By: Noah Jaeger Bruehl
Though soccer is not the most popular sport in the U.S., it is in the world. And when a video games couples with a sport’s popularity, our generation is bound to notice. FIFA 17, released September 27, 2016, has already smashed sale records and created a new generation of sport video games.
The past FIFAs have had only three popular game modes: Ultimate Team, Career Mode, and Kick-Off. All bring a diversity to the FIFA series, but FIFA 17 expands on these modes while making the whole FIFA experience much more personal. The Journey, Pro Clubs, and the others now defy the expectations for sport games.
Ultimate Team is by far the most played game mode for generations of FIFA games. With thousands of professional footballers from dozens of league and nations stacked in the FIFA database, squad combinations are endless. These professional players are in the game as cards which are gained by a player through either Packs or the Transfer Market. Packs can either be bought by coins, earned through game rewards, or through FIFA Points bought with real money. When one opens a Pack, there is a risk involved because there are no guaranteed pulls because, a player can be worth five-thousand coins or fifty-thousand coins on the Market. Players can enter one’s Club or be sold on the Transfer Market, for coins, to other players online. All players’ cards receive a rating at the beginning of the year, but with a twenty-man Team of the Week being released every week, new cards are constantly being implemented. Man of the Match cards, Team of the Season cards, or Team of the Year cards are different types of cards which are determined by real-life games or seasons. FIFA has added new types of cards this year, like Halloween and Mustache November cards with upgraded ratings as well.
For many FIFAs, squad building in FIFA Ultimate Team, FUT, has been a fun aspect of the mode. It creates some personal competition because FIFA has implemented Chemistry. Trying to create some connections between players, just like players in real life work together, Chemistry links allow players from the same nation or league will benefit off of each other with Chemistry. With over twenty formations to choose from, the fun of squad building has always been present,but this new version of FIFA has brought this into the game with Squad Building Challenges in Ultimate Team. As players build squads, rewards are given to encourage the continuation of squad building. The FUT Draft is another way to build squads. Introduced in FIFA 16, it gives people of five players per position, including the starting eleven plus twelve reserve players. One can play up to four games with each team but once a loss occurs, the experience is over. The more games won results in the better reward received, but with a small entry fee, the mode is worth it.
Ultimate Team, at its whole, is about playing against gamers across the globe and competing to move up in divisions to continue to build your Ultimate Team. EA SPORTS has addressed the whole point of this game mode in a large way. FUT Champions is a new way to play Ultimate Team. Weekday tournament wins roll over to weekend leagues where one tries to win as many games as possible in those two days. A limit of forty games per weekend makes players scramble to try to rank as high as possible on public leaderboards. Though prizes are involved, many play FUT Champions in order to be able to call themselves a top FIFA player.
The game mode of Ultimate Team is brilliant with its personalization of stadiums, balls, kits, and teams, yet there is always an underlying agenda made by the game developers.
While Ultimate Team might be the most popular and most talked about game mode on FIFA 17, Career Mode, Pro-Clubs, Kick-Off, and the new Journey, provide another path of enjoyment. The traditional platform of Career Mode is still the same; players can either manage the entire franchise of a professional team or the career of a single player. Unlike Ultimate Team, Career Mode is an offline event which is more about managing a whole club. The new aspects of Career Mode offer control of ticket/merch sales with profit and revenue, Domestic Success of league tables and cup runs, Continental Success for multi-league competitions, Brand Exposure around the world, and Youth Development to find players with high potential ratings to build your club to success in the future. Progressing through seasons going through simulated transfer sessions, signing contracts and deals to bring in new players by using scouts, make Career Mode a complex, but realistic with total club management..
Perhaps the most exciting piece of FIFA 17’s new game is The Journey. It follows a made-up rising star, Alex Hunter, through the English football youth system leading up to the chance to play for a Premier League club of your choice. Cut scenes of animated actors representing Alex and his colleges lead into you playing as Alex on the training grounds and in matches. Interactions with other players and coaches are played out in these cut scenes. It is the most interactive and emotional game mode yet on any FIFA, and for many, it is the first thing they go to when starting FIFA.
Obviously, FIFA 17 is mostly about its gameplay. This is where this FIFA has generated so much talk. With the FROSTBITE Engine now powering the gameplay, it is more realistic than ever. Not only are the graphics so advanced that sweat, grass stains, and emotions are shown on the field, the feel of the game has the right balance. The weight of ground, lob, and driven passes is on point with actual gameplay. Corner kicks and long distance free kicks now have a targeting system to direct balls, while short free kicks and penalties allow players to adjust the run their virtual player changing the angle of their approach to the ball. New player positioning allows for more advanced runs and other off the ball movements. The FROSTBITE Engine gives the physical play of soccer a better representation of the pitch. Shielding the ball from opponents and tackles on defense are much more effective than past games. Downward heading, driven shots, threaded through passes, and driven goal kicks allow attacks to be much more realistic and varied than other games.
FIFA 17 can, without a doubt, be called the best soccer sports game of all-time and sales reflect its success. Eurogamer has said FIFA 17 earned the highest UK launch sales of any other FIFA. Being sold on Xbox One, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Microsoft Windows, and as a phone game called FIFA MOBILE, 5 % of copies were sold on PS4, while 41% were sold on Xbox One. For FUT, there is a web app and companion app for your phone to take your Ultimate Team anywhere. There are a few versions of FIFA 17, mostly appealing to Ultimate Team users, which include free packs, players on-loan, and special kits available to be used in game. Social media outlets like YouTube and Twitch Tv allow players to connect with pro- FIFA players and others who like the game and have fun with it, making the FIFA community a growing and interactive group.
The new FIFA 17 brings new life into an already dominating franchise, by making major improvements and aspects into gameplay and game modes making it more interactive and personal.
Sources Used:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-10-03-fifa-17-breaks-series-launch-week-sales-record
