Honestly, I bought fifa14 when it came out on PC after reading reviews from Metacritic,
IGN and PC gamer and so on, disregarded the user negative reviews tauting them uneducated...boy was I wrong. My
experience of the game was far from awful, it was horrid and nightmarish. I remember me and my buddies were playing a
tournament on my PC which was averaging well not averaging,Honestly, I bought fifa14 when it came out on PC after reading reviews from Metacritic,
IGN and PC gamer and so on, disregarded the user negative reviews tauting them uneducated...boy was I wrong. My
experience of the game was far from awful, it was horrid and nightmarish. I remember me and my buddies were playing a
tournament on my PC which was averaging well not averaging, playing at a steady 60 fps and we came to an unanimous
conclusion with regard to the feedback we got from the game, which were four - 1. Graphics - even though it was not on
Ignite, the game looked good...very improved...the lighting, shading, player modeling although many other players often
appeared to look more generic. 2. Commentary - Previously we had given Fifa08 the honours and until with 14, 08 was still
the supreme in terms of commentary because of the ability to 'remember' previous matches, previous players' clubs
especially when playing against them and so on...something that could have been added on in fifa titles long long ago.
But then that was just our united opinion . 3. Shooting...actually the actual shots...they were more satisfying...more
gratifying...the fact that they took ages to be executed almost robbed 14 of this key positive point. 4. Celebrations -
That alone was the only thing that implored me to try harder at getting the store where I bought my FIFA copy to give me
my money back instead of EA Sports who refused to by ignoring my efforts. Other than that, FIFA 14 was hogwash, and was
never worth hours spent on it...infact we spent a lot of periods moving from Fifa 08 and then to FIFA 11 lamenting the
lack of the graphics fidelity, shooting and celebrations of the fifa 14 title.
You so called review fails to answer a would be buyer's question before spending money on this games just as it failed me with the previous iteration (fifa14). You guys (Metacritic) suck at game reviews but I am gonna have a go anyway...or maybe they pay you for hyping their games?
Now coming to 15, is it still akin to 14 in these terms?
# Jerk you around - Give you control of the model...then take it away and make the model do something stupid then give
back control and then abruptly take it away again then give it back then take it away...all that in the space of a few
seconds...and that is EA Sports...it's in the game!
1. GPS Navigation: where player models moved to where directed (attempted to anyway) using a predefined pattern, motion
and 'precision'? Oblivious to inputed direction of the user? They move like cars...braking then stopping and then
starting and then moving and the accelerating then overshooting and that oh so undeniable turning circle of a
truck...good gawd....and you can even more than imagine the soft but impending voice of the GPS navigator going:
"Calculating...calculating" as your player model moves in a circular motion with a berth of a meter to attend the ball
that is to the left or right of him. Splendid work chaps...jolly good show.
2. Command versus Suggestion System: where the controlling user (You or me or both...using a system of +60 fps playing
rig) seems to suggest an action of either a pass, a shot, movement left or right, a run...a tackle and also the lack of
fouling - 08 used to be able to allow you to deliberately foul an opponent and pull him to the ground...and so on? Where
after pressing the pass or shoot or any other previously abled button, the model seem to think about it first before
agreeing and then executing much of which led to the loss of matches, opportunities, offside calls and so on...none of
which was totally non-existent in 08...well not totally but barely? What i am saying is we seem to be suggesting actions
rather than commanding the player models, is this still true in 15?
3. Ballophobia - This I happened to notice first in fifa 12, the horror and disgust of when a controlled player model
brakes in front of the ball when the ball is not being contested and contrary to the actual control being subjected on
the model to assume control of the ball. This includes assuming control or kicking the ball when it is spiraling in a
particular direction, at a particular point, from a particular angle. This resulted in a lot of throw-ins conceded, a lot
of corners where models will run 'act like they be running' after the ball and only engage the ball after it has crossed
the out of bounds line. The leaving it until late before intercepting an aerial ball going out of bounds/play...all of
this oblivious to the movement and engage commands made by the user on the player with the indicator. They literally run
away from the bomb or we probably should not judge, there might be a ticking sound that we with controllers in our hands
do not see.
4. Defending - Fifa12 saw us being introduced to a new feature called tactical defending, this meant that you no longer
pressed the standing tackle button and thus see your controlled model running at the ball to take possession by 'stand'
tackling and shoving, pushing and so on...the right word that I am not keen on using would be auto marking...instead you
have to manually navigate your model into a position where when the standing tackling button is pressed, the model would
dispossess the opponent and assume possession or fail excellently by looking like a cockroach killer in a soccer kit
stomping the ground and being tripped by invisible little stadium pitch gnomes. First of all, because you are never given
total control of the controlled model, that personally has failed because I would be frustrated by my supposedly
controlled player model as he nears the opponent where he would automatically slow down and start waiving his hands about
attempting to either search the accosted player, read his braille tattoos or tickle him and spend a good valuable 30
seconds following him round that way before I would change to another player model in complete frustration. Since then in
Fifa 12, the tactical defending brought in the containing method of play as part of a defending where according to me,
the train of thought in regard to the introduction of this was to allow for the containing of the player with the ball so
that they could be tactically defended, but when using legacy which was a much more better and preferred personally way
of defending, since Fifa12, that underwent a serious castration. as even the legacy defending In 14, we saw
players...defenders moving out of position to follow attacking opposition players, going on a leg fetish rampage and
blatantly ignoring the ball and going after the opposition models...knocking them down, tripping them, getting in front
of them and blocking them whilst the ball rolled unattended toward another opposing player or toward a dangerous set-
piece opportunity for the opposition...often so, you will witness defenders slowing down so that they interact with the
ball from a bickering position instead of fighting to reach the ball first and then passing it or clearing it out of
danger...holding the legacy defending button since fifa 12 has been a recipe for disaster we wonder if that still is the
case in 15? Fifa 11 was true to defending as any player playing and using that system is or was. you could press it and
release it when u notice that you player is opting to go 'kit number reading' (following) aimlessly and accompanying the
opposition to score..you could navigate them into a better position where they would jostle, push and bump and you would
see it and it was immediate and they always went for the ball and were not GPS guided and they would be always open to
correction...as for 08, holding the button would result in a foul...a deliberate foul which ceased to exist since fifa12.
I doubt if this has changed in 15 as well.
5. The Flora syndrome: This is something you happen to notice immediately after first starting to play fifa14, the
immobility of the players about to receive the ball. You cant do jack. They would be stand there...planted...waiting for
the ball to come to them, this would happen TIME AFTER TIME AFTER TIME AFTER TIME...them morons would be planted. Moving
to meet the ball or foil an interception is a fallacy and raises the serious question of 'control' especially with the
device within the human user's upper limbs' functional ends (hands). QA Staff failure I suppose more than anything here.
An exercise to try: In controller settings, choose Manual instead of the widely preached airballs option for the
autoselect feature...and see how many times your controlled model will go after a an incoming aerial ball, I have tried a
million times to manually move the player toward where the ball will be landing; fruitlessly. At times even moving the
model with my indicator will prove null and void and only be awakened to me controlling him after the ball has bounced
and when the AI sharing control of my assumed player model with me grants me only to take it again when I am in the
proximity of an opponent to shape how I lose the game.
6. Hollywood:
Acting - the art of representing a character on a stage or before a camera by means of movement, gesture, and intonation.
What would constitute bad acting? bad acting would be constituted by ill representation of my wishes within the context
of the the game of which I am the player of. Player models acting like they are seeing the ball, running toward the ball
only to run over the ball, bump into the ball (this happens when mostly when a certain run animation sequences are not
completed when the model reaches the ball) and then they stop track back and start jogging to go and bump into the ball
again to the comic entertainment of audiences. In-fact, I have become aware of a certain group of gaming audience pundits
of Fifa14 who would come to our tournaments just for the comic relief of models doing things that if looked at through
that perspective, would put this title in the category of the Seinfelds of eSports. Lots of drama in the title, the
trapping of the ball, the passing of the ball and then falling down, the heading of the rolling balls...and jumping and
missing of the ball for just the dramatic effect of playing the game. Fifa 14 was made to be watched and not played
because in most reviews you got the synonymous rephrasing of the words...'visually appealing' especially when they
applaud and comment the trots before runs and the prancing about when the player is about to contain a striker...and so
on. Does 15 have this wonderful qualities? Yes...please note the sarcasm in that question.
7. Jedi ability: AI controlled players are just Jedis. The force is strong about them that redirects your controlled
player when they come in with attempts to take the ball. This force repels and also attracts your models at will, putting
them out of position as such enabling your opposition to do as he wishes in your 18th area. And sporadically you would
have a player in your team reaching Sith mode and coming from nowhere running to double leg tackle the Jedi and free the
ball from the forceful ones...more often than most out into the outfield or onto another Jedi's feet and then the circle
would go on.
8. WTF!: This happens where you will have your controlled players turning into tennis players. They will be oblivious to
the ball and the going ons about them to the detriment of your efforts to at least let them be elementary school soccer
players who will all want to chase the ball and get a touch of it. These sons of pixels will run, turn their heads at 90
degrees to the body 'watching' the ball, jump the circular thing, side-step beside it, jump it again and hop around it to
trap it with such high potency of drama that he leaves it there to collide with a team mate a few yards away.
Anticipatory football ceases to exist because if the controlled player did not compute covering the empty space between
the running player down the pitch, the user anticipated through ball will be just watched as it rolls past toward the
running attacker with the number 7 on the jersey and then goal.
Now I ask, are any of these beside the presentation much spoken about in 15 and the ignite engine, still present or
corrected in EA Sports' new FIFA title?… Expand
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