he football season is almost over – but don’t despair: as far as the FIFA franchise is concerned, it’s only just beginning, with FIFA 17 certain to be announced at E3 next month.
Every summer, EA Sports unveils the latest changes and revolutions to its genre-dominating title. And this year, CEO Andrew Wilson has promised that FIFA will take a “major leap forward in personalisation, immersion and competition”.
Here, Lee Price compiles a wishlist of the ten things he’d like to see announced on stage in Los Angeles.
1. MAKE CAREER MODE MORE SOCIABLE
Ultimate Team has had plenty of love over the past few years; how about something for those of us who like to delve deep into Career Mode? Namely, a co-operative online career mode. We’ve all shared the joy of co-op matches, or playing through a tournament on the same console and screen – so this, really, should be a no-brainer.
2. FRESH FACES ON THE COVER
It can’t be long now until we’re told which weekend in September FIFA 17 will be arriving, and that EA Sports is announcing a vote for a new cover star. But rather than let Twitter decide, why not reward the undisputed English stars of this Premier League season – Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Jamie Vardy?
With Lionel Messi’s deal as the face of FIFA still to be renewed, and given that EA has been experimenting over the past few years by having different cover stars for different territories, this wish could well be granted.
The leading contenders otherwise – Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar – are both contracted to rival Pro Evolution Soccer. But it wouldn’t be the first time FIFA and PES have poached each other’s cover stars.
3. MAKE LEICESTER FIVE STARS
They’re the English champions and will be seeded in the Champions League. Okay, it might all have been an incredible one-off, but give the team its moment. After all, no fewer than six Leicester players (Morgan, Fuchs, Kante, Drinkwater, Mahrez and Vardy) made the FIFA 16 Premier League team of the season.
And there’s precedent. Atletico’s reward for winning La Liga and reaching the Champions League final was a dramatic ratings boost for FIFA 15, while Montpellier’s shock title saw its squad’s stats rocket for FIFA 13.
So there’s no reason why the English champions shouldn’t get world-class ratings – yes, even Nathan Dyer – at least until the first batch of updates, anyway.
4. SUBSTANCE OVER STYLE
There’s no denying that recent FIFA releases have looked fantastic – beautiful enough to contend with any catwalk contingent in the world. But I do hope that there will be some major gameplay investments for FIFA 17.
5. GET ME IN THE GAME
Now, I’m cheating a little on this one – but as soon as I heard Mr Wilson use the words personalisation and immersion, my heart skipped a beat. The Virtual Pro mode must be on the brink of overhaul.
In previous editions, my head-scanned face hasn’t quite translated into the game, and the customisation options didn’t instigate much improvement. With smartphone cameras really rather slick now, you’d think it would be easier to capture your image, other than via an iPhone app.
Obviously, behind the scenes, there will need to be some canny software to make this happen, but it would certainly make for a great feature.
6. FIND A BALANCE
Most FIFA players will be familiar with the series’ tendency to fall in and out of love with pace. For the past few years, every other release has seen pace either the most valuable attribute full stop – or utterly redundant.
It would be nice if EA could solve that particular riddle in a way that emphasises the real-life use of pace and its value.
However, Jamie Vardy’s success may well encourage another year of speed monsters.
7. MAKE IT FIVE-A-SIDE
A growing number of nostalgic FIFA fans have been calling for a return of the indoor five-a-side mode that was so popular in FIFA 98. Personally, I endorse this, but suspect any return might be saved for the 20th anniversary of that game, in 2018.
More likely right now would be some kind of FIFA Street-type mode, where you can fine-tune your trickster ability in a futsal-style match.
8. DIVING
This has been a real blind spot for the FIFA series, and probably has more to do with the governing body the game gets its name from than any sense of righteousness from EA Sports. But it does seem pretty remarkable that the most realistic football video game omits a very real part of the game today, whether we like it or not.
Players dive, or at least go to ground easily, in every match and on occasion are caught out with bookings.
Let’s give the gamer that option.
9. MORE GAME MANAGEMENT
A simple one which, admittedly, is hard to define scientifically – but computer-controlled teams need to be tactically better.
Of course, the AI is improving with every generation, but there needs to be a more noticeable sense of time-wasting, even if only in key games. Whether it’s playing in the corner, playing keep-ball, taking their time between throws and set pieces.
Obviously, too much of this would be overkill, but it’s something you see in most real-life matches now.
10. BIN MINI-GAME LOADING SCREENS
I may be in the minority here, but those pre-match games seem pointless. As standalone training exercises, I understand their existence, but I can’t say that I’ve ever genuinely tried to complete one while getting ready for kick-off.
A better use of that load time would be to select your tactics and lineup, which would also remove a step from the process of playing a match.
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