Fifa 15 review – not flawless, but still the best

Ardent fans of the Fifa football games know two things to be true whenever the latest instalment arrives. It will be mostly the same game as before, and it will also be the best football simulation ever. EA Sports, much like Apple with its iDevices, has found a winning formula, and it is reluctant to do more than drip feed us tiny changes every year.

That said, it has long been believed that this year’s instalment would be the big one. After all, developers have had almost a year since the launch of the Xbox One and Playstation 4 last November to really get to know the possibilities and limitations of these machines.

Well, the graphical improvements are by no means dramatic, but they are noticeable. Faces are more expressive, and EA claims that there are 600 emotional reactions that could potentially be seen during the game; players from opposing teams push, shove and bark at each other after having engaged in a series of aggressive physical battles over the course of the match. Strikers look pleased with themselves after scoring a belter and assistant referees … twitch their noses when making an offside call. Unnecessary perhaps, but it’s a tiny detail that adds yet another layer of realism to the most realistic football sim on the planet.

Indeed, EA Sports is all about the small things this year. Blades of grass (and, if it’s raining, water) go flying into the air in slow motion when the ball is struck during replays, the pitch develops physical signs of wear and tear over the course of the match, shirts are visibly pulled by defenders chasing a zippy winger and the PA system at Selhurst Park warns fans in the stadium that the Northern line isn’t running (hats off to EA, they’ve clearly done their research on that one).

The game now has disallowed goals, rather than laser-accurate robotic linesmen that will instantly stop play for offside the moment the ball goes anywhere near an offending player. That rollercoaster of jubilation followed by disappointment when your team is stripped of a winning goal in the dying moments of injury time is, to borrow a phrase from EA Sports, “in the game”.