the developers try their hand at something new in the career mode or in the online arena.

This is probably an example of something where I don't even know what I want until I experience it, but I'd like to see some risk-taking in features and modes in future games. I honestly think this criticism goes all across the EA Sports game spectrum, as many of the products, while totally playable and fun, have become a bit predictable. We know what to expect in a lot of ways, and that confirmation of expectation can usually be satisfying. But with the new horsepower afforded to EA from the PS4 and Xbox One, I hope they don't just rely on pumping up the visuals. Hopefully they try and re-evaluate how we play FIFA games and where there could be a further convergence of offline and online play.
 

Above all, I'm very satisfied with FIFA 14 as a product, particularly as a launch game, but just like the visually dazzling and feature-rich NBA 2K14, there's still work to be done. EA needs to reassure those who play mostly in the offline realm that they're not being left behind, and they have to elevate the on-pitch action in a way that matches their ambition for the presentational aspects.