EA Sports’ upcoming football simulation FIFA 17 is under the motto “Football has changed”. Already in the reveal trailer, the development of virtual football has been presented from pixel players to FIFA 16 – and FIFA 17 is set to be the next big step on this path to realistic and authentic football.
For FIFA 17, extensive gameplay changes have been promised, which “are supposed to change football”. But as Adi Preißler once said:
“Theory is grey – crucial is on the pitch.”
Therefore we ask: How does FIFA 17 play?
Our first impression of FIFA 17
Mein-MMO was able to play an early version of FIFA 17, take a peek into the “The Journey” mode, and kick the virtual ball for a few minutes. We noticed several things to look forward to – but also aspects that we need to address critically.
What innovations we are looking forward to in FIFA 17
If you played FIFA 16 occasionally in recent weeks and months, the transition to FIFA 17 will not be difficult. The controls remain largely the same. The features introduced with FIFA 16, like the powerful pass, are still present in the game. EA Sports has not reinvented football controls, but sticks to the proven key combinations. You are back in it immediately.
The Frostbite engine is noticeable within seconds: The graphics are improved compared to the predecessor, the facial expressions are more realistic, and the stadiums are livelier – overall, FIFA 17 looks great. If you look closely, you can even see the sparkle (the light reflections) in the players’ eyes.
FIFA 17 is supposed to have 3x more animations compared to its predecessor. We noticed this immediately once the ball started rolling. The footballers have more “moves” now, which breathes more life and variety into the game. While in FIFA 16 you could almost predict the players’ movements after a few matches, in FIFA 17 we were confronted with new body postures, duels, and shooting stances.
In FIFA 17, the players are expected to become smarter. They will be equipped with individual personality profiles, can read spaces better, and are able to take new running paths, for which the system in FIFA 16 was not intelligent enough – as EA Sports itself admits. You can notice this particularly in the attacking play:
If you want to create a nice passing game, your teammates try to run into spaces or make themselves available. They also adjust their speed to cleverly lurk at the offside line. Compared to FIFA 16, you will notice significant differences here, as the AI behaves differently now.
The few games we could test FIFA 17, however, are far too few to make a definitive judgment. The gameplay has undoubtedly been enjoyable – however, we did not celebrate every action.
What has not convinced us in FIFA 17 so far
The attacking game is really good – there were rarely moments when we were dissatisfied with the AI’s running behavior. In FIFA 17, some beautiful goals are certainly possible.
However, the defense left us skeptical. Not because of the AI. It did not open spaces or make gross mistakes that would raise our pulse. But: It was incredibly difficult to actively take the ball from the opponents. Most of the time, a team lost the ball due to a misplaced pass or an inaccurate cross. With a normal duel, it was nearly impossible.
All the “tricks” that one resorts to in FIFA 16, like calling for a second player or blocking running paths, were rarely successful. It was better to resort to a well-placed tackle.
It was also hardly possible to chase down an opponent in full sprint to reclaim the ball. A few games would surely have been needed to develop effective defensive strategies.
It is hard to make reliable predictions at this point: But compared to the more defensively oriented FIFA 16, FIFA 17 will probably allow for more scoring opportunities and goals.
Regarding the goalkeeper: In our games, we did not notice any gross blunders by the goalkeepers. They can now collide realistically with other players and are expected to behave more authentically overall. However, when we peeked at the screens of our colleagues, we observed a curious scene: The goalkeeper had already secured the ball in his hands, took a few steps forward, tripped over a teammate lying on the ground, and dropped the ball. The opponent scored. One could debate: Well, such a thing could happen in reality with a lot of bad luck – but in FIFA 17, this will either cause laughter or frustration – depending on the perspective.
By the way: The referees did not push themselves into the foreground. Every offside whistle was offside, and fouls were assessed understandably.
Has football really changed with FIFA 17?
Yes, football has changed. The story mode is a drastic innovation, with which EA Sports may appeal to an even broader audience of football fans. The positive reaction from fans is evident in the rating of the story reveal trailer on YouTube: About 120k thumbs up so far, only 3k down.
A lot has also changed on the pitch: In addition to the graphics, the animations, and the smarter AI, it is mainly the new set-piece mechanics that first need to be learned and perfected. We missed some penalties, as well as free kicks and corners that went only roughly in the intended direction.
Has football changed with FIFA 17 as well? We don’t want to go that far. It is not a completely new experience – it remains football, Germany’s favorite sport. But EA Sports seems to be doing quite a bit right with FIFA 17. Many details are still missing: What innovations will come in the “Ultimate Team” mode? How will “Pro Clubs” change in FIFA 17? Which stadiums and leagues will be new? Many fans here have been longing for the 3rd league for years. More information will be revealed by the developers over the summer.
How the fun will unfold in the final version, we will find out on September 29, 2016. Then FIFA 17 will be released on Xbox One, PS4, PC, Xbox 360, and PS3.
More information about FIFA 17:
- Here we present the “The Journey” mode in FIFA 17.
- Here you can find information about the pre-order bonuses for FIFA 17.
- Are the release and contents of the FIFA 17 demo?
