Gaming
FIFA 17's story mode is new and unique way to play the world's biggest selling football game
FIFA 17 is the biggest leap EA Sports has taken this generation. Running on a new game-engine called Frostbite, the technology behind Battlefield 1 and Star Wars Battlefront, the likenesses of football’s biggest stars have never been more authentic. At the EA Play event alongside E3 in Los Angeles last week, we went hands-on with the comprehensive overhaul and tried its new, RPG-infused story mode called The Journey.
You play as youth prodigy Alex Hunter, signed to the Premier League club of choice alongside his best mate Gareth Walker. The lads grew up playing together, always imagining running out side-by-side to a roaring reception at Old Trafford. It’s a dream destined to become reality, until José Mourinho (manager likeness are in FIFA for the first time) walks into the rooms and reveals Walker is in the starting lineup, while Hunter is amongst the subs in an away game staged at Anfield. This is the introduction to The Journey, FIFA’s first foray into a scripted campaign.
It isn’t just a rebadged Player Career masquerading as an inspiring underdog tale. It’s a fully-fledged narrative dictated by your success and failure. Everyone will play as glamorous forward Alex Hunter (there’s no option to make him a defender), but how his career progresses will follow the highs and lows, the triumphs and tribulations, of the events unique to your odyssey.
EA is serious about accurately representing the entire journey of an up-and-coming football sensation, on and off the pitch. It’s hired four world-class ambassadors to act as consultants on the life of a young footballer: Anthony Martial (Manchester United), Eden Hazard (Chelsea), James Rodríguez (Real Madrid) and Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund).
The Journey unfolds as Hunter and Walker sit eagerly besides each other on match day against Liverpool. In an abrupt attempt to inject sentiment into the scene, the first of many dialogue trees introduces three options to calmly, arrogantly or anxiously inspire Walker on his impending debut for Manchester United (in our demo – you can choose any Premier League club). It doesn’t quite carry the narrative nuance of Mass Effect, but offers enough scope to develop a personality for Hunter. We played through the scene twice, selecting two different responses, and received the same fist bump snub with both of them; perhaps third time’s the charm.
The match begins with a montage of emotion, as the action centres on Hunter stranded on the bench for the first half. Benefiting from the detailed facial features powered by Frostbite, a wide-eyed Hunter beams with delight when Walker scores to give the Red Devils the lead, and grimaces in frustration when Liverpool snatches an equaliser.
Early in the second half, Mourinho looks towards Hunter and gives the order to warm up, to the surprise of the commentators and jeers of an unrelenting hostile crowd. A quick pep talk with an assistant manager is delivered through more multiple-choice dialogue. Acting confident, apprehensive or measured about his debut will apparently affect relationships later in the story, but that wasn’t shown at EA Play.
With the option to control either the full team or just Hunter, you’re given a small list of objectives to impress the manager before entering play. Coming on after 70 minutes, I was told to achieve a player rating of at least 7.0, be a team player with a score assist and, ideally, win the match.
On the pitch, The Journey plays almost identically to Career Mode. It’s easier to achieve the objectives by controlling the entire team. During the demo, I over-possessed the ball near goal and eventually got Hunter into a scoring position to secure a high player rating – and would of had a score assist almost immediately, if Bastian Schweinsteiger hadn’t ruined everything. However, to buy into the fanfare of one player’s passage to stardom, it’s more appropriate to only control Alex Hunter.
A tick or a cross next to objectives accompanied by a contrived statement is the extent of Hunter’s post-match debrief, before he’s put in front of the cameras. A faceless journalist at the press conference felt robotic in asking her questions, but did focus on the highlights: scoring on debut, playing alongside Walker and the final result. As with the previous dialogue options, the available responses didn’t have much depth to them; so that makes it a realistic simulation of an apprehensive footballer speaking to the media. From a single match, it’s impossible to tell if press conferences will become a tedious gimmick or if they will have a genuine influence on Hunter’s fable.
Of course, FIFA 17 isn’t all about one mode. All the favourites return, and in the face of stiff competition from PES 2016 – FIFA is no longer the undisputed king of football games – sweeping changes have been made across all facets of gameplay. PES fans will say passing under pressure is still too erratic, but it’s been tightened up a little, while retaining the flow FIFA fans prefer.
While the big name players have never looked better, it’s the new collision physics that really takes advantage of the shift to Frostbite. There should be considerably less embarrassing videos of players getting stuck to one other on YouTube this year, not to mention a reduction in horrific goalkeeper mishaps. Tackles appear more genuine, and more notably players are able to shield the ball properly, giving full confidence in retaining possession, using a dedicated physical play button. Defenders will have to forcefully fight to regain the ball, which won’t slip out of a forward’s control so easily anymore.
In FIFA 17, skill training is more than a pastime when waiting for a match to begin. With new set pieces and a rebuilt penalty system, veteran players are going to have to relearn the intricacies of the perfect strike, with greater freedom to position players for a free kick or throw-in. Through the introduction of an aiming reticule, players have more control over corners than ever before, and can finally use the power meter to its full potential.
The enhancement of most consequence is the Active Intelligence System. FIFA’s AI has been rightly criticised for years, but that all changes in FIFA 17. Teammates no longer run in a predicable direct line to goal. They have more tact and are smarter at running into space – including running into bad positions to make more space for other teammates. In an hour of gameplay, it was only obvious during a few quality through-balls. But creative AI should be a subtle improvement, if it’s to remain imaginative for the duration of a long season.
EA’s marketing says “football has changed” in FIFA 17. It remains to be seen if it can regain its crown over PES 2017, but with more player control, the pursuit for realism through Frostbite and a comprehensive story mode, this is the most ambitious FIFA game on PS4 and Xbox One.
