“It would be wrong, too, to underestimate the allure of FIFA Ultimate Team. The finesse shot feels slightly overpowered to me, but it’s undoubtedly satisfying to work the space to feather a strike into the far corner. Goalkeepers are excellent, though regular shots seem magnetically drawn to their gloves, and parries fall suspiciously often to the nearest defender. Shots are more dynamic and unpredictable, but it’s inordinately frustrating to patiently work an opening only for your striker to miss a presentable opportunity through random happenstance. Only the new no-touch dribble, which can be modified into a larger feint, is a total success, allowing you to commit rash defenders to a challenge before accelerating away. If the new drilled pass seems to be a smart addition to your attacking arsenal, it’s a double-edged sword, since a regular pass will now trundle towards its intended target. Automated player selection seems more capricious than ever: I stared in disbelief as my winger ran to nod in a rare successful cross, only to leave it as control inexplicably switched to my striker five yards further back. It’s almost impossible to whip in a cross unless you drill it along the ground any airborne balls invariably float into the box, sucked towards the heads of defenders like a tractor beam (unless you’re the defending team, of course). Meanwhile, the on-pitch irritations pile up. And it’s a pity no one saw fit to take out Alan Smith’s immersion-shattering reminders of his ability to recognise exactly where the ball entered the net. It’s unclear whether these goals are drawn from online games being played simultaneously, or are simply invented as part of the illusion that you’re taking part in a kind of interactive Sky Sports broadcast, but either way they’re an unnecessary distraction. This year, you can run towards them after scoring to prompt a new celebration.Andthere’s a bizarre new feature that sees Tyler pass over to a hopelessly wooden Alan McInally, who’ll report goals coming in from other matches. I’m sure the cameramen that patrol the sidelines are a new addition, or they’re certainly more prominent than I recall. Other changes are rather more superficial. Referees will blow up for the mildest of collisions, but that’s understandable: otherwise you’d never get a free-kick. Even Martin Tyler - whose commentary is more seamless and varied than ever this year - was moved to sympathise after one particularly lengthy period out of possession: “It must be so frustrating - they just can’t get the ball back.” Touché, Mr. If sliding tackles are a little overpowered in PES, they’re barely usable here instead, you’re best kiting attackers towards other defenders or the touchline, and hoping they either misplace a pass or take a heavy touch so you can step in with a standing tackle.
And yet when you don’t have the ball, it feels more than ever like a non-contact sport. When you’re in control, FIFA is a little snappier than it has been of late – it doesn’t take as long to release a pass, and you’re more likely to get a shot away before a defender steps in with a last-ditch challenge. In the men’s game, you can go several in-game minutes without coming close to touching the ball. “Part of the reason the women’s game showcases FIFA at its best is because the player skill level isn’t quite so high, and thus the occasional heavy touch or mistake means it’s easier to regain possession. The main caveat is that women’s games seem far more prone to random glitches: I got a bug that rendered one pre-match tackling exercise uncompletable, while on three separate occasions my defensive line stayed rooted to the edge of the 18-yard box, leaving me with little support going forward.
Though it seems to take longer for strikers to get their shots away, and the best female players don’t quite have the close control of the superstars of the men’s game, these matches are often more dynamic, unpredictable, and exciting. I’m not convinced it’s a particularly accurate simulation of the women’s game – the quality of the football is akin to a Championship club between two teams with unusually high passing stats – but I probably enjoyed playing as the women more than the men because of these mechanical differences. And EA Sports hasn’t simply reskinned the men’s game you’ll notice tangible differences when playing as women, while female players have been fully motion-captured and look authentic. This year’s World Cup saw women’s football reach a much wider audience than it ever has before, and it’s heartening to see 12 international women’s teams represented here for the first time. It’s ironic that this should happen in a year when FIFA introduces the single most progressive feature of the two games.