FIFA 15 Reviews
While EA Sports luxuriate in Ultimate Team wealth and licensing heaven, they're doing the bare minimum to maintain the series' technical aspects. FIFA 15 still plays decent football, but with the same (increasingly inexcusable) bugs and instabilities of the past few seasons.
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.
Despite the obvious technical improvements, FIFA 15 fails to greatly differentiate itself from its previous incarnations.
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.
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.
There is nothing wrong with FIFA 15 and it plays great, but so did FIFA 14 and for the first time in a long time I cannot find a reason to upgrade. If you have FIFA 14 then just stick with it, you're not missing out on anything.
There's a sublime game of football in here, but overpowered goalkeepers and a lack of innovation sour the experience.
Different but certainly not better, despite the amazing next gen visuals FIFA has never seemed so indecisive and lacking in direction.
That, perhaps, is FIFA's defining contradiction. EA can quite fairly claim to have again delivered the best football game ever made. But every year the developers seem to have less of an idea what that means.
While not as an impressive leap forward as FIFA 14 on next-generation consoles, FIFA 15 is still a solid package. The gameplay might have taken a sideways or even slightly backwards step, but at the moment, this is the closest to the beautiful game we have in terms of presentation and delivery. For now.
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.
Strong, handsome and, at times, fantastic, but FIFA 15 still never quite feels like football.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
EA has added several small enhancements to FIFA 15 that improves the look and feel of the game, but some minor annoyances still linger.
Not much new for veterans, but FIFA 15 remains a deep well of quality that continues to improve accessibility to its sweet sport.
FIFA 15 is a great soccer game, but it feels a bit sterile due to a lack of creative thinking.