Customer Reviews

FIFA 15 (PC)

Any football fan, unless you support Manchester City, often ponders about the glory years in the past. The times when it was enjoyable to watch your team play and how you wish things were the same in present day. This is how I feel when I play Fifa 15, like when a new football season approaches, there is always some hope and optimism that this season will be better than the last. Whether it's new signings in real life football, or new features in Fifa.

The first and most obvious thing I will note about Fifa 15 is how beautiful the game looks. All of the Premier League stadiums have been brilliantly recreated and look great in game. Also, it's impressive how the pitch deteriorates due to footprints and marks left from slide tackles and it really does make for a more realistic look, rather than the plastic, glossy appearance from previous games. Also, the crowd is noticeably improved, as they react more realistically to chances, bad tackles, bookings and the full time result. Trust me when you lose 4-0 at home, the boos are deafening.

Now this is the part when I have to talk about the game play, and this is where I have to delve into the games problems. First of all, the defensive A.I is still desperately lacking. The game encourages you to defend in a more organised fashion. This is a great idea in theory, but it is impossible to defend with any kind of organisation when the A.I is a poor as it is. From my experience playing the game, in terms of A.I there is literally no improvement from the Xbox 360 version of Fifa 14, bare in mind I play Fifa 15 on the PC, which uses the new Ignite engine. If you play the game on World Class or Legendary, you will notice this, whereas if you play on Professional you probably wont, as the game is very, very easy at that setting.

In terms of features, well I haven't yet played Ultimate Team, but Career Mode is exactly the same as it was in Fifa 14. However this isn't really a criticism, as it was pretty good in Fifa 14.

A.I aside, the game play still feels the same. Despite a new game engine, it still feels clunky, and regardless of which team you are playing as they still seem to lose the ball very easily, funny as it's almost impossible to win the ball back from the opponents especially if you play against a smaller team. Now I can't explain why this is the case, but I honestly find playing against the top teams easier than against the smaller teams. I mentioned earlier about losing 4-0 at home, well do not be surprised if you experience a large amount of home defeats to smaller clubs. Also I must stress, that the goal keeper A.I is absolutely abysmal!

Opposing teams in Fifa 15 will adapt to situations in matches, so if you are winning by a solitary goal, then the CPU will play with a much more attacking mentality and will press you more, which will of course make things more difficult for you. In fact you will often need to change your own mentality to something more defensive and look to play a more counter attack style. Now, this is actually good to see, as it adds a lot of realism and gives the game a nice dynamic feeling. However, teams such as Crystal Palace or Burnley (I mean no disrespect to any of their fans) will suddenly acquire a sudden, unnatural ability to play literally perfect football, and your team will suddenly lose the ability to string together a single pass or shoot on target. Also, it is funny that in these kind of matches, almost all of your shots that are on target will hit the crossbar or the post. Fifa has been using this trick for a while now, which is so disappointing as we all thought that with the extra power of modern PCs and the next gen consoles, E.A would be able to program A.I that is a little more intelligent than this.

So in summary, Fifa 15 is a game that promises so much, which all the stadiums and brilliant graphics, in addition to the enhanced A.I that was supposedly going to be in this game, Fifa 15 just feels like same game as previous titles but prettier. Like real life, as an Aston Villa fan, I was hoping for a better season.

With every iteration of FIFA that comes out each year, there is a definite improvement in graphic quality, the game engine and other aspects, there's also always a new set of frustrating gameplay issues. Unfortunately, FIFA 15 suffers from a larger than normal list of such problems, some that completely ruin this game, especially on PC.

Defending - Defending in the game is a joke. Strikers are always faster so your only option is to intercept the run, but holding the chase button makes a defender run in a line that ends up behind the attacker. Even if you reach the attacker, it leads to the next problem.

Tackling - There has been some massive overhaul of referees decisions in the game, very much for the worse. There have been blatant slide tackles, sending players somersaulting in almost comedic fashion, that register as tackles, and slight touches that are registered fouls. Shoulder barging makes players glitch far further away than they realistically should, ending any defending move you had planned. But the most ridiculous is a situation that happens all too often - you have possession, get hit off the ball and attempt to get it back, only to be hit with an instant foul. It makes no sense and every time it happens you will be caught thinking the foul went to you, only to have the opponent gearing up for the free kick.

Matchmaking and Player 'Nerfing' - Matchmaking is a joke, it seems you are simply thrown into a game against any available opponent; skill-matching is non-existent. I have also noticed that because of this lack of fair games, scripting is used at times to make it fair (more on this to come) and better players are 'nerfed', their level of skill is decreased to make games fairer. If I pack/save up for an 86 rated striker I expect him to score against a 75 rated keeper more than an 86 rated one, not less.

AI Scripting - Games are seemingly scripted at times to make them fairer. You could take an early lead only for your opponent to score straight from kick off, you can go a few goals up only for the opponent to equalise with relative ease.

Face Modelling - The face modelling that FIFA is priding itself on this year is shocking, at least on PC. Players do not look like their real-life selves and some barely look human.

Lag and Bugs - There are so many bugs in the PC version it makes online even unplayable at times. Online has a constant lag for me, an issue I don't have with any other games or actions online. I have Sky Fibre Optic, there is no reason for lag to be this bad. Games will drop out frequently and half the time you'll be told you disconnected early and receive a forfeit on your coin bonus per game as a result, punishing you for the poor quality of the game's online features.

'Always On' gameplay - If you don't have internet, many of the game's better modes (including Ultimate Team) aren't accessible, even if you plan to play them offline/against AI.

"Park the Bus" Option - In addition to the previous Neutral, Attack, Ultra Attack, Defence and Ultra Defence, there are even more extreme options this time - All Out Attack and Park the Bus. Park the Bus is triggered near the end of games by the AI, usually if they are winning by one goal but sometimes even during a draw. It is possibly the most infuriating game mechanic in any game I've played, a player stands with the ball at the corner and does nothing but keep you off of it. At higher difficulties it is impossible to get the ball off of them without causing a foul. Imagine having five minutes to score the goal that keeps you in or even wins you a tournament, only for it to be made impossible by a ridiculous mechanic.

FUT - The simple fact is, FUT is still too expensive. Coins are not earned at a decent enough pace to unlock enough packs to keep contracts and fitness up, let alone to be able to sufficiently upgrade your players. This is obviously an EA cash grab, trying to convince you to pay £5 to open the equivalent of about ten packs. This is the reason so many people buy coins from third party websites - there is no other way to get into the higher tiers of players without doshing out hundreds. But now EA is even cracking down on that, I've seen people who've bought coins get bans and even have their FUT clubs wiped. Yes, its part of the terms of service but maybe if Fifa points weren't ridiculously overpriced people would be more inclined to use them instead. Also worth noting is that Player Trading has been removed, probably again as a measure against third party selling and again showing EA putting profit over the game itself.

FIFA as a franchise would do so much better if it took just one year out to refine everything, balance out its gameplay properly and work out the best pricing system on FUT. But that won't happen, so expect more of the same with Fifa 16. Perhaps it will be better, perhaps it will be worse. Maybe exactly the same. But what it won't be is as good as it could be, and what it will annoyingly be is financially successful. If you really must have this current iteration, consider getting it on a console. Don't bother with PC, at least until the bugs are fixed. I'm four months since the game's release at the time of this review, so that doesn't look likely to happen at all.

New Features

In the vastly popular game mode 'Ultimate Team', you can now loan players to play a set number of matches. All of the English Premier League teams stadiums are officially licensed and in-game - what does this mean? The real name of the stadium is displayed before kickoff and the surroundings slightly resemble that of the real stadium. Brazilian League is not included but the Turkish league returns. The gameplay, simply hasn't changed, neither has manager mode (single player).
I have included information on the previous game via a link because it is my belief that there has been little to no changes in gameplay or modes, so I would be repeating myself - http://www.ciao.co.uk/Fifa_14_PS4__Review_6109578
Positives

With the progression of technology and the release of new video game consoles, graphics must keep improving. That being said, the graphics don't necessarily improve in FIFA, its more accurate to say that the more prominent a player becomes in the real world, the better the likeness in-game (Antonio Valencia has looked like the same default, generic black guy since 2009) so the addition of more 'likeness' is always welcome. Thanks to this years game and download updates, players play for there current teams. Of course, you could always spend 20 minutes and just manually transfer the players yourself on your old copy of FIFA - but who would waste time doing that when you can just spend another 50? All teams wear this seasons fashion! Sporting the teams recent logos and sponsors with minimal pattern changes.
Negatives

_Where to start?_ The Price - From Origin, EA's very own download manager, the source of this game if you will - Standard Edition - for a PC Download - a digital version only - £49.99... Fifty quid for a game that was copied and pasted from last years rendition, that was made in one year with no testing, that will continue to charge you for using the 'best' it has to offer via Ultimate Team... Granted, you can find it for £40 on other retail websites, for PHYSICAL COPIES - but how mind boggling is it that the developer/publisher of a game tries to flog a VIRTUAL COPY for £10 more?! Then theres the 'Ultimate' Edition which is the staggering £59.99! And for what? 40 FUT Gold Packs, a friendlies only All-Star Team, borrowing Messi's overrated self for FUT LOAN ONLY Player, a worthless adidas Boot Bundle, pointless Historic Kit and probable unlockable Goal Celebrations, wow, just wow. As usual, don't get me started on the soundtrack: the older games may have had the odd surprise song but now it's a smorgasbord of complete awfulness. Add to that, all of the previous 5 games faults and you get a rough idea of the quality of this game.
A Few Examples

One need only glimpse online or at a television to be bombarded with the soulless advertising of an overrated and unimproved game series. Social networking lends a hand too: but not boasting the superiority of said £60 hoik. Before FIFA 15 was even released, the game was getting the full on hate of a country when the _brains_ at EA decided to lower the overall rating of national football hero, Tim Cahill. Cahill, famous for previously wearing the scummy blue of Everton and captaining the national team, is without a doubt, the most popular and well known Australian footballer. So when his stock plummeted, making him drop out of the top 50, FIFTY, players in the MLS... the complaints rolled in sharpish. With this kind of shoddy programming, how can they please anyone let alone everyone, when the 'skill' of players is rated in such a knee-jerk way?

Comical goals are always being uploaded from FIFA games, that's why there is the ability to save replays - however, I doubt this was intended for highlighting the frailties, glitches and down right cheating of a game system. Barely 2 days into its tenure, no.15 told every gamer what we already knew - the game still has the dreaded 'momentum engine'. Leaked coding from 2010 confirmed everyones suspicions, that the game had a built in directive that effectively 'boosted' the points of AI controlled players to force a goal. Evidence of this is in a slightly hilarious but equally painful, goal replay (indicated by the tag of 'Just conceded a f***ing front flip goal... 90th min bulls***') - Basically the opposition attacker falls over the human controlled, rushing goalkeeper, performs a front flip, heels the balls towards goal mid-air, towards a defender on the line, whose clearance only scrapes the ball into the goal. Just google the title and hit the very first link under news to see what I'm talking about..
Why do I bother?

It's £30 on Kinguin, for one. I'd never pay the extortionate prices EA claim. But I do love football. Especially from the managers chair. I don't care for spending vast amounts of REAL money on VIRTUAL players and playing against children or people I don't know. So the Single-Player mode is what I look forward to, alongside the camaraderie that brings with friends and LOCAL multiplayer. I don't _want_ these games to be bad, I just _wish_ EA would pull their finger out, make a decent game, or otherwise be exposed for the con they are - And I am not alone - search the Amazon reviews and gamer websites to see the truth, brushed away under the mat. You may make a misguided search and get the morose idea that this game should be good considering it got positive reviews from official sites and magazines. Consider this: There is a FIFA game released every year. A guaranteed game a year to be paid to review ahead of everyone else. What if they were to be honest and claim it was poor? Would they still get the game next year after such a battering?

So my advice to you, if you're truly considering buying this game instead of an alternative: Wait until the price goes down, buy pre-owned on eBay, borrow it from a friend. Don't feed the fire.

Pffft....What can I say?

I like it when the AI scripting is favouring me, I don't like it when it isn't. Perhaps it is due to the lack of an ability to actively defend in the game, that the blatant AI scripting / momentum moulding/ filthy cheating scum bias is so obvious in FIFA 15. The way to defend in FIFA is simply by not moving your players out of position and letting the attacker run into you whilst you press the tackle button at the right moment. Thus, if the AI positions your defenders favourably, 'you' might just be successful.

EA Sports went down a very wrong path with their 'tactical defending'. No matter how you configure the gamepad, FIFA's tactical defending system is neither comfortable nor intuitive. But combining the defending controls with the ultra nerfed defender capabilities and/or the ultra buffed attacker attributes in this years game, FIFA 15 is very much a game of two halves. The one half where you have possession of the ball and drift and glide around opposition players like it was AC Milan V Some Pub Team FC, and then the other half where you desperately mash and hopscotch around the tactical defending controls in a vain attempt to break down the attacking move, whilst you watch with dismay as the AI runs your defenders out of the path of the attacking player and anything but the best most perfectly timed mash of the tackle button, will result in the attacker leaving the defender for dead, and/or a free-kick/ penalty (as though it were Some Pub Team FC v AC Milan). On the subject of the refereeing, watch out for goalies jumping up to punch or win the ball, only to then fall down on an attacking player who slid into the goalie to begin with. Straight penalty decision according to EA sports. Yep, the referee AI may as well consist of a random dice for every challenge that is made....and they make you watch the cut scenes when the ref gives a yellow for some innocuous little collision.

A very well polished title glossy title with all the bells n whistles, but in an effort to make their game more exciting and pacey in the kind of way that Pro Evo can be (when Konami get it right), EA Sports have simply exposed a rather horrible and flawed bare bones AI system, that just isn't very good. The only way they can make FIFA 'exciting', it seems, is to break the defense. They have compensated for impoverishing the defensive capabilities, by doing some very funny things with the shooting which results in a lot of clear cut easy chances being sconed over the bar, or whatever.

I want my money back.

Looks great, disappointing game play. It's like 5 a side with 11 men on the pitch, or basketball - just one end to the other, the midfield is easy to bypass, the passing is just awful, so easy, scoring? easy. Want to see the attacker fly past the defender like he's not there and then cut in at full speed at an impossible angle?

This is the FIFA for you!

Strategy, possession, tactics, build up play - all rendered obsolete by ping pong passing and the overpowered attacking play, the spaces between the attackers and defenders are laughable, so easy to thread any ball thru without any skill or effort.

Win or lose, the game is not rewarding at all, it all feels too easy.

Back to FIFA '13 for me, which for game play simply annihilates this dull, easy and frankly boring iteration.

Thank god I only paid £25 for it.

RUBBISH.

This is a fantastic game that has given me much enjoyment over this year. It is easily one of the best Fifa games and it luckily was not destroyed like the XBOX and PS4 versions with the price ranges atrocities.

Of course you need a relatively high-end machine to play without lag and most laptops will not be suitable unless significant funds have been used. Make sure to check that the game and your machine are compatible otherwise you will be very upset.

Overall a great game that has no problems with gameplay (both online and offline) and graphics.

Its okay but if you want to play UT you will notice that your opponents lag issues affect the game on your side even if you have the fastest internet with the most powerful PC. As UT is a large part of this game, you would perhaps be better off buying it for Xbox or playstation to avoid losing to lag, which I must say ruins the game.

I'm a seasoned Pro Evo man. I'll make that clear. I've barely gone near the FIFA series since literally 2001. I am used to how Pro Evo works, and feels.

Well. Felt. In the last incarnation it felt nothing like the PES I've worn like a glove for a decade and a half if not more, and it was last year I decided I was done with football games.

Yet fast-forward to now and having tried the FIFA 15 demo and actually quite liked it, I thought, 'what the hell' and threw the money at it. I had some birthday cash to burn, so why not.

And so far I have to say it's actually the best FIFA game I've played in a long time.

First off I'm old school. I like to set up a competition, like Serie A, and play a season, as Milan. I just play the game old school without any new-fangled online stuff or Master League or whatever these dang things are called. I just play the game for the purity of it.

So bear that in mind as you read this.

Anyway, to begin with the presentation here is stunning. Graphically it's excellent - admittedly my rig is fairly beefy (780GTX, 32GB, 4790K etc yada), but that doesn't diminish how excellent the visuals are: the San Siro looks absolutely remarkable during the pre-match presentation, then the technical in-game graphics are top-notch too - the grass, the pitch, the fans, the stands. Plus of course, the superb looking players which come as close to looking like the real thing as I've seen yet.

As for the important side though, the gameplay. It's pretty good. It feels like you're actually playing football, and you're rewarded for methodical play with goals, if you set yourself up right. Defence is scratchy, but then it is also scratchy in the real world and you can't always rely on a telepathic understanding between your CB's. Goals are worked-for. They're earned. Play a good team and you will really struggle to score, play a bad one and you really should win if you pay attention to how you set plays up.

Passing feels just about right, and retaining the ball is a challenge when dribbling. You won't just waltz through defenders at will. I appreciate how this game allows 50/50 fights for the ball. You can really tussle, and sometimes you'll nab the loose ball, sometimes you won't. It feels like how real players fight and struggle to gain possession rather than it being glued to your feet at all times.

It's not perfect, but it's hard for me to articulate the flaws given I'm not that far into my first season.

But as a veteran of PES, if I quite enjoy it, pretty clearly EA have got something right.

I've played worse football games than this by a mile.

Fun game - better than PES at this stage I would say.

played over 300 games on ultimate mode, but as per usually with any fifa bots and coin sellers ruined the market, and 1 week ago EA finally introduced max amounts on players, which after 6 months is to late,