FIFA 17 - Standard Edition (PS4)

Fifa has really developed into an amazing game over the years. Although many didn't enjoy Fifa 16, I personally found it to be one of the best versions of the game to date. With Fifa 17 I have struggled a bit (as we usually do within the first few months!) Below I will break the game down into different areas.Overall Gameplay- In Fifa 17 we are introduced to the Frostbite engine and you can definitely feel the difference in gameplay to previous years. They bring a lot more to life and the players look more realistic (well some of them). A few things I have noticed is the increase in delayed passes and shots, mainly online which can be frustrating when you are one on one with the GK and he recovers the ball! Also they've changed the penalty, free kick and corner kicks so you'll definitely want to get in ours of practice as its not as easy as it used to be to score, especially with the shooting as you can be surprised at how soft or strong your shot may be - at the moment most goals I concede are on the counter and its the same type of finesse shots lol.GraphicsAs mentioned above EA have given FIFA the Frostbite engine treatment which other games such as battlefield use and it really makes a difference. I must say I really enjoy how realistic some of the players now look, especially my home team Manchester United. I'm yet to use the face scanner but from seeing friends who have used it, its really accurate but you need the FIFA 17 app to take your picture.Game Modes- The Journey: In the Journey we follow the story of Alex Hunter, a 17 year old boy who's Grandfather was a legend at Man United and he's now following in his footsteps. In the new mode you play 1 full season which requires you to play through trials, choose one of the 20 Premier League teams and then during the season go away to the Championship for a Loan before coming back to your chosen team. I won't ruin the end but some things I've noticed are that the social media tweets can be quite repetitive and after a while you stop being told to achieve certain targets and to avoid getting subbed you need to at least score an average of 7.0. Even if you get subbed sometimes your team can still win like 3-0 with 5 minutes to go lol. I hope EA doesn't make us wait another year to continue this story and they release an update or DLC to continue the rest of Alex's journey. Once complete you review an Alex Hunter card for your FUT team so make sure you train hard and get a high rating.Career ModeThe career mode in FIFA 17 now allows you to choose how your manager will look from a range of faces and ethnic backgrounds. You also have more tartgets which can be spread over a few seasons including shirt sales, club revenue and profit to name a few. I've only played a few games but it seems to be quite exciting at the moment.FUTFUT is back once again and to be honest this year is my first time playing it. I enjoy the mode and there's loads of squad building challenges and a new mode called FUT Champions where the mid week aim is to win 4 games in a row to qualify for the weekend tournament. Should you qualify and do really well you will have the opportunity to win some mega packs and lots of coins which will go a long way to helping you boost up your squad. Be warned! This is very tough as you are playing some of the best players in your region but its worth the effort if you qualify.OverallIn conclusion FIFA 17 is a great game that builds upon its previous and offers a new exciting challenge. Some aspects that still need to be upgraded over the year for me are definitely the response in passes, shooting etc and an extension of Extra time as sometimes its finished within 10 seconds even though you have 5 minutes. Otherwise I will give FIFA 17 8.5/10

I love this game already. It has solved a conundrum for many years now in FIFA: the fact that shielding was either OP or pointless and that for some bizzare reason, more power on your shots meant more height.In 2016, EA has finally solved this, you now have the abilty to shield the ball effectively with a target man to build up play and wait for supporting runs, meaning there will be more variety in the online gameplay, rather than everyone just playing ultra agressive and pressing high. It is finally possible to keep the ball now. Also, double tapping shoot finally gives you a low driven shot I've wanted since I started playing FIFA as a kid on '04.Ultimate Team is better than ever too, with hopefully the death to coin sellers, FUT Champions. EA is finally rewarding those who choose to get good at the game! Also considering it's the first year of the Frostbite engine, I have to give props to EA for developing as solid a game as they have. Being faced with a new engine ain't easy folks.PES is really good too, but FIFA wins because of the game modes and it's just so damn pretty. Superficial yes, but football is supposed to be so.Essential if you love FIFA.

I'm not a fan of football games............But the new Story mode 'The Journey' might just change that!I am one of those people who buy Fifa every single year hoping that this is the year that EA will include a feature that will stop me from selling the game a week after launch, but thanks to the lack of features and generic football simualted gameplay we are acustomed too, I have ended up selling each fifa game a week after launch for the past 5 years.Each year after going through the skills games and playing a few pro club matches online with friends, I would found that I had no real desire to continue playing, its already bad enough Im not a hardcore fan but the lack of features and unique modes like 5v5, 3v3 or elimintation etc made these games even more difficult to carry on playing.BUT THANKFULLY THIS YEAR EA FINALLY LISTENED TO THE FANS and included a indepth, enlighting and very well done story mode called 'THE JOURNEY' that follows a promising and very talented young player into the world of professional football.You get to train before matches, build a moral with your manager to get more time on the pitch, get to choose from a range of sponosrship deals and endorsments but before anything like every professional player today, you start or end your journey by showing your worth in the exit trials which ultimately determines whether clubs will give you a chance or not, you get to choose your most important dialogue options and create a firery or chilled persona for your character that may work for or against your career. How you perform in training; in games; and what you say all determines how the story unfolds for your character alex hunter.Another point is you get the option before every match to either control the whole team or to only use the main character (I love that option).My main and only real gripe with this game is how your performance can sometimes have no affect on the progression of the story, I scored 11 goals in my first 5 games in the premiership (not including the other 7 i scored with other players) and those acheivements were not really taken into consideration once targets were met.In each game your manager gives you 3 tasks to acheive during the game, which are normally to play well, score 1 goal and to either win or stop the opponents from scoring anymore goals, 15 games later and I havent failed a task yet and still was only rewarded with attributes and experience, my amazing acheievements on the pitch were underminded and your opponents difficulty can change randomly during a match for plot convince. I think everyone will agree that if I am scoring 2-3 goals each match as well as assisting goals, I dont feel I should be getting treated like i havent scored anything but I have to admit that once I was transfered to a championship team, my performance was dually noted and was treated like a superstar, and this made me realise that maybe this is a realistic and factual representation of the business, but it is a point I must make as I feel many gamers like myself who play other types of games like RPG'S, FPS's and fighters that arent huge football fans will be quicker to judge and stop playing as this is a new feature EA are exploring with their sports games but many of their customers have seens this done before and accomplished better.I would personally have liked my performance to better impact the story as I was doing above and beyond what I was asked too, because it seems like spectacular performance is not recognised or over looked once you meet your requirements, the game takes no notice of anything else beyond certain points, but besides that I very happy with this game.There has never been a better time to get into fifa, with female teams, a good story mode, improved character motion physics and less input delay, I dont think there has ever been a better time to dive into fifa, so if you like football in any capacity and you're dilberating whther try the game out, I would defiently suggest giving it a try, there is finally enough content and unique features to give you busy, I can almsot guarntee there is at least one mode or feature that will keep you entertained for a while and if you are a huge fan of the sport and you dont own ths game yet, then I truly dont understand what you are waiting for.