FIFA 14: Ten changes we would like to see

Most of you reading this article love playing FIFA on your consoles (or like me, a PC). Some of you might prefer Pro Evolution Soccer but the reason we wait rather excitedly for the next editions of our favourite games is because we want to see what has been improved upon in comparison to their previous versions.

But despite all the improvements, the tweaks and the turns we saw in FIFA 13, here are some upgrades fans would surely love to see in FIFA 14:

• An updated legends team: I agree with most of the players on the current version of the Classic XI team in FIFA, but maybe it’s time we saw a few relatively more modern players in there. There are five goalkeepers in the side, surely two (if not three) too many. What about seeing the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Alessandro Del Piero and Luis Figo in there. What of the real Pele (the Ghanaian Abedi Pele is there)? Or if the rationale behind FIFA’s Classic XI team is to showcase players from yesteryear, maybe it would be a good idea to add a third all-star team with a composition of more modern players where people could line up Lilian Thuram and Fabio Cannavaro alongside each other in the centre of defence with Roberto Carlos out wide.

• Better connectivity: FIFA 13, like its predecessor, ran on Origin, a client software developed by Electronic Arts to stop piracy. What was extremely frustrating was needing to access the game through this client every time you ran the game. While that would be okay, what ticked fans off from the game was the need to connect to the internet every time you had to play the game. What then was someone supposed to do when he needed to kill time on a plane? Or what if his internet was down but he actually just wanted to play the game. What made this even worse was that the game developed a lag when your internet connection slowed down, surely something that would make the average gamer want to scream. Would it not have been enough to connect to the internet just the first time so as to verify your account and then continue to play? Patches that came out later did rectify these problems, but given the brand value of a game like FIFA, these should not have been there in the first place.

• An offline FIFA store: All the add-ons that you could buy in the game were exclusively online and both purchasing them and using them meant being on line all the time. For someone to spend their hard-earned in-game coins (earning them also meant staying on line) but not having an internet connection through which to buy them was a let down because you were so looking forward to unleashing your improved create-a-player or using a new football on the field. Like in previous versions of FIFA, it would have made sense to keep everything off-line.

• A more sensible loan market: While this does take some gloss off the fact that FIFA 14 is essentially a game, to see Crewe Alexandra in the NPower Championship purchase Neymar on loan for a season with the promise of a future fee which is far beyond the club’s transfer budget is along the lines of a practice several players do.. Given their current circumstances, clubs of the level of Crewe will surely not be able to afford the transfer fees of players such as Neymar, let alone a future fee promised to them. Because FIFA is a game which reacts on the basis of logic, it is unable to see past this perfectly legal bending of the rules which hardcore gamers see as wrong. A system should therefore be implemented to see whether the club is actually able to buy the player.

• Bring back multiplayer football: One of the most entertaining features of FIFA’s past versions was engaging in player versus player matches with your friends over a LAN or WiFi connection. That feature was discontinued in FIFA 12 in an attempt to stop piracy and the only way players could compete which each other was through FIFA’s servers, which were sometimes unavailable or crashed due to too much volume. It was also a lot more tedious to go through in comparison to setting up an ad-hoc network and playing for hours on end. Apparently, that is coming back.

• More leagues: The arrival of the Saudi Professional League was a good touch but more should be done in this regard. Top quality players are churned out from Argentina and other South American nations such as Uruguay, and it would be a good touch to bring in the Argentine League in addition to what is already present. Since football fans are now getting to know about leagues hitherto unknown, a few leagues from Eastern Europe (such as Greece and Ukraine) would be nice. Also, since the 2022 World Cup is coming to Qatar, the Qatar Stars League would be a nice touch, as would the Israeli Ligat Ha’al.

• More national teams: Most people were happy with the arrival of India and that should be built on. One of the reasons people play with their national teams is because it gives them a sense of pride to play as their country, and adding more international teams will only win more hearts and minds. South American teams are already present but a few more teams from the Middle East (Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia anyone?) or the addition of the Canadians and the other CONCACAF nations to add to more international management opportunities and make for more qualification scenarios, adding to the already great feature of international management.

• A deeper scouting system: Why not expand the scouting system to every nation in the world? Most European nations and several nations from both North and South America are already present, and it would be nice to have a broader selection of countries to choose from. It would be nice to have an Indian play in the Premier League and while that is currently possible in the game, it would be much much nicer to have developed that player yourself and make him the next big superstar.

• A better counter-offer system: A massive improvement over FIFA 12 was the ability to put forward player plus cash deals, which made for a very effective transfer system where you could get rid of your deadwood and pick up a player you wanted at the same time. The ability to ask for a player in exchange for letting go of one of yours was, however, not available and that is something that would add more depth to the transfer market.

• An emergency loan system: Currently present in the Football Manager series of games, emergency loans add more intrigue to the game and make sure your team does not suffer when you don’t have a player who is absolutely vital to your needs. Conditions governing the signing of an emergency loan signing should be laid out and this addition could make for a great gaming experience, adding even more reality to the game.

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