If you’ve ever played The Order 1886 on the PlayStation 4, then the best analogy I can give to you is that FIFA 17 is The Order 1886 of sports games; all style, and very little substance.
The game definitely looks brilliant from afar, which will be most of your in-game experience, and the presentation overall is very neat, much like the sport’s representation on premium television channels. In my opinion however, I think all of this is to the detriment of the game itself.
FIFA 17 spends more time wanting to’look’ like football and how its seen on Sky Sports, than how football should actually play as a sport. The obvious comparison to FIFA is PES, and this area is where PES ultimately wins between the two in this year’s iterations. FIFA’s gameplay on the field lacks any kind of purpose, its entirely unbalanced in terms of individual player attributes and how they translate on the pitch, and tactics also are poorly implemented in match play. Both these elements are in stark contrast to how PES performs in these areas.
Passing is sluggish and take an age to power up, goalfeel is non-existent, and AI defenses make space so easily - even on World Class and Legendary - that it’s impossible not to score a goal against them; leaving the player ultimately unsatisfied even though it should be the opposite(i.e. goalfeel). Animations string well together, but they also take priority over user input and responsiveness, which ultimately results in a frustrating gameplay experience. PES’ goalkeepers have been refined this year from a bad state into an excellent one, and now this highlights massive shortcomings in FIFA’s goalkeepers, whose animations are limited, are slow to respond to medium-speed 30 yard strikes, and are often capable of making a hash of situations due to the games dodgy collision detection engine.
Game modes such as FUT and Online Seasons will always have the upper hand on PES(even with their equivalent modes) due to EA’s deep pockets and human resources, and The Journey now makes full advantage of such resources. It’s a nice addition to the game and very entertaining, but its not quite as significant as EA would like it to be, with a campaign only lasting one season and resulting in about 16 hours in total(across both the story and gameplay elements). That said, this is one game mode that FIFA can claim is an advantage over PES’ offerings, and one that Konami will probably never have the confidence in replicating for its PES franchise due to the lack of potential economic returns.
FIFA’s Career Mode is much the same as before, inspite of claims that EA have "vastly improved" it, which is old hat as far as many FIFA fans are concerned. Career Mode is still a good, well structured mode on the face of things. It could be argued however that PES’s Master League has much more substance and depth behind it, especially considering it’s transfer processes and team-based statistical analysis before and after matches.
Even with all of FIFA’s depth in game modes, graphical fidelity, licenses, and presentation, FIFA still falls short where it truly matters in a sports game: the gameplay - the transfer of the sport itself to the game and how it plays. In this regards, FIFA is way off, and has quite a bit of catching up to do with it’s opposition. FIFA demonstrated so much promise with the introduction of the Frostbite Engine, and aesthetically FIFA has vastly improved and is now outclassing PES, but the hope that the core game from FIFA 16 getting an overhaul with its addition will leave many people very disappointed.
The Journey has been the only real redeeming factor from FIFA 17, and even it can’t really save FIFA from it’s own poor core gameplay. What it does do, however, is stop me from giving the game a 5/10, and instead redeeming a respectable score of 6/10.
Not good enough for a AAA title of it’s magnitude. If you’re looking for a good football game this year, buy Pro Evolution Soccer 2017(or FIFA 12, or PES 3-6).