14 DAY TRIAL // Next up in our Softpedia Game of the Year 2014 awards is the best sports sim of the past 12 months.
I continue to play FIFA 15 almost every day of the week, mainly simple one on one matches with a friend, always selecting the same teams, often employing the same tactics and with spells during which we tend to rely on the same moves to try and score goals and crush our opponent.
Despite this relative lack of variety we continue to giggle during our session, gasp at the football moments that the EA Sports title can deliver, and curse the moments when our players decide to do something stupid and score own goals or put balls in front of enemy attackers.
FIFA 15 has staying power, and even if this year’s installment in the long-running series has not introduced any revolutionary new features, it has managed to keep the flow of matches fast and the cool moments coming thick and fast.
And one-on-one multiplayer is just one of the experiences that the game is offering, arguably one that does not have too much depth, although it can create some very cool personal narratives.
The Ultimate Team experience is there and is getting bigger than in 2013, with weekly package deliveries and with some interesting new features, the biggest of which is linked to loans.
Gamers can still play full seasons or cup competition and I’m sure that there are many FIFA 15 fans who put hours into training.
Sports is about excitement
This year Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 tried to market itself as the football sim more focused on tactics, on careful passing, changes in position and good use of every chance to score.
In theory I appreciate that idea, but the Konami-made title can be dull for long stretches, which is something that I don’t like in sports games.
FIFA 15 can deliver 0-0 matches or even one-sided contests, but there are moments of excitement included in all the matches I have played, sequences of 10 or 20 seconds when I am fully immersed in the game and focus only on getting the ball into the opposition goal.
The EA Sports title has dominated its niche for so long that giving it recognition feels like an obligation, but I genuinely love almost every minute I spend with it.
Given the solid success that the series has enjoyed over the past two years, it will be interesting to see how the developers manage to evolve the concept for next year.
We have a full Softpedia review for FIFA 15.
