[FIFA 14] The beautiful game is 40% more beautiful on next-gen consoles

E-gonga

What is a FIFA, and why do I need 14 of them?

The aim of the game is for players to collect the fourteen "FIFA"s, which are suit wearing creatures that impact the professional sport of football/soccer. Each FIFA has a unique ability, such as Platini's ability to randomly remove tackling from competitive games, thus rendering skill obsolete. The ultimate aim of the game is to use each FIFA to defeat the ultimate villain of football; Enjoyment.

What?

No, not really! FIFA 14 is the latest iteration of the FIFA Football franchise released annually by EA Sports (it's in the game!).

What systems is it out on?

*deep breath* Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Playstation Portable, Playstation Vita, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Windows, iOS, Android and of course the Xbox One.

PSP? Seriously?

I know. I thought it was dead too.

So how is the game played?

Two teams of 11 players face off against each other in an attempt to kick a small spherical object into a large rectangular object. Up to 4 players offline can play with one another, while up to 22 players can play online, with each person being given direct control over a single player on the pitch.

There are several game modes available to the player, including Career Mode, Exhibitions, Ultimate Team, Skill-based minigames, Be A Pro and Online Seasons.

How is it different than FIFA 13?

Oh you know, the usual guff. Improved graphics, improved physics, improved shooting, improved AI, improved blah blah blah.

Speaking from direct experience, the game feels a lot slower with physicality actually having an impact. The presentation feels a lot sleeker and more realistic, with no more 'oh my god there's a camera-man on the pitch!' sort of camera angles. The commentators in Career Mode can actually reference previous results and also comment on the number of goals a striker has scored so far, although on the downside they seem obsessed with form and keep insisting that players are going to retire after the first game of the season. Seriously.

Speaking of Career Mode, the dreaded attribute masking has now been included. Whereas Football Manager had the common sense to make this an optional extra, FIFA decides that you're having it whether you like it or not.

Can you show me a video?

It took me a while, but I've managed to find one that doesn't involved high-pitched screaming or vloggers with dull, droning voices blathering on about where they think the franchise is going:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D3vv7vUXuY

So; let's discuss

E-gonga

I'll start ^_^

I use Fifa primarily for the Career Mode, where me and my brother play together against the AI as joint managers. We've started as Palermo in Serie B, which is a compromise between my desire to start in a lower league and his desire to have a hefty transfer budget (£7 million).

The new scouting/transfer system is less than enjoyable, in my opinion. Part of the attraction of previous FIFA career modes is that it allows you to live out the fantasy of being a world-class manager capable of finding diamonds in the rough and taking a risk on them. The new system essentially blinds you to all stats, leaving you reliant upon your scouts for information. I don't see the point of it personally.

At the moment we're 12 games in with 11 wins and one draw. Most of them have been narrow 1-0 victories, so we've been riding our luck a little. Rather bizarrely though we were offered the French national job in only our first season. BBQ saucesome ^_^

How are you finding things so far?

E-gonga

One more post and then I'll let this die.

Our first season is finished. Palermo finished top of the pile with a massive 104 points, and we reached the final 16 of the Italian Cup before Lazio dumped us out of the competition. We started the season with an attacking 4-3-3 formation but Lafferty was too often isolated so we switched to a 4-4-2 Wide Diamond formation, with Abel Hernandez originally playing the attacking midfield role and Dybala supporting Lafferty up front. Our performances improved, but like true Italian football most of the results were low scoring affairs until we opted to switch Abel and Dybala around. The latter's quick feet proved more effective against the tightly compressed Italian midfields, while Hernandez was able to gallop behind the defenders and sweep the ball into the net. Durmaz - a £2 million winger signed from Barcelona - chipped in with a few goals, and we managed to snap up De Ceglie from Juventus for a cool £900,000. At the back, Munoz was the standout performer in an otherwise mediocre defence.

Our second season looks to be a difficult one, however. Only just promoted and the board have already targeted a Europa League position, offering us a measly £8 million to achieve it. £2.9 million has bought us Mark Gonzalez, giving us a quicker, more goal-hungry option than De Ceglie, while £3.5 million has bought us Achille Emana, a Cameroonian midfield general who has already scored the winning goal in the 1st round of the Italian Cup. Our scouts also unearthed a 19 year old Argentinian centre back called Cardoso. He's only 5'10, but his pace and acceleration are both in the mid-80's and he's got some passing ability to boot. He took up the last of the transfer budget, but he seemed too good to pass up. Terranova (centre back), Jonathas (striker), Adailton (striker) and Joao Paulo (left back) have been snapped up on pre-contracts to bolster the squad, and we've made a few loan deals to fill in the gaps. We're quietly confident, although we're still lamenting the lack of a pacey right-winger.

For France (still can't believe we got the job in the first season) we were knocked out of the World Cup at the final 16 by eventual winners... Wales.

Seriously.

We dominated for 89 minutes, although couldn't extend the lead beyond the 1-0 scoreline. Then Bale picked up the ball from miles out, shot before we could get near him and the keeper never stood a chance. It went down to penalties and they went through. We felt slightly better when Spain fell to the mighty Welsh, and just downright confused when they beat Germany in the final. Somehow we've managed to keep the job, however, and we're looking forward to refining the squad during the Euro Qualifiers.

Of the game itself...

I still don't like the scouting system. I suppose it wouldn't be so bad if the scouts weren't so expensive, but at the moment we can only afford three sub-par scouts to do our bidding. It's a huge drain on resources, it's not nearly as exciting as unearthing talents yourself and it's stopped us from hiring a youth scout to cultivate our own youngsters. EA, make it an optional extra next year, k? K.

We are rather happy about the ability to pre-sign players coming out of contract, however. If you haven't reached the January window yet, then basically anyone coming out of contract at the end of the season - regardless of league - can be approached for a free transfer. They join your club in July, however, so you have to plan ahead. There's an age restriction as well; only players of 23 or over are eligible. Unfortunately we've found that if a player doesn't sign for a new club in January then they seem to automatically re-sign for their existing club at the end of the season. We spent the second half of the season making plans for free transfers, only to find they had all stayed with their clubs and that we couldn't afford them. Bah!

Still, now that we know how it works it should be easier to manipulate. We're going to spend August to December scouting exclusively for players coming out of contract, snap up anyone who can improve our squad for free, and then in the second half the season... I don't know. Maybe scout the obscure leagues to find some cheap players for next season?

So... is there anyone else here who plays FIFA, or am I just talking to myself?

ANTVGM64

I dig me some Fifa quite a bit. The mobile version is great for casual players, too - free Ultimate team and such!

E-gonga

ANTVGM64 wrote: »

I dig me some Fifa quite a bit. The mobile version is great for casual players, too - free Ultimate team and such!

Does the mobile version use an on-screen controller? If so, how does it fare? I've tried playing Sonic games on a touch screen but I always struggle with accuracy.

ANTVGM64

I mean my whole thing with on screen controls is that I think us gamers are a little wussy about it. Of course it takes time. It's like handing a controller to your dad or mom or girlfriend, it takes time to get used to it.

Regarding FIFA, you get an on screen controller and since FIFA is a game of kind of...flow, it works out pretty well. It's free, check it out. I'm ANTVGM64 on there.

E-gonga

I have no idea how we did it, but in our first season in the top flight we managed to win Serie A and the Italian Cup! It was an absolutely crazy season, but a bit of luck and a few tight games saw us do the double!

The season started as expected; the board wanted Europa League qualification while we were hoping for a solid mid-table finish, and the first five games reflected that. Two wins, two draws and a loss saw us in fifth place, although both me and my brother felt that an edge was lacking. We had plenty of possession and we were defending well, but the strikers seemed isolated, somehow not connecting with the rest of the team. We identified Durmaz, our Barcelona-bought winger, as the problem. So good for us in Serie B, he looked out of his depth against tougher opposition so we dropped him and brought back De Ceglie (he'd lost his place to Mark Gonzalez on the left).

Wow. The team suddenly gained another gear, turning possession into crisp, deadly passing. Tall man Lafferty started receiving a regular supply of crosses and promptly started banging them into the net, surpassing Inter's Luis Suarez as the league's top goalscorer. An injury to Abel Hernandez saw new boy Adailton getting a run in the team, and he and Lafferty quickly established a deadly strike force. By Christmas we were in second place, only a point behind leaders Juventus, but we needed desperately to strengthen. An injury to Dyabla saw Durmaz reluctantly reintroduced to the team, and his poor performances sealed his fate. In January we moved him on to another club, and used the money to bring in Volberg (Danish 19 year old midfielder), Jordan Ibe and David Ngoo (Liverpool strikers, although Ibe was deployed as a winger) and Devante Cole all on loan, while the rest of the Durmaz money (and the sales of one or two other rejects) went towards pre-contract signings.

The new boys couldn't quite do enough to keep a first team place, but they were impressive back-up. Ibe scored a stunning 20 yard volley on his debut, while Devante Cole's quick running could trouble any defence in the league. We still felt a bit short in midfield, but there were no affordable options in January so we had to play Ngoo out of position as an attacking midfielder. His poor first touch and irregular passing forced us to put a defender in central midfield and to push Achille Emana further forward than we would have liked, but we scraped by.

In the end, final game of the season, we were ahead of Juventus by a mere 2 points but faced a difficult home game against Roma, while Juventus enjoyed a casual stroll away to La Spezia. I have to admit we played very desperately against Roma, abandoning our usual passing play in favour of hoofing it to Lafferty in the hopes of snatching a goal. It remained in deadlock until the 81st minute, when Lafferty managed to win the team a corner with a long-range driving shot. Dyabla stepped up, whipped it into the 6 yard box, and Abel Hernandez managed to head it past the keeper. 1-0! After that Roma threw everything they had at us, but an unflappable performance from Munoz in defence and some heroics from Viviano in goal saw us hold out until the end of the game.

We're currently in pre-season of Season 3, and in order to prepare ourselves for the rigours of a congested fixture list we're adding depth to the squad. We were able to bring in Giovinco and Paloschi on pre-contract deals (both players look amazing) along with cover for a lot of other positions. Having terrible scouts means that we're bringing in players from some surprising places; we've just signed a defender from Barnsley, an 18 year old left back from Cardiff and at the moment we're trying to sign a striker from the Australian league. Not many Champions League teams would try something like that.


In the end we resigned from France. After the shame of being knocked out by Wales, we drew against Belgium and then lost - heavily - to Scotland in the European Qualifiers and decided that we'd had enough. I think the problem is that with France we were able to call up lots of quick, skilful players and our passing game went out the window in favour of daring runs with Ribery / Benzema / Payet / Nasri / Everyone else. It just wasn't working. We took up the Denmark job instead and found ourselves in the same group with France. I'm glad to say that we thrashed Scotland 5-0 in our first game in charge. There are two games to go against group leaders France and Belgium, and if we win those we might just found ourselves in the European Championship.