FIFA 15 seeming to have only made very minor tweaks

Every year since PES fell behind FIFA in the early 2000s, FIFA has been one of the biggest releases every year, without fail. FIFA 14 broke the UK sales record, being the number one selling game for twelve weeks in a row. Despite record sales figures, the FIFA franchise is still being accused of stagnation, with FIFA 15 seeming to have only made very minor tweaks. The main changes made to FIFA this year are that they have made the game more responsive; players turn and react faster, making the game more skill-based. EA have also improved the goalkeeper’s intelligence, increasing the frequency of amazing saves. Other changes are all aesthetic or minimal in nature.

Every year, it hopes to grab the attention of three audiences – ardent fans keen for the latest update; casual players who haven’t bought in a few years; and those yet to be seduced by any edition. It’s a delicate balancing act for EA and each year someone’s not happy. Change too much and the fanatics cry foul; too little and the uncommitted will pass. Mind you, FIFA virgins will always be delighted by their first experience of this fluent blend of televisual presentation and slick footie mechanics.

Sometimes your own player will run into a team-mate and send both tumbling to the pitch, and other times you’ll be able to push-off a defender to get the small edge you need for a breakaway goal. When you play in rain the players move a little slower and certainly cannot stop as fast as on dry ground or in FIFA 14. You need to adjust to the new player physics in FIFA 15 before you really grasp the changes and can appreciate them, but once you do it’s awesome. When you take a shot the ball in FIFA 15 behaves more like a soccer ball in real life. Shots that would have ricocheted off the post into the field of play now react more realistically. Catching the inside of the post may deflect into the goal for a scream-worthy score.



The ability to customize team sheets in advance streamlines the FIFA experience. In previous games, hardcore players had to adjust their teams before games kicked off to exploit the opposing team’s weaknesses. While that's not necessarily anything major to complain about, the time it took to cover all of your bases before kickoff could be a bit excessive. So much so, that I got often got into arguments with friends over how much time they took to set up. Now you can customize team sheets with up to 6 different playing styles, making it easy to apply game plans based on the strengths and shortcomings of opponents.

FIFA Ultimate Team adds new features to help fans build and manage a team of their football heroes. Loan Players gives fans a chance to determine if FUT players are suitable for their squads by signing players on loan via EA SPORTS Football Club Catalogue and playing with them for a limited number of games. A new squad planning tool Concept Squads gives access to every player available in FIFA Ultimate Team so fans can view team chemistry and plan their next line-up or transfer market move.

In Career Mode, a new Team Management system gives fans the chance to customize up to six different team sheets and alter formations, tactics, and roles based on their next opponent. Team Management also offers the chance to personalize gameplay by assigning up to five different attacking and defending player Instructions to each of the 10 outfield player positions. Instructions dictate the type of attacking runs and defensive positioning players will adopt.

In many cases, when you try to make animations more lifelike, that can result in some awkward situations where physics take over and ruin the experience. Fortunately, that is a rarity for the goalkeepers in FIFA 15. I only experienced a few instances where my goalkeeper did not react the way he should have. Those instances resulted in a few goals for my opponents which can be very frustrating. You will also notice that goalkeepers tend to parry the ball more often whereas they used to simply catch the ball. This new focus on the goalkeeper is smart, and helps improve by far the most important position on the team.