Take a moment to reflect on recent entries in EA's colossally successful footie series. Year by year, alterations to the series' makeup have generally been far greater in scope in order to transform the long running franchise into the PES beating juggernaut that it’s become on just about every console today.
That's not the case this time around, but this shouldn't in anyway be a cause for concern loyal FIFA fan. Instead the development team have opted to forgo any major design shakeups in favour of refining the already rock solid foundations of what is arguably one of the slickest simulated sport experiences sitting on store shelves right now. A handful of features have been polished, player animations have reached new heights of realism, and shooting has been deftly enhanced thanks to some minor trigger button refinements that produce a meaty variety of shots, which in turn make for a far more satisfying experience when gunning for the back of the net in the game's offline and online modes.
Nestled alongside the broad range of gameplay and mechanical tweaks is the nifty new interface, a souped up Ultimate Team mode, which shoehorns in a series of RPG elements, and the always on-form multiplayer modes. FIFA 14 is by no means a game changer for the series, but it still manages to hammer home the fact that this is still one of the most richly rewarding and feature packed-sports games any self-respecting gamer should have spinning in their console's game-hungry maw.