With powerful new hardware on the way, EA's reasons (excuses?) for their usual minor annual iterations will be increasingly difficult to justify. FIFA 14 on next-gen machines should be a much deeper, more complete simulation of football than was ever possible before. So what should we hope for, and what should we expect?
Possibilities might include:
So what else should we hope for and what should we expect from a next-gen FIFA?
Possibilities might include:
- An end to pre-canned animations and the delays that they cause, with all player movement and reactions being completely physics based.
- Improved ball physics, with more lifelike weight, trajectories and bounces.
- Smoother transitions between player animations, and more personality in individual movement.
- Better intelligence from AI team-mates, with improved spatial awareness and better overall 'footballing brains'.
- Time of day transitions, with shadows moving across the pitch, games starting in late-evening daylight and ending under floodlights etc.
- Weather transitions, with rain showers, sun breaking through clouds, wind gusting etc.
- Pitch deformation, with divots being raised, areas getting worn and the grass getting marked from slide tackles etc.
- Better overall atmosphere, with 3D crowds that react better to events on the pitch.
- More varied, detailed and appropriate commentary.
- More flow to the game, with fewer cuts and breaks in the action. Have ball-boys throwing balls back, for example.
- Better physical fatigue and injury modelling, and more realistic mental concentration levels.
So what else should we hope for and what should we expect from a next-gen FIFA?
