FIFA 14 (Xbox One) review

Even the menus feel snappier, flying through the events calendar in Career mode at almost twice the speed of the Xbox 360. You spend much less time in the pre-match training drills waiting for game day to load, and once you get there the cosmetic upgrades are plain to see. FIFA 14 runs natively at 1080p on the Xbox One and a lot of attention has gone into making players’ kits react realistically – launching into a full sprint makes a player’s shirt flap in the breeze, although we don’t think it’s necessary for shorts and shirt to jiggle so violently when making changes during player creation in the Career mode.

Each stadium now feels alive, with a more varied crowd that reacts naturally and dynamically during each match, facing flags and jumping to their feet when you score a goal. The players themselves are more easily recognised thanks to an increased level of detail, and although there are still a fair few glazed expressions in each squad, pre-match line-ups aren’t quite the rows of shop window mannequins seen in previous FIFA titles.

In many other respects, FIFA 14 on Xbox One is the same as the current generation version. As well as Manager and Player Career modes, the incredibly addictive Ultimate Team mode also makes a return. Building a team of superstars from the ground up from a deck of tradeable cards, matching their statistics to create a greater sense of team chemistry and making trades with other gamers to get the best possible team is great fun and very deep.

However, micro-transactions once again form the backbone of Ultimate Team. You can buy booster packs of players, club actions and consumable abilities using points accrued from in-game wins, but this takes a long time; it’s far quicker to spend real world cash, which can quickly add up once you start looking for highly ranked players on the transfer market, where gamers set their own price for their rarest and most desirable cards. Anyone that invested time in FIFA 13’s version of Ultimate Team will be disappointed to hear they can’t transfer their squads into the new game – particularly if they have invested heavily with real-world cash.

If you’re trying to make the choice between next generation consoles, FIFA 14 is unlikely to make the decision any easier. Microsoft’s consoles do get exclusive Legends players in Ultimate Team, letting you add greats like Pele, Zola and Sol Campbell (no, we don’t know why, either) to your squad, but unless you’re prepared to buy them for inflated prices on the transfer market, you’ll need to spend hours grinding the in-game currency in order to afford the booster packs with the highest likelihood of holding a rare player.

It’s disappointing that certain game modes haven’t made the jump from current generation systems too; tournaments, FIFA Interactive World Cup, Be a Pro, Head to Head and the Creation Centre are all sadly missing, meaning you get more for your money by sticking with the Xbox 360 or PS3. This year’s FIFA outing is still just as enjoyable as its predecessors, but we will have to wait until next year’s instalment to get everything the series has to offer on the Xbox One or PS4.