Fifa v Pro Evo – it’s a battle which divides football-devoted gamers year after year.
Many players will pick just one and stay loyal to it through each annual update, often almost as fanatical about their chosen soccer sim as they are about the real-world club they follow.
Whatever’s said or written about each franchise will do little to convince supporters of the other that they should consider switching sides or even briefly see what the opposition has to offer.
It’s for this reason that I’m not going to make any controversial proclamations about Fifa 14 being the best football game ever for fear of getting fans of PES (the slightly inferior series of the two in my opinion) on my back.
What I can say with a good degree of assurance though is it’s the best ever Fifa game – but only just.
With next-gen consoles warming up in the tunnel, and with last year’s Fifa game already being extremely good (if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it), EA Sports has decided to maintain a steady course this year, evolving its particular take on football rather than shaking it up too much.
What we’ve got is a game in which players will notice some small improvements on last year but no spectacular jumps forward.
Of course, as with every year, the first difference you’ll notice after loading Fifa up is the slightly revamped menus followed by the updated team line-ups and kits.
Beyond these the main changes I’ve seen are all do with the way the ball behaves.
The physics seem to have been given a mini revamp, with that little sphere now bouncing around more unpredictably than before.
It’s subjective of course, but I’ve noticed the ball pinging about the pitch much more, taking all sorts of deflections and ricochets.
Trying to bring it under control, dribble with it or turn with the ball can, at times, be like juggling a slippery bar of soap.
Certainly the ball is less sticky than in previous years and won’t glue itself to your players’ feet. Passes can more easily go astray, while retaining possession takes more precision and concentration than it used to.
This all takes some getting used to and can be frustrating, but on reflection it also makes matches more realistic. It will definitely keep you on your toes.
The shooting mechanics have been tweaked. While it’s a bit strong in reality to call it a transformation, it’s clear that some work under the bonnet has been done.
As well as the movement of the ball being different, there seems to be a stronger connection between the button/stick gestures that result in a shoot and the outcome of each attempt on goal. Good or bad, what I’ve done with the controller has been reflected accurately in what I’ve seen on screen. Shooting feels more tactile and more real.
Maybe I’ve just got lucky in the few dozen matches I’ve played so far, but I’ve noticed more variety in the way goals have been scored.
I’ve scored more goals than before from headers, from pinball-like goalmouth scrambles and from distance, as opposed to previous version of Fifa when the majority of my successes came from dinking a through-ball down for the middle for a striker to run on to before slotting the ball past the keeper along the floor.
The most bizarre goal I’ve scored so far, the like of which I’ve never seen in Fifa previously, was when a corner kick flew into the goal via the keeper’s flapping arms. I’ve also managed a couple of 30-yard screamers which have had me punching the air in triumph.
Graphics have been given some extra sparkle with stadia (of which there are some new replications from the real world) and players (both in terms of their animation and modelling) looking better than ever.
Audio is very strong, especially the crowd noises complete with chanting and ironic cheering. However, one aspect of the game which continues to bring it down is the quality of the commentary.
Main men Martin Tyler and Clive Tyldesley are worthwhile inclusions but I’m at a loss as to why EA Sports persists with their co-commentators Alan Smith and Andy Townsend whose vapid words are as tedious in the game as they are on TV.
What’s more grating is how the commentary doesn’t always accurately describe what’s actually happening during a match.
A lame overhit pass collected safely by the opposition keeper on the edge of his area is excitedly proclaimed as a glaring miss or a spectacular save.
They contradict themselves in short spaces of time quite often too. One second my team are playing out of their skins, the next they’re a disappointment. They can also repeat themselves quite a lot.
Achieving seamless commentary with pre-recorded voiceovers in a fast-moving live-action game is always going to be nigh on impossible. Fifa 14 gets it right most of the time but the moments when the commentary goes awry really stand out.
Football is a sport of human emotion and sometimes error, but Fifa 14 doesn’t quite capture this aspect of the game authentically.
In most real-life matches there are moments of controversy or hostility among players and towards officials. These don’t really occur in Fifa.
Players are all well behaved and mild-mannered, whereas officials always seem to call key decisions correctly. Trying to capture a Torres v Vertonghen type incident on a virtual pitch might be very difficult but a little bit of edginess and unpredictability would go a long way towards making Fifa an even more authentic representation of football.
As well as the Fifa v Pro Evo argument every year, there is also the debate over whether fans of either series should upgrade to the newest version if they already own the previous edition.
Sometimes with Fifa the answer has been a definite yes because there have been significant advances from one year to the next.
That’s not really the case with Fifa 14, which makes the dilemma a tougher one to solve.
Because this year isn’t a massive improvement on last, you could very happily stick with Fifa 13’s gameplay so long as you can make do with the out-of-date teams.
If you’re impulsive and want the newest game regardless of innovation or you’re cautiously willing to lay down £40 on this year’s release you’ll still be well pleased with what you get because, even though it’s only small steps rather than leaps and bounds ahead of 13, Fifa 14 is still the best the series has ever been – and for most diehard fans that should be enough for now.
Verdict: 9 out f 10
Out now on multiple formats – PS3 version played
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