How well does FIFA 15 represent real players and clubs?

I wanted to try to answer this question. After all, I’m a realism nerd in my sports games. I always have been. “Do AI clubs and players in FIFA 15 play like reasonable approximations of their real-life selves?”

Let's find out.

FIFA 15 represents individual player skill well.

FIFA 15’s mechanics — physics, responsiveness, controls — provide a sensational foundation for the game. They allow exceptional players such as Lionel Messi and Arjen Robben to stand out with their ability to control the ball and navigate the pitch. Central midfielders like Mesut Ozil and Mario Goetze similarly make an impact with how they operate in the middle of the pitch, able to control the short passing game that dominates FIFA 15 (more on that aspect shortly).

This improvement carries over to the defensive side as well, thanks also in part to improved defensive AI. In previous editions of FIFA, only speed and height seemed to separate one defender from another. For the first time I can remember in playing the FIFA series, the presence of a excellent center back—or even a fullback, to a lesser extent—regularly changes the course of a game with their ability to limit good shooting opportunities. Because marking in FIFA 15 took a leap forward, Vincent Kompany and Giorgio Chiellini can disrupt opposing forwards without getting pulled out of position.

Ideally, the game would represent the tendencies of star players as well as their skills. I hope the series moves more in that direction over the next few years. It isn’t there yet. FIFA 15 succeeds at answering the question, “Lionel Messi is great in real life. Is he great in the game?” It doesn’t hold up as well when it comes to addressing how exactly Messi’s greatness affects the match. But while that part hasn’t gotten there yet, player skill definitely comes through more than in years past due to the improved mechanics and AI.

What do you think? Do you agree? Let me know in the comments. I want to come back to this topic later on. In the meantime …

Team tactics in FIFA 15 fall short.

I’ve always felt underwhelmed with the tactical variety in the FIFA series. As a sports strategy and analytics junkie, I obsess over how a team’s strategy separates them from their opponents. FIFA never gives me much to sink my teeth into. For years, every AI match felt mostly the same regardless of my opponent. I hoped FIFA 15 with some of its announced improvements would change things for the better.

Implementing team sheets looked on the surface like a positive development for a series in which tactical variety has always been an issue. After all, team sheets give us additional options for customizing how each team plays. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to actually … work. At least not well.

In practice, tactical variety between clubs actually took a step back in FIFA 15, which I didn’t think was possible. The lack of build-up play is nothing new for the series, but the near-absence of AI teams playing wide and crossing is an alarming change. AI clubs rarely go for the long ball either. Without these essential elements of strategy as a core part of any club’s offensive attack, it’s hard for any clubs to distinguish themselves with unique play. For now, every club settles for dribbling apparently aimlessly around the middle of the pitch, looking for “ping pong” short passes in the goal of getting a clear shooting lane.

I’m not the only one who feels this way.

Since the game’s release a couple weeks ago, I closely followed discussions on our forums. I see I’m not alone here. OS user Krebstar maintained a popular FIFA custom tactics project the last few years on the forums. When asked if he will continue the tactics project this year, he outright said:

“As of now, I don't think I am. The reason is that I can not get them to ‘work.’ For example, no matter what I do, I can not get the AI to play actual "long ball" and hit it long and beat me over the top. I also can not get them to play painfully slow, and pass it around their back four. My guess at this point is even though I'm applying tactics and team sheets to teams, they're not being used by the AI when I play against them.”

He’s not the only one on the forums with that sentiment.

When the game’s tactics gurus can’t get things to work, the game has a massive problem. I understand multiplayer online play captures the attention of perhaps most FIFA players, but the single player crowd needs some attention here. Maybe more people would opt for offline play if the lack of tactical variety didn’t make the game boring and repetitive.

I often feel confused by the lack of attention these tactical issues get in previews, reviews, and features around the Internet. Would people look the other way if AI opponents in NBA 2K never attempted three-pointers, or if single player games of Madden didn’t feature any passes over 20 yards?

I’m an aspiring soccer tactics expert, not an actual one (yet), but I know we have a major problem here in the way FIFA represents the sport. Huge strategic aspects of the sport simply don’t exist in FIFA. Long balls, crosses, back-passes, wide play — they are not in the strategic arsenal of AI opponents. I have been looking for them for almost two weeks now, as have people on the forums who are more well-versed in soccer tactics than I am.

Maybe someone will figure out a way to manipulate sliders or tactics to add more variety. Perhaps there will be a patch. Otherwise, we wait another year. It would be a shame to wait, considering the game as it stands has so many redeeming components.

Do you share these frustrations? What do you want to see done differently? Sound off in the comments below.