FIFA 15 Reviews
So, goalkeepers aren't as good as promised, the soundtrack is rubbish as usual and the menus still aren't as simple as they could and should be. Regardless, when all is said and done, FIFA 15 is the best football game we've ever played. It combines match day pageantry and superb gameplay perfectly, and builds nicely on last year's sterling effort. After so many years of trying, EA has, with the exception of a few little missteps, finally gotten player AI right and created a fast, fluid football experience that looks and feels like the real thing. This will go down as the year that EA finally ticked all the boxes.
If you love rich and complex management sims with almost unnecessary levels of detail, then you might want to pass on this; look towards the terrific Excel-spread-sheet-imitating Football Manager series instead. But, if you want to feel like your favourite footballers playing the beautiful game—or can't wait for football season and need to play-watch an almost-real match to scratch that itch—then FIFA 15 is the most visually impressive and functionally satisfying football experience out there. Y'know, apart from maybe being a football superstar.
The inherit problem with FIFA 15 is not every moment in football is a cup final. Often it is standing in the rain, watching the players you call by their first names at the tail end of 3-nil drubbing, knowing you're going to do it all again next week. We can hope that next season, EA Canada continues to iterate, and strikes a balance between footballing glamour and realizing the beauty and passion of mid-table obscurity, because all football fans deserve the chance to experience a real simulation of the game we love.
For real FIFA fans, you'll want this latest update not just for all of the new content, but also for the finer adjustments and improved goalkeeper AI. For more casual fans however, there might not be enough glaringly obvious updates from last year's edition to do a Mexican wave for.
EA is back with its annual update of the hugely successful sporting series – and it not only looks better but it's an altogether different experience too.
FIFA 15 is a game that any fan of the sport, casual or hardcore, should check out.
Prepare to 'Feel the Game', and not feel fresh air on your skin for a while
EA have struck pure gold with Fifa 15, the series is back where it needs to be following the few setbacks of Fifa 14, and this year's additions have taken it to a whole new level. The improved Premier League experience and commentary gives the player a real sense of purpose and occasion as they soak up the atmosphere from the fans, and then the teams take to the pitch where Fifa 15's new dribbling system can be enjoyed to its fullest. We hope that EA brings a little customisation to the new tactics and an improved defence system with next year's iteration, but these are only minor flaws in what is an utterly fantastic game. If you like Football, you must play Fifa 15.
If you're a casual fan of soccer, this game is able to get you right into the action fairly easily
After a serious misstep with NHL 15, FIFA 15 is a leap in the right direction for EA Sports. Shrewdly taking advantage of current-gen's capabilities with added emotional intelligence and improved animations, this is easily the prettiest EA Sports title this year.
Overall, FIFA 15 is an ok game. It's an upgrade over FIFA 14. The problem is that's all it feels like…an upgrade. It doesn't feel like you are actually playing a new game in the franchise, rather it feels very much like you are playing an updated and expanded version of last year's game. This is probably enough for some FIFA fans out there. However, for a casual soccer player like me, I was less impressed.
In the end though FIFA 15 is all about the spectacle, and on that it delivers and then some. It feels like an epic Super Sunday clash and whether it's a 0-0 draw or a 5-4 spectacular it always feel a nail-biting, unpredictable, and tense experience that replicates all of the emotions of the beautiful game.
FIFA 15 feels like it introduces less innovative elements than last year's installment, but the development team at EA Sports knows what its audience wants and manages to improve the core gameplay and the presentation in interesting ways.
FIFA is a game about making you feel like a superstar. The game excels at creating moments that induce feelings of immense pleasure from periods of extended play. While the game is essentially the same old FIFA you know and love, it's a testament to the formula that it never seems to get old. With every feature you can imagine still here and improved, and more added for this year's iteration, you're left with a solid football game that gives you all the tools to enjoy playing for another year.
Not much has changed off of the pitch, EA Canada still can't seem to work out how to create stable netcode at launch, and goalkeepers still make hideous errors in spite of their obvious upgrades, but ultimately FIFA 15 is a fast-paced, thrilling triumph where it counts. It's frustrating at times, but it's also the most rewarding FIFA in years.
Maybe its complacency in the face of the decline of its rival series, but FIFA 15 took its eyes completely off the ball. As ever, it is a glorious, box office glitz and showbiz affair - all flash and fancy. However, under the bonnet it is a shallow representation of football, a horrendous car crash of a mix of poor design decisions and inherently flawed AI. To say that FIFA 15 is basketball played on a football pitch isn't that far from the truth, and it is something EA might want to, and should consider for its next annual release.
While not the most innovative title in terms of modes and menus, FIFA 15 delivers where it counts - on the field of play. It will be interesting to see if EA Sports can continue to make these kinds of strides going forward, because for soccer fans FIFA 15 may already be just about the perfect game.
A game without a goalkeeper slip-up is still a much better game than you'd find anywhere last year, but those slip-ups happen too often for our liking. Still a fantastic game for football fans, but probably not one that those prone to tantrums should play.
This may seem superficial, but in a lot of important ways—its music, language, representation, and sense of joy—FIFA 15 is a more cosmopolitan and worldly sports game. We could use one.
FIFA 15 is another fantastic entry in the FIFA series. EA Sports managed to capture the presentation of a real life football match very well, and added with the already solid gameplay makes for an overall solid football game. Like all FIFA games there are plenty of things to do to keep you busy with FUT as usual getting the most time out of all the modes. While there are some negatives to the game, the positives highly outweigh them making this a game I must recommend to all football fans out there.