FIFA 15 Demo Available Now on Xbox One, 360, PC, PS3, PS4

[BL8001]

Hutton, that is so cool.

I need to watch for that. Haven't seen it yet.

Also I like a bunch of things I see when watching replays, players showing the ref they didn't foul, players directing other players, players signaling for the ball or hands out and down asking for a foul to be given, all of this during the run of play.

You miss these things when you are caught up in the action.

To me these "little things" are integral in making the game come alive.

[japsubie]

Quote: Originally Posted by Hutton

One small thing that I forgot to mention that I don't recall being in previous FIFA's was the clock running during a late game substitution. I was down 2-1 and chelski made a sub in the 87', the announcer even made mention about how this may be a time wasting tactic, and I noticed that the clock was progressively running during the substitution cut scene!

very true, same thing with throw-ins and corners

[ManiacMatt1782]

Quote: Originally Posted by bad_philanthropy

Wow!

That was cool. He was held and then Messi embellished it to get the call. Nice.

[Turbojugend]

The presentation side is a huge step up from 14, especially when playing as two EPL sides. The Barclays branding makes a big difference in those games. I'm really looking forward to playing a tournament/season in the EPL, with all of the stadiums and atmosphere. There was one point during a Liverpool/City match where it looked like a group of fans were supposed to be holding scarves but were empty-handed, maybe that's a glitch or maybe they were outstretching their arms and I saw it wrong.

Lighting is generally improved, maybe not to the point I was expecting but better nonetheless.

Pitch degradation seems a bit over-pronounced to me, to the point of being cartoonish. Maybe they're accenting it on the demo so that it's really apparent? The rain effects are nice though.

I'm seeing all kinds of new animations, my first goal was an Aguero volley that looked nearly identical to the one he scored against Utd last year. It was so similar, it looked like they directly referenced that shot.

[JHedges2]

I come into this with a big advantage over most of you, in that I have not played FIFA before. Well, I am currently playing FUT on my iPad (lol) trying to learn players in anticipation of 15 dropping in 2 weeks.

The game looks brilliant on PS4, and I don't know enough about soccer (or the game itself) to know what is good/bad about it (as opposed to Madden, NCAA, NBA, etc.).

Can't wait for this bad boy to release and play a season as Arsenal in the BPL!

[Inhocmark]

Without wading into the whole debate about the ‘realism’ of the game of the lack there of I will just simply state that anybody who expects ANY EA Sports game at this point to be ultra realistic need to turn in their gamer card now. I have been playing EA Sports games for over 20 years now and they have never been true simulations. EA even by their own admission blur the lines so you will have an exaggerated realism. You can offset some of it with sliders but at the end of the day it will not play exactly like the sport they’re trying to emulate. Ultimately we may be asking a lot in a fully playable (as opposed to say a Football Manager type game) game to have AI that behaves perfectly human.

I got to play one game last night before heading off to bed, the opener between Liverpool and Chelsea. Right away I’ll say I did notice that the Keeper was slow to react to rebounds on 2 of my 3 goals on default. The first one was more understandable because the ball was pushed right to Sterling who put it away easily. The final one was a long shot by Lambert parried by Hart and Sturridge ran in on it and buried the ball. I’m not 100% sure if Hart was to blame or the defense didn’t react, but people who have brought it up are right. Hopefully between sliders and patches the issue can be dulled or eliminated.

Accepting as I am of the arcade qualities that are inherent in FIFA until you really scrub it with the sliders, I thoroughly enjoyed my match. I have thousands of games in multiple modes of FIFA 14 under my belt and right away I was taken aback by just how different FIFA 15 felt. The movement and passing felt a little freer than 14 (which in turn felt like a huge upgrade from 13). The flow of the game felt miles better even if individual defending and some arcade tendencies were still there. City pushed at the end of the half for a goal and I was able to get a 2 on 2 with Sturridge and Lambert vs. the fullbacks and the ball was put into the net with Lambert crossing to an open Sturridge who had got in front of his marker. Later in the second half when City had scored a penalty (more in a second) they really put full pressure on to hunt down the equalizer. I honestly felt the change even before the announcers let it be known what was happening. It was great. I have not played enough to truly judge the defending but I have seen what other people have said. The penalty I conceded was when I relied too much on the R2 button like I would have in FIFA 14 and clumsily took down Jovetic. It looked great and felt real. My biggest concern with FIFA 14 was that even when you were playing teams divisions below you in cup competitions there would be a lot of individual movement from the team and skill moves that honestly your average League One player would not be capable of handling. The demo is hard place to gauge that but I found at least Man City pushed the ball around a little more and weren’t always doing the same thing. Progress perhaps?

There are some similar presentation elements but they’ve been expanded on to make it feel fresh. I’m a Premier League player so right away I was in my glory with the new presentation overlays, facial scans and actual referees. Being a Liverpool fan I was completely sucked into the experience of the game. The supporters looked brilliant, the stadium felt like Anfield down to the electronic adboards showing Liverpool sponsors. In the past where supporters would default to singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone” after big goals (as opposed to it being a game opener and a closer during wins in real life) I was beyond the moon when after my first goal they began singing “Fields of Anfield Road”. That’s honestly some high quality ambiance there. I’m quite curious how many Premier League clubs are going to get similar treatment or if it is going to be a case of a few of the bigger clubs getting special treatment…I know City supporters do the Poznan…but will West Ham supporters sing about Bubbles? Will Chelsea fans wave plastic flags? Will Spurs just automatically try to target any player that Liverpool is interested in?

The facial scans are on par with 2K’s NBA scans and the emotional aspect is quite cool.

All in all, I just want to play more. I want to sink into the sliders, I want to start my season. Overall I find the game looks miles better than 14 which felt like a huge leap from the previous Gen. Crazy!

[kerosene31]

Quote: Originally Posted by iaxy

The first 10 games I played I kept on playing like in FIFA 14, i.e. press the ball carrier way up the pitch. Needless to say, I got murdered - not just in possession but also in giving away a ton of scoring chances against me. Unlike FIFA 14 (and previous versions of FIFA), this year the CPU takes advantage of your midfielder being out of position to devastating effect . But the real question is - why did you choose to put your MF in that position? If the CPU beats your MF with a move, they have all the space to drive towards goal, which accentuates the feeling of "where has my midfield gone". In real life any coach will tell you that it is criminal to take a midfielder way out on his own to push the opponent and sacrifice the team shape.

I've gone to legacy defending and avoided the pressure button. The issues are:
-The team doesn't hold their shape anyway. The back 4 is a nightmare.
-The CPU just slices through me anyway (might be my skill, but on pro?)
-I can't possibly switch players fast enough to fix it, even with RS (maybe some of you can?)

I hate to be one of those guys who fears change in games, but I just can't figure out defending.

[Hutton]

One thing that I've not really seen mentioned here very much, or at all, is the new "Emotion" system EA was all nuts about.

I barely see any player emotion or reactions as all. Cahill got sent off on a straight RC for a tackle that prevented a clear goal scoring opportunity 25 meters from goal and my fouled player hardly even reacted. In almost every match I play the CPU seems to get a very early YC, but there's never a reaction or confrontation of any type from the fouled player or teammates. The YC'ed player never appears upset with the referee about the card. There just really not that much going on at all "emotion" wise that I've noticed.

In fact, after playing the xBox360 FIFA WC game last night for an hour I'd have to say that I saw more "emotion" and reaction from my players in that game. I missed a sitter in front of goal from a nice cross, and the crossing player appears to motion like "It's okay mate, I'll feed you again".

I certainly hope EA didn't forsake proper defensive brainpower for this "emotion" engine. Maybe it's just the effect of being a demo "Friendly", and league matches will matter more?