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Remember FIFA Road To The World Cup 2006? It was rubbish – slow and prescribed, with character models that looked like wax.
FIFA 14 is different. From my hands-on, it feels as good as what’s on the current gen – with a marked graphical upgrade to boot. The reveal trailer had many crying that the assets used were pre-rendered, but FIFA 14 One is very shiny – player models are much better than before (Cesc Fabregas looked like an actual man trapped in my TV, although Messi looked a bit spaced out).
In terms of ogling the graphics during gameplay you’ll probably be too busy focusing on scoring to notice, but the replays are very, very good: highlighting the jump in power between consoles by showing off the character models and crowd in detail not seen before – I could make out the individual details of how Victor Valdes’ gloves were stitched, for example.
It also plays very well. So how has EA got this version up to speed when it failed so miserably before?
“Over the last year or so EA Canada and and Tiburon have been collaborating on [Ignite], which is the best of everyone’s technology pushed into one – they’re calling it the Frostbite for sports. It allows us to do a bunch of things from the get-go.
“The biggest thing has been with more memory, you can shove more stuff in… animation systems and animations. Hundreds of new moves that are accessible to both the AI and the player – more responsiveness, more playability. We had a great engine, we had a great game, we’ve got a lot more space to do things with. Put them together and you’re where we are now.”
On the field, the current-gen version’s quickness is retained – a demo match of Barcelona vs Atletico saw play zipping back and forward, all intricate passing and surging runs. As with the current-gen version, the shooting is also far better than last year – the new locomotion system makes for more and better shot animations and types. One through ball and outside of the boot finish – complete with new goalkeeping animation – drew cheers from onlookers.
Players no longer turn like drunk super freighters either, and on the whole it should be easy for players to move from one version to another should they upgrade – a good sign given FIFA 14’s quality on Xbox 360.
It’s not immediately apparent whether or not FIFA 14 Xbox One/PS4 will distinguish itself that much from the game on older systems, but there was a glimpse at improvements you can only really notice after a fair amount of time with the game – Neymar’s incredible turns and flicks as standard being one. It’s the FIFA you know and love, except this time it’s far prettier (if a bit shiny) and, crucially, has the potential to go above and beyond what’s possible on current gen.
