The things some people think of to earn a living, eh? Talking of which, Statto is providing the stats for the player database.
FIFA 18 WORLD CUP PC PROFESSIONAL
EA have hired a professional kinesiologist (someone who gets paid a lot of money to watch people moving about - or as you and I know them, a 'voyeur') to ensure that the players all move convincingly in each of the 15 frames too. The animation's been enhanced as well: where FIFA 97 has two frames of animation per movement, FIFA Road To The World Cup has 15. And yes, they react to being booked and missing sitters.
FIFA 18 WORLD CUP PC SKIN
Taking a leaf - actually make that a branch - out of International Sensible Soccer 64's book, players now also have facial details like beards, different hairstyles and skin tones (younger players have problem acne) and are now of different heights. This overlooks the fact that England defenders have to move like carthorses, but there you go. But they've used a different professional player for every other position, so defenders move like defenders, wingers like wingers and so on. Graphically, they've kept David Ginola to 'be' himself in the motion capturing (no doubt pottering about ineffectually on the wing, and occasionally falling over injured - Spurs fans everywhere rejoice).
The physics model's been improved, so that when you head or volley the ball, you'll actually hit it with a bit of power - unlike in the previous version of FIFA which had you tapping gentle aerial shots goalwards with all the conviction of someone eager to provoke allegations of involvement with a Far Eastern betting syndicate. Hopefully, this means that the word 'intuitive' will now, finally, enter the vocabulary of FIFA reviews. Gameplay-wise, it runs faster than previous versions and the controls have been simplified (non-touch-typists should now kneel and face Langley Business Park in thankful homage). The big new thing is tied in with the name: you can set out to qualify for the World Cup Finals in France - as nightmarishly difficult and insanely convoluted a prospect as the real thing, regardless of which federation around the world your chosen team is in. Only at the end of the six weeks will they see the fully built game." So What's New? Comments are noted each time and the game is tweaked. "We're running the focus test with people over a six-week period at the moment, with the gamers attending once a fortnight. Without the pitch, stadium, or player graphics on screen and with no sound, we can get feedback without the gamers being swayed by presentation, or even the name," explains Neil. "This year we're concentrating on the gameplay.
FIFA 18 WORLD CUP PC SOFTWARE
One of the biggest surprises was that people seemed happy with the game, but we did establish key improvements that people wanted to see." As a result of this, they've gone one step further this year, with a 'testbed' version of the software featuring wireframe players on a black background to assess the game engine. "I was concerned at the reviews," says Neil Thewarapperuma, "so I instigated the biggest research programme EA have ever carried out, with focus groups in London, Manchester, France, Germany, Spain and Sweden. (Mind you, that review was in The Watchtower.) Despite the bad reviews however, it sold by the metric tonne as usual, although a lengthy re-evaluation process did follow. Depending on which magazine you read, it was either a marginally improved game from the year before, or a pus-ridden, rotting testicle ripped whole from the semen-stained shorts of Satan. FIFA 97 faced something of a backlash with people laying into it all over the shop.