In regards to AI and physics they did a lot of work but most of it you won’t even notice because like I said, the camera angles are horrible at times. There have been entire plays where my player has been off camera. EA states that they’ve improved slide tackling however, nearly every slide tackle results in a yellow card so I don’t see an improvement there. I don’t mean my slide tackles, I mean those of my allegedly ’more intelligent’ computer-controlled teammates. Mine automatically result in a yellow card which effectively have taken slide tackling out of the toolbox altogether.

This season you can create a team with up to ten friends and play against teams of 10 others in regional and global matches. If you’re a hardcore football fan you should easily be able to find nine others to put together a team. But depending on the playing ability of those real players, not to mention their virtual counterparts, your team could have problems simply passing, let alone winning.

On the other end of the spectrum they’ve also done some work on the management side of the match and given it some broad stroke updates. You can be both manager and player if you choose which gives you the ability to make changes during a match, or you can just simulate the match which makes the game far less interesting and does not allow you to make any changes during the match. It runs the simulation and just gives you the result. Not exactly what I want out of a football management sim. I want to be able to watch the game and not play so that I can make changes as I see they are required. If playing you can’t focus on the big picture and when it’s just a sim you don’t have any in-match control.

The game is massive really and it has its flaws. But there’s nothing like the rush of scoring a goal, stealing a ball or having a godo chance at a shot as you sprint away from the defenders. It’s certainly not perfect, but there’s enough here to keep you busy for the long winter months that are coming up. It almost seems like EA has gotten too ambitious with the FIFA title and needs to refocus their attention to make it a truly great title. As is, it’s good but could be so much more.