Saturday 27 / April / 2024
Let’s face it. We’ve all wanted to play the Champions League on FIFA. The latest edition of FIFA is but a few days away, and in anticipation of EA Sports’ latest blockbuster release, the good folks at Electronic Arts brought out their demo to the game not so long ago. The FIFA 19 demo provides a sneak peak into what the much-anticipated football game brings, across PC, Xbox, and PlayStation.
Players can choose from a selection of eight teams: Bayern Munich, AS Roma, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, Manchester United, Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and last, but not least, Tottenham Hotspur. There’s no Chelsea or – deep sigh – Arsenal in this year’s demo, so we’ll have to wait just a teensy bit more for Eden Hazard and Mesut Ozil to take to the pitch.
But the demo has little to do with the players, and a whole lot more to do with the game mechanics. EA Sports have brought in a whole host of changes to suit gamers’ needs in FIFA 19, and the demo offers you the chance to play with and tweak them to your heart’s content.
Game plans, for example, are one of the most important factors introduced in the new game, much to the delight of football lovers everywhere. Are you a fan of the great Italian teams of yesteryear? You might want to ask your teams to sit back and defend once you’ve scored the game’s opening goal.
FIFA 19 allows you to enable your team to switch to an ultra-defensive tactic once you’ve gone 1-0 up, thereby making it much, much harder for the opposition to break down your defence, emulating reality in many ways.
Of course, you can also undo the tactic should you so wish to: EA Sports have brought in on-the-fly instructions with better responsiveness from players to allow for a sudden change in tactic should you need it, or are looking to change the mentality of your team.
The new game has modified FIFA right down to its very nuts and bolts. If you want your overlapping fullbacks bombing forward and your centre-backs spread out wide to cover for them, that’s another aspect of the game that’s now under your control.
When you’re in charge of an attacker, timing, as it turns out to be, is everything – the correct touch will lead to the perfect shot, and conversely, you might be waiting for the ball to burst the back of the net, as you hold in a sharp intake of breath, only to see the ball bobble embarrassingly wide.
The graphics have, as expected, also been significantly improved, with the impact of floodlit arenas now reflecting the weather patterns around the stadium. The demo has a few climatic options for you to choose from, including rain, autumn and clear, with matches being locked to four-minute halves.
But playing the demo is only surely going to whet your appetite for what’s coming in the main edition: UEFA’s Champions League and Europa League campaigns are both available to play, and the glamorous European nights in question come with all the bells and whistles, including the fancy searchlights, goosepimply music, and the commentary team of Lee Dixon and Derek Rae.
FIFA’s other big video game offering, the Journey, is also expanded this time, with three players now available for gamers to begin their career path to superstardom. A section of it is present in the demo, and Alex Hunter, the protagonist of the past two seasons, is present this time around as well. There are, however, another male and (for the first time) a female lead to choose from, should players want to go down a different path.
But irrespective of what the demo offers, FIFA 19 will be a game that stays with gamers for a long, long time
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The Short and Skinny
Name: FIFA 19
Genre: Sports
Produced By: EA Sports
What it’s about: Ahead of the blockbuster release of FIFA 19, EA’s demo release will offer players the chance to experience all that is good and great about the newest football game up for grabs
Where to buy: EA Sports, Microsoft Store, PlayStation Store, Origin, Xbox Marketplace
Platforms: Xbox One, MS Windows, PlayStation 4
IGN Rating: 8.2/10
