FIFA 15 is about football — two teams of 11 men kicking a ball around a field for at least 90 minutes. But where it shines is how it presents the sense of theatre in each game – the emotion when you score a late equaliser, the tension in a penalty shootout. Emotion is what makes football special, and here you have it in spades. FIFA 15’s presentation is stellar, looking even more like a televised football match, from the great commentary to the replays of dramatic moments during the match.

All the drama of the football pitch is back in FIFA 15. This is a very important point for two reasons: firstly, because it’s the short, brutal answer to the central question of whether FIFA 15 is any good. “Have you played FIFA 14? It is largely the same.” Secondly, and admittedly less importantly, it has saved me from the dread expectation of writing at length, using strings of increasingly meaningless adjectives, about whether the headers are better this time, or the kinaesthetic pleasures unlocked by kicking the ball to other men this year, as contrasted with the kinaesthetic pleasures unlocked by kicking the ball to other men last year.



At least they’re consistent, which is more than can be said for the AI. A range of new save animations and improved intelligence means goalkeepers are more capable of responding to rebounds and deflections. At times they seem almost superhuman. And yet at the same time they’re prone to horrendous mistakes, letting daisy-cutters through their legs and exhibiting wildly unpredictable behaviour when the ball breaks loose in the penalty area.

But the AI is not yet perfect and on occasions it can be far from it. In one game I watched the goalkeeper jog past a tame backpass from one the defenders, with the ball rolling slowly into the goal. Another time, my own keeper was challenging with two attackers for a mid-air through ball from the halfway line. All three missed, with my keeper spreading his arms wide, and ball simply went between them like an aerial nutmeg and ended up in the net. Communication with the virtual back line could be improved too, with the keeper occasionally rushing out to clear a ball when the defender is almost there.