2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil will be “the most accessible FIFA game we've ever made," according to game producer, Matt Prior. While talk of accessibility is often associated with the dreaded notion of “dumbing down”, here it appears to be what the development team is adding, rather than what it’s taking away, that’s set to define the latest FIFA title.
Multiple new online modes offering different flavours of the World Cup experience will feature, as will a more naturally integrated training mode and, at its accessible extreme, a two-button control method aimed at easing in “super casual” players and younger fans.
Even FIFA World Cup’s status as a standalone title is geared towards it being more accessible. Prior asserts that positioning the content as DLC for this year’s FIFA offering (as was the case for Euro 2012) would alienate the forty-six percent of players who are inspired to jump aboard just once every four years, when the World Cup rolls around. In addition, Prior believes that releasing 2014 World Cup Brazil as a standalone title means that EA can concentrate on adding new features that couldn’t be implemented if it were DLC.
“You’re very limited with what you can do with DLC, so for example we can’t make AI updates through DLC because of the architecture of our AI,” explains Prior. “As DLC we can’t do it justice and, basically, we want to make this a big feature-rich game and that’s not constrained by things like maximum DLC file-size.”
A whole host of these features were outlined when the game was announced early last month but there are a couple of key elements that are aiming to bring the World Cup experience to the living room that bear highlighting here.
In terms of game play, a number of modes offer different ways to join in the World Cup experience. From the option to take one of the 203 FIFA teams to World Cup glory to the opportunity to compete locally with and against friends in the returning Captain your Country mode. There are also a number of unique scenarios being surfaced in the Story of Qualifying mode, which offers over 60 short periods of play that require you to emulate the real world feats of various teams as they made their way through World Cup qualifying. A similar idea is planned for the Story of the Finals feature, which will begin once the World Cup Finals start from June 12 and will offer challenges based on play from each real-world match day.
Prior and the team are also keen to capture the spirit of the tournament and the extra flare that is brought to World Cup television broadcasts. To achieve this, several features are being implemented both in-game and throughout the UI and menu screens to breathe life into the whole experience. Aside from a stylish splash of colour throughout, there’s an increased focus on team managers and cut-aways to fans “back home” as they cheer on their teams and fly-ins to each of the official World Cup stadiums. EA Sports Talk Radio aims to better tie together the disparate elements of play with discussion of pertinent events, faux-viewer participation and a sense of coherence that is often lacking as players move between menu screens and game play. In game, too, small changes have been made to tweak the experience so that the whole thing feels carries more of an immersive party atmosphere.
“We’ve adjusted the camera slightly so you can drop and see a bit more of the crowd and so that you’re not just staring at green grass once the game starts,” Prior highlights. “It brings a bit more of that atmosphere in, unfortunately you are limited to what you can do because as soon as you start showing a lot of the stadium the frame-rate starts chugging and the priority is that the game play experience remains fluid.”
Talk of technical constraints, along with the broader drive toward a more accessible title and the effort being made to tap into the inclusive festival atmosphere inevitably leads to talk of EA’s decision to restrict development to PS3 and 360 only. Prior acknowledges that, ideally, everyone would be involved but asserts that the realities of available resources means that the focus was always going to come down to a single-generation of console-only development.
A desire to reach the biggest installed user base – and not alienate World Cup hosts Brazil, where next-gen console adoption is currently minimal – meant “decisions had to be made” about how best to direct those resources. Prior adds that there will be some form of World Cup content coming to other platforms in the form of a FIFA Ultimate Team update but an announcement about exactly what form that might take will be reserved for later. How much of a consolation this serves for PC gamers and those that sold their PS3 or 360 to fund the purchase of next-gen console hardware is debatable and while EA’s numbers undoubtedly back-up this particular business decision it will nonetheless irk those left out in the cold.
Looking ahead, Prior suggests that all FIFA fans will still feel the impact of 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil as the work being done here is viewed as an evolution of FIFA 14’s gameplay and so the new gameplay features that its introducing – such as over-the-back headers and reworked penalties – will be carried forward into future iterations. However, PC, PS4 and Xbox One owners who had been hoping to have a hand in their national team’s World Cup glory will have to settle for a spectator-only role this time around.
Source : feeds[dot]ign[dot]com
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