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EA Sports debuted the latest trailer for FIFA 14 yesterday. To answer the most pressing question: No, as far as we know, this year FIFA 14 is not being released as a feature film, though you certainly would've been forgiven for thinking that, what with all the close-ups and slo-mos and one-on-one interviews with the cast. And no (again, as far as we know), it's not being used as a Barcelona recruitment video either.
Now to be fair, this was a one-and-a-half minute sizzle reel in a much bigger EA Sports event, so it made sense for them to show something that's heavily tilted on the side of style rather than substance. But having said that, it still would have been nice to see one or two moments of gameplay that wasn't zoomed-in all the way, and played in real time, so we could get a better sense of how matches unfold . It seemed like this trailer put all its eggs in the graphics basket, and answered little else, especially in the AI department.
The visuals (pre-alpha, it should be noted), though, are certainly impressive to the eye. The initial overhead shot of the stadium is breathtaking-- probably the closest I've seen in a video game to resemble a real-life night match. If there is one visual element that stands out as being the most improved at the moment (and yes, I'm fully aware that it's quite premature to do this, but hey, column inches) it's the lighting. From the floodlights around the stadium to the reflections off the cleats, it was the one thing that jumped out at me.
On the other hand, as many have noted in the original thread, the players' faces still look a little too stiff, and without much emotion. I also don't want to make any judgments yet about the animation, just because everything in the trailer was slowed down (then sped up) for dramatic effect, and it's hard to get a true sense of how it will really look in regular play.
The other bright moment was at the one-minute mark of the trailer, when Iniesta chips a through ball over the defender. There, you can clearly see the backspin, and the ball doesn't float in the air like in previous FIFAs, so that's a good sign for the new ball physics.
This was, ultimately, a sizzle reel more than anything else, designed to pique the interest of the general public, and it did just that. For the rest of us, the good stuff comes later in the week, as our very own Steve and Glenn should have some hands on time at E3 with FIFA 14. Hopefully then, we'll have a clearer sense of the more pivotal (to some of us hardcore fans, anyway) aspects of the game-- things like player individuality, team tactics, AI defending-- so stay tuned.
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For soccer games, I think it is really hard to strike the balance between the realism and gaming experience given the time of the game. You can simulate a real basketball game in 2k for 48 minutes. But for soccer, you would need to sacrifice part of realism to pursue the instantaneousness in the game. That's hard.