Martial powers onto it, and, goa… er, superb fingertip stops by Courtois. The latter’s movement pulls Terry with him, opening a gap which into which Martial continues his run, into which Rooney delivers a through ball. As he turns, Martial runs across Ivanovic and into the D, while Lingard meanders in behind Azpilicueta, and Rashford suddenly sprints between Terry and Cahill. At one point, Rooney sneaks into a gap between DMF and CB – where he’s so deadly in real life – and I feed him the ball with Carrick. One example, of the many I could've chosen: as United (don’t boo), against Chelsea, I’m able to work my way up the pitch by recycling possession and patiently waiting for pockets of space to appear, rather than ping-pong passing and using convoluted right-stick dribbling movements.
There was little true bending of runs or attacking space, and that’s been fixed – and is so much better – this time around. In FIFA 16, team-mates, regardless of their position, tended to run in straight lines – either directly up the wing or diagonally towards goal. My favourite improvement is AI players’ off-the-ball runs. Not as effortless to pick-up-and-play as PES 2017 at this stage, but still a sound all-round game. Will it actually be good this time, with clubs playing differently instead of all clubs being able to play out from the back? If it means me talking Men At Work with virtual Mile Jedinak in the Selhurst showers come FIFA 18, I completely endorse this. Many will scoff at this addition – I did when I first learned of that X-Factor aping title – but NBA 2K has offered sterling solo career modes for years, and the next natural step is surely you playing alongside your real life footballing heroes. It’ll be interesting to see how that narrative plays out if you decide to play the mode as Arsenal, given that there’s a Kane cut-scene where announces how pleased he is to have joined your team, while waving his new side's shirt aloft. Anthony Martial, Harry Kane and footballing broadcaster (and himself a former Eastender) Tom Watt have all helped shape the storyline, and indeed one element of it sees Kane sign for your club as a striking rival, which triggers you being sent out on loan. The version I play is locked to Manchester United, but you’ll be able to start the experience as any Premier League club. Those details do tease being part of a bigger footballing world, and if EA can get that part right the mode will prove a fascinating addition. There’s nothing profound in the conversations themselves, and the voice acting switches from 'believable' to 'Eastenders' and back, but it’s the details around which impress: Schweinsteiger and Carrick milling around in the dressing room, home fans singing “who are ya?” while I warm up on the touchline, Mourinho (more on which later) making eyes at the bench to decide whether or not I should come on. Like any pro, I take the “full credit to the lads on the pitch” option. After scoring, I’m asked in a one-on-one post-match interview how it felt to open my account for the club. In the changing room beforehand I can interact with Walker (who’s in the starting line-up, and ignores my fist bump when I select the “good luck mate” dialogue option), while a mid-match interaction sees me telling the coach I’m raring to go. I play one set of scenes where Hunter is making his debut from the subs bench, away at Liverpool.
That means that in any given scenario, you’re given various dialogue options, all of which apparently shape the storyline. Hunter and Rooney hanging out in The Journey. Cut-scenes, I should add, EA Canada has been working on with Bioware. Cut-scenes take place in the dressing room, at your house, on aircraft to and from games, and so on. But it’s as much about what happens off the pitch as on it. You do play matches locked to that one player (Alex Hunter, a promising striker who breaks into the first team squad at the same time as his mate, Gareth Walker). Not a cop out, promise – it's just too early to say with any authority.)įIFA 17 is introducing an entirely new type of career mode (in addition to the existing ones) in which you control a single upcoming Premier League prospect. Yes – and I’ve specifically chosen to lead off with this question because of the words, ‘career modes that matter.’ (Glitches and servers are a conversation to be had further into the development process. Will they actually change anything? Improve glitches? More customisation? Better servers? Career modes that matter?