by Last year’s FIFA 13 from EA Sports delivered an excellent simulation of the world’s most popular sport, albeit one that essentially translated the home console versions to a touch screen using virtual buttons. Still, considering the warm reception and strong sales, you might expect more of the same from this fall’s FIFA 14 on iPhone and iPad. Surprisingly, that’s not the case. Sure, FIFA 14 is notably bulked up, offering more leagues, teams, players, and features than ever before, but the biggest change comes from its significantly overhauled gameplay approach.
“We thought there should be something more,” explains Lucian Cotreanti, product marketing manager at developer Electronic Arts Romania, regarding the previous console-like design. “We started by saying, ‘How can we redefine what the football experience is on a touch device?'” Considering the usual language of touch screen games, the answer quickly became clear. “There should be no more buttons,” he says the team decided.
Enter a new approach in which the screen is relatively uncluttered, letting you focus on comfortable touch commands to dominate on the pitch. Player movement is lightly automated, though you can drag from your player’s spot to create a path forward, almost like in Flight Control. Tapping another player passes the ball to him, and when you approach the goal, you can swipe to take a shot. The controls are similar in style on defense, with a tap of an opponent triggering your nearest player to engage, and swipes used for slide tackles.
While the new controls streamline the game approach to some extent, they feel great and really geared towards the mobile touch experience. And surprisingly, they even enable some more advanced tactics. The ability to position your entire team with just a few quick drags allows you to create on-the-fly formations, plus the swipe-to-shoot command comes with surprising depth. “The speed and the length of my swipe determines the strength [of the shot],” notes Cotreanti. You can even curve your shots to add some extra finesse.
It’s fair to expect that entrenched FIFA fans might not be keen on giving up some level of control, even if it unclutters the screen to let the glossy game visuals shine through. No worries – EA Sports says that a legacy control scheme will be available with the classic virtual buttons, letting you play FIFA 14 much like last year’s entry. But the new controls feel really stellar in execution so far, and the fresh approach is sure to make touch soccer a more inviting experience for casual fans.
In addition to the fresh play style, FIFA 14 is also larger and sleeker than any previous iOS entry. Additional leagues are included, bringing the total to more than 30, with 600+ teams and more than 16,000 players included. Furthermore, the menus will look closer to the console versions’ front end, and big features like online play and FIFA Ultimate Team will be joined by other new modes, which EA Sports says will be revealed prior to the expected fall release. The iOS version will also feature full commentary tracks in French, Spanish, German, and Italian, in addition to the default English, and those bonus languages will be available as free in-app downloads to minimize the core app install size.
