Of late, FIFA’s tried to encourage thoughtful, build-up play, but the improvements made in FIFA 14 to the movement of your fellow teammates really foster more end-to-end, thrilling encounters. It’s the side of football FIFA has always excelled at portraying: taking early leads, a frantic tempo, and plenty of last-minute goals. That’s not to say there isn’t a tactical element in FIFA, but it’s not FIFA’s real strength, and FIFA 14 feels like it’s more comfortable with that identity.

 

FIFA 14 is even more tightly stitched into the rhythms of the real-life game. Stats continue to be updated, using information from the most recent round of real-world fixtures, and pundits again single out players experiencing a patch of good form. Yet it’s all integrated much better this year, with the commentary less crowbarred into the opening of matches. This year it even extends to the presentation prefacing games. For instance, when I played FIFA 14 as Real Madrid, the pre-match buildup in FIFA 14 focused closely on Gareth Bale, following his recent record-breaking transfer. They’re little touches, but together it raises the level of presentation and ensures that FIFA 14 stays relevant for the duration of the season.

 

If this sounds like gushing praise for FIFA 14, it should, but all of this is very much a “your mileage may vary” affair for FIFA. There’s no doubt that some people will utterly detest FIFA 14. They’ll hate the tippy-tappy nature of FIFA 14, the slow build-up play. They’ll despise how the defending has moved to an even more precision-based ordeal, or how even with the assists fully-on, passes can go awry, throw-ins will miss their targets, and hard-hit cross-field balls will over-shoot the target, or be under-hit. Some may even hate how the personality of players has come along in FIFA 14 gameplay, because you’ll sure as hell feel the difference between playing as a top tier team and a lower league one, more than ever. But persevere and it’ll make you a better player; I’m sure of that much. It feels as though EA Sports have tried to make FIFA that doesn’t let you break the boundaries of reality with magic physics: if you couldn’t really do it, then you can’t do it here.

 

If a frenetic arcade experience is your bag then this is not the game for you - FIFA 14 is a deliberate and calculating football sim that punishes mistakes and rewards brilliance whenever it can be mustered. This franchise of FIFA 14 still remains vital in the sports genre, and FIFA 14 is very much the strongest since FIFA 10, boasting a vigorous physics overhaul and a wealth of positive gameplay changes. Although it remains to be seen how different the next-gen version of FIFA 14 is from what we’ve played, you’d be forgiven for snapping up a copy at release rather than waiting until November.

 

The silken feel of controlling players in FIFA will be instantly familiar for series fans and instantly inviting to any neophytes picking up the game for the first time. EA Canada confirmed that the current gen version of the game wouldn’t benefit from the new Ignite Engine used in the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One version due in November, but it would introduce Precision Movement. A series of physics and animation tweaks to the game was touted as a way to make the field game look and feel more like real soccer. In practice, it’s not very noticeable. FIFA 14 is tactical identical to FIFA 13.

 

That’s a good thing! The EA Sports business, in its drive to add new features to entire players to buy yet another annual release, tends to tweak too much trying to fix parts of the game that aren’t broken. EA Canada wisely leaves the field game intact. Dribbling the ball as runaway striker, dodging between defenders, still has the same succulent momentum. Passing between players and shooting still feels intuitive but subtle, requiring serious practice to perfect even on lower difficulty settings like Semi-Pro. Scoring that first goal is still a pure gaming pleasure. Even when using a custom player in the game’s Career Mode, when you’re still a scrub and a far cry from the precision skills of stars like Lionel Messi, the game feels great.