Going hands on with FIFA 19

THE STUFF OF CHAMPIONS

Although FIFA 19 isn’t expected to be released until late September, by which point Man City will already be about eight points clear at the top of the table anyway, Stuff was lucky enough to be invited to Stamford Bridge for a go on the latest version of EA’s annual soccer sim. After we realised they couldn’t tell us anything about where Eden Hazard was off to next, we spent two hours getting to grips with the game that’ll dominate your free time for the next 12 months. Here’s what you can expect from FIFA 19…

STAR SIGNING

Arguably FIFA’s biggest signing of the summer is the Champions League licence, which it snapped up for what you have to assume must’ve been a fairly hefty transfer fee from Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer series. It was always rather conspicuous by its absence, particularly in Career mode when Europe’s top teams would compete in the euphemistically named Champions Cup. Now you can take part in the real thing because the competition features in pretty much every mode on FIFA 19: as a standalone tournament, a one-off match, part of The Journey, and, of course, during a Career game. And don’t worry if you’re an an Arsenal fan: the Europa League is also part of the deal.

FRESH FACES, NEW VOICES

It’s not just a change of name and a few new logos, EA has hired a new commentary team specifically for European games. BT Sport’s Derek Rae will take lead vocals, although he’s not as much of a household name as Martin Tyler or Alan Smith, who both remain on commentary duty for regular games. Rae is joined on the mic by former Arsenal defender Lee Dixon, who’s probably better known for his punditry than his commentary. That much became clear when, in relation to an Ederson save during one of our games he said “Didn’t he do it well? Well done, boy,” like some sort of cross between Bruce Forsyth and a dog trainer. Still, it’s a nice change of pace after hearing the same voices for the past few years.

LET’S GET PHYSICAL

On the pitch EA has attempted to give FIFA 19 a more physical feel. A new Active Touch System has been implemented, which gives players more ways of controlling the ball. They’ll stretch and strain to win the ball ahead of the opposition, or use the most suitable part of their body in attempt to get it under control. This already happens occasionally with more skillful players on FIFA 18 but it seems to have been ramped up for the new game and was particularly noticeable when players were trying to stop the ball from running out of play. You can also get them to keep the ball in the air by pressing down on the right stick, so be prepared for online modes to be plagued by tedious show ponies for at least the first few weeks.

INJURY WORRY

The only new addition we didn’t get on with was the Timed Finishing, which is an optional gameplay feature that can turned on and off in the assists menu. It works a little bit like the bar-based swing mechanic in golf games but condensed into a fraction of the time. By double tapping the shoot button and getting the timing of the second tap absolutely spot on, your player will connect more sweetly with the shot, increasing the chances of beating the goalkeeper. In practice, the game’s limited feedback made it difficult to tell what you were doing wrong when you scuffed a shot wide, meaning it just wasn’t worth the risk, but expect it to be tweaked by the time the game launched.

A TACTICAL MASTERCLASS

As it stands in FIFA 18, you can adjust the attacking mentality of your team using the d-pad, but all that really does is change how many players you team commits to each attack. In FIFA 19 you’ll be able to change other tactical aspects that are tied to each mentality. For example, if you switch to a more attacking mindset your formation could switch to push the wingers higher up the pitch, while the whole team presses the opposition when out of possession. Go more defensive and you could drop an extra player into your midfield and ask the team only to press when a member of the opposition takes a heavy touch. It’s the kind of thing that’s impossible to assess in the short time we had playing FIFA 19 but if it works as intended, it could make chasing a game or holding on to a lead that bit more interesting.

EARLY IMPRESSIONS?

FIFA is a game where subtle differences can have a real impact on how it plays, but they often take a while to reveal themselves, so a two-hour session with FIFA 19 can only tell us so much. Early impressions are good, though, with the new Active Touch System and 50/50 Battles making games feel looser and a bit more realistic. We’ll have to wait until September to find out whether that carries over into the full game but either way, this is shaping up to be a subtle evolution of the FIFA style, not a rip-it-up-and-start-again revolution.