Xbox One Hands-On Review: EA Sports Previews FIFA 14 And Madden NFL 25 At NYC Event
On Thursday,
EA Sports held an event in New York previewing the upcoming launch releases for the Xbox One,
Madden NFL 25 and
FIFA 14. In addition to the popular games, a member of the development team from EA Sports UFC was in attendance to discuss where they are in the game's creation months away from its release. Essentially, this was EA Sports' opportunity to show off power of the
Xbox One next-gen console and the games that will be available at the system's release.
The first game that I had an opportunity to play was FIFA 14. While the current-gen version of the game is very good, the next-gen version is spectacular. The first thing that you see is the amazing stadium flyovers before play begins and the stadium rendering is detailed and on point. Everything from the lighting of the stadium to the supporters sections are correct in some of the best soccer stadiums around the world. I played as FC Barcelona and Camp Nou looked and felt like Camp Nou. The crowd erupts in cheers as the players make their way to the pitch from the locker room and the crowd actually looks real. No more weird looking cardboard cutouts that is meant to look like fans, the crowd reacts to what happens on the field. In a preview video, you saw how the crowd reacted when the opposing team scored ... there was no reaction. That is the
Living Worlds concept that EA Sports have created within the new EA Sports Ignite game engine.
Ethiad Stadium, home of Manchester City, the next-gen FIFA 14
When it came to gameplay, EA has put a lot of focus behind getting the Pro Instincts and
Precision Movementmessage to users. No longer can a player just sprint up the field without rhyme or reason. "With 10 times more animation depth and detail, EA Sports Ignite delivers the dynamic movements and biomechanics of the world's best athletes," said EA Sports in a press release. The game is not so much determined on speed as it is on skill and technique now. The few times I tried to go back to my old FIFA strategy of running up the field, I was stopped cold because the AI in the next-gen FIFA is smarter than on current-gen and knows exactly how to counteract mindless running. Needless to say, this was the game that had me rethinking my decision to purchase a PlayStation 4, especially with the Xbox One only exclusives that the game will feature.
Next up was Madden NFL 25. Now as I said about FIFA 14 earlier, the current-gen version of Madden NFL 25 is good. After playing the next-gen Madden, it almost made me forget about the current game that I am playing right now. The sheer difference in look and feel is night and day. As I've discussed in previous articles, the production team of Madden put lot of work into
the presentation and graphicsof the upcoming version of Madden. From the details in player models, to the blades of grass coming up on the field as your player makes a hard cut, it was difficult to determine when real NFL football ended and Madden virtual football began.
RG III in Madden NFL 25 for next-gen consoles
The game that I played was last week's Monday Night Football matchup between the New Orleans Saints and Miami Dolphins. As in FIFA, Living Worlds also plays a huge part of Madden NFL 25. The New Orleans was just as rowdy as they are in real-life and as you play, the commentary from Jim Nantz and Phil Simms is almost real-time when they discuss your team's history. Injuries and things that may have happened early in the game. The gameplay is just as good as I was the Saints and in true New Orleans fashion, I threw the ball a lot ... I mean a ton of passing plays. The team played as the Saints and the Dolphins, who may have some of the fastest linebackers and defensive lineman in the league, played very fast. The movement of the players were very smooth and the way the running back in my game just cut and shifted from animation to animation was just awe-inspiring. The biggest part of Madden NFL 25 that was revealed on Thursday is something that EA Sports will roll out next week, but needless to say it will add a another dimension to the game. Check iDigitalTimes next week for word on the newest concept from EA Sports for Madden.
In addition to FIFA 14 and Madden NFL 25,
EA Sports UFCwas in the house as well. While they did have a finished product due to the game not being released until Spring 2014, they did discuss some of the things they are hoping to accomplish with the game. The game's
Creative Director Brian Hayes showed some screenshots of EA's last mixed marital arts game, EA Sports MMA, as an example of what they tried to change with their upcoming UFC game. A very big part of the game that many are waiting on is the precision movement of fighters in the Octagon. In a sample video, Hayes showed how fighters in previous fighting games, both MMA and Fight Night, had a tendency to slide and coast around the ring. He showed how in EA Sports UFC, fighters will actually plant their feet to the ground and have more realistic physics for the fighters.
UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon "Bones" Jones in EA Sports UFC
Another interesting tidbit from the UFC presentation was the Real-Time Exertion aspect of the game. When a fighter slaps on a kimura arm submission, you will see the fighter struggle to put the hold on correctly, meaning you will see the veins in the neck bulging, arms flexing and fatigue begin to kick in from the effort that the fighter is exerting trying to finish the fight. Throw in the creepily
realistic facial expressions and fighter faces and EA Sports UFC is already looking like a must-buy game and they are not even done yet.
The event showed that EA Sports definitely stepped their game for the next-gen consoles. While many are trying to adjust to the power of the upcoming consoles, it seems as if EA Sports knew exactly what they wanted in each of their games and created what I believe to be some of the best looking games I have ever seen. The sheer fact that FIFA 14 features these majestic NatGeo-like flyovers of perfectly modeled soccer stadiums is epic and something that I was not expecting. For those sports gamers who are on the fence about purchasing a next-gen system, you would be doing yourself a disservice if you did not get one. It's worth the money ... and I'm just a poor sports gaming writer saying that.
http://www.idigitaltimes.com/articles/20216/20131004/xbox-one-hands-on-review-ea-sports.htm