FIFA Soccer 14 Next-Gen (PS4) Impressions

[TerryP]

So is there no season, tournament or franchise (not sure what it's called in FIFA) modes?

[Azamien]

Quote: Originally Posted by TerryP

So is there no season, tournament or franchise (not sure what it's called in FIFA) modes?

There is franchise ("career" mode in FIFA) but tournament mode (which was the way to play single seasons in the past) is gone.

[Mikey88]

anyone know if the camera angles are any better? can they be adjusted more than previous gen versions? have they added any?

[Inhocmark]

I'm a long time FIFA vet, buy it annually, and despite the strong sense of familiarity with FIFA 13 (I did not buy the current Gen version of 14) it feels like a bunch of small changes that add up to a wholly different game experience.

On the surface, the game looks great. Player models are strong but not perfect the farther down the familiarity ladder you go. Stadiums and the pitches look great. The atmosphere in 5.1 is rocking. Some teams have team specific chants that come up more frequently than in previous games but can also be jarring if you're a supporter of a club and they come up at the wrong time (ie. Liverpool scored a goal at Anfield and the crowd started singing You'll Never Walk Alone, which is only traditionally sang at the start of a game and at the end as Liverpool close out a victory...and halftime in Istanbul)...but overall its nitpicky.

Commentary has a lot of similar elements but they've added a fair bit as well. I've still heard some repetition during my season and I'm only 5 games in. Still pretty solid.

Goals look awesome and feel awesome. A home goal is greeted by an erupting crowd and a celebration of big goals that you can almost feel your living room shake. Away goals are greeted with the pocket of away supports going crazy over top of a muted hum by the home support. Extremely cool.

The gameplay itself is a ton of small things thrown into the solid FIFA game play that makes it feel completely different. The physics is serious. Smaller players get easily pushed off balls, the tackles look crunching and the animation is not canned and while occasionally it offers some awkward impacts, they don't look out of place. The ball handling is amazing. You feel the difference between an elite player at full speed with the ball on his foot and even a good player. Neymar can take a ball in full flight, keep control and destroy a fullback who makes the mistake of not playing the positional game. The flip side, Raheem Sterling can keep control at speed but needs to push the ball farther ahead which makes it easier for a good full back to take it from him easier if you try to play the game with the R2 pushed down. Agile players feel more agile while bigger defenders feel every bit of their weight...good and bad.

The aerial physics are amazing. Multiple players crashing for balls, the ability to be the late player in and nip a header away is brilliant. The very fact the game no longer just pairs up two guys for a challenge means so much variety and the possibility of missing headers. As a force of habit on a goal kick, I hit the button for my central defender to challenge for an aerial ball and because he was out of position he awkwardly went for it and fell on the ground leaving the forward he was marking a clear path to the goal and I was instantly punished.


So yea...if feels familiar...they presentation elements beyond the graphics are very similiar but the game play feels like a big step up. A ton of small features that add up into a more real feeling game

[EWRMETS]

What difficulty is everyone playing? Professional is a little bit easy to retain but World Class seems too difficult. With Atletico against Barca in Nou Camp I was able to win the possession battle but still lost 3-1 as I got murdered on the counter. I love how it's not so difficult to tackle anymore using tactical defending.

[KG]

Hopefully for FIFA '15 they will implement emotions like NBA 2K14. Footy is such an emotional game. I would love to see live appropriate reactions to calls, fouls, important results, etc...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Altimus]

With the game moving and looking as well it does, no fouls kills it for me sometimes. When it does happen, it looks so great and feels real but they're rare.

Started a CM on Legendary with Chelsea last night finally. Dominated the pre-season, dominated Hull City in the opener and was scoring a minimum of 4 goals per game. Thought this game is way too easy to score goals (no slider modifications yet). Then it happened. 0 goals against Villa with only 3 shots the entire game. Next game, 1 goal off a PK with 7 shots against United so back to the drawing board. The United game resulted in a much better offensive showing but I'm loving the challenge so far. Defending is difficult and I might have to boost sliders for that one.

I love the creativity you're able to pull off with skilled play makers like Oscar and Hazard. A good number of my goals have been PES like where you just stand up out of you're seat and marvel at the action that just took place. On a side note, Mata isn't doing anything for me at the moment, Eto'o disappeared after scoring 2 in the first game and Torres is MIA completely in the game.

Game looks stunning, crowds reactions are great and gameplay tweaks have been made from FIFA 14 (PS3/360). My biggest gripe other than fouls in last gen was how all defenders were super defenders no matter what rating they had; much better now. Also investing in a back line finally matters, as does positioning and marketing. Got caught gambling with Terry a few times and paid because no way Terry should be able to turn and catch up to a striker. This was the case sometimes in last gen, no more. Defenders feel like they have weight to them while players like Hazard fly.

Also I love how everything is in real time. No more cut scenes, just close ups of real time action. Presentation flows and plays out just like you would expect in a real game. However, this makes the commentary stick out a little more and I hope they're able to work on more lines for FIFA 15.

[EWRMETS]

I was just thinking, points of emphasis would be great in FIFA. Imagine havnig the CPU focus on shutting down Messi or playing wide.