FIFA 17 demo and The Journey: first thoughts

The FIFA 17 demo has just come out, giving us a taste of what’s to come in the full release of FIFA 17. What can you do in the demo? And what’s it actually like? Let’s have a look.

FIFA 17 demo details

The FIFA 17 demo has three playable game modes:

  • Kick-off
  • The Journey

Kick-off mode allows you to play friendly/exhibition games. There are 12 teams to choose from:

  • Chelsea
  • Manchester City
  • Manchester United
  • Paris Saint-Germain
  • Olympique Lyonnais
  • Bayern München
  • Inter
  • Juventus
  • Real Madrid
  • Seattle Sounders
  • Tigres U.A.N.L.
  • Gamba Osaka

Games are played with four minute halves and you have a choice of stadiums between Stamford Bridge, Suita City Football Stadium and CenturyLink Field. You can adjust the weather as well.

What is gameplay like?

FIFA 17 demo: gameplay

As I noted on Twitter, there were a few things about gameplay in Kick-off mode that stood out to me.

Firstly, your teammate’s intelligence seems to be better than in FIFA 16. When attacking, they made a lot of useful, intelligent runs, and it was very satisfying to see a through ball come off because of this.

Defensively, your teammates will seemingly try to contain opposition players, but it’s still rare to see them put a foot in and make a tackle. That means if you can’t select the right player in time, the opposition will still get a shot off, which can feel quite frustrating.

Speaking of player switching, it does seem better in FIFA 17. In FIFA 16 I was forever cycling through players trying to get to the right one, but in FIFA 17 the ‘correct’ player was found very quickly. That’ll help you close down and tackle opposition players more quickly.

There are a few new animations (most I saw were to do with passing). Oddly, opposition goalkeepers played the ball short almost every time they got it, whether the ball was in their hands or on the ground. They never kicked it long, for some reason.

One final thing about gameplay – replays now have an extremely heavy motion blur attached to them. If this makes you feel dizzy (it did a bit for me), try to use replays sparingly!

What about The Journey?

FIFA 17 demo: The Journey

EA has made a lot of fuss about The Journey, its new story mode where you guide a young player to superstardom. In the FIFA 17 demo you only get about 30 minutes’ worth of gameplay, but I found it thoroughly enjoyable.

You start off walking into the Manchester United changing room with your friend and teammate Gareth Walker before a match against Chelsea. He’s in the starting 11 while you (as Alex Hunter) start on the bench. You have a choice of what to say to Walker before you head out, and the outcome will affect your mood on a scale of ‘fiery’ to ‘cool’. It’s not entirely clear what effect this has – perhaps ‘fiery’ makes you more likely to take risks? Or miss chances? Whatever it does, I’ll be investigating when the full version of FIFA 17 comes out and will report back.

Anyway, after your exchange with Walker you head out to the bench. Walker scores the opening goal, but Chelsea are then seen equalising. It then comes time for your introduction. You are sent to warm up, and then return to the coach. The choice wheel then returns, and you can choose one of three ways to tell him how you’re feeling and whether you’re nervous.

FIFA 17 demo: The Journey

At this point, almost all of The Journey has consisted of you watching cutscenes. But now you get introduced into the game to play the final 15 minutes (in real time, so you do actually get 15 minutes). You’re given some objectives, like getting a 7.0 rating to impress the manager, or scoring the winning goal. Then, you’re out onto the pitch for some action.

Once the 15 minutes are up, it’s time for the post-match interview. The questions you get asked will vary depending on the result – I drew 2-2, so the reporter asked me if I felt we had dropped two points or gained one. I replied that I felt we were the better team and deserved to win.

Interestingly, when I picked this answer a small graphic appeared in the bottom left corner telling me this answer had improved my standing with the fans but decreased it with the manager. The ‘fiery’ to ‘cool’ scale also tipped towards ‘fiery’, unsurprisingly.

That’s it for gameplay though. After you’ve answered one more question from the reporter, the game switches to a trailer for the rest of The Journey. We’ll have to wait for the full release of FIFA 17 to find out more.

Skill games

FIFA 17 demo: skill games

As in previous years, you can improve your abilities with skill games while you’re waiting for Kick-off games to load.

There are three single player and four multiplayer skill games. I tried a couple of the defensive ones, and they were as difficult as ever (or maybe I just suck at defending). Still, it beats watching a spinning logo while the game loads.

What do you think?

So there we have it. That’s the FIFA 17 demo for you, and my thoughts about it. Have you downloaded it yet? If so, what did you think? Are you looking forward to the full release of FIFA 17?