Review: FIFA 14 for Android

FIFA 14

For every geek that shudders to put on their cleats, go on the lush green pitch and show-off their moves with the football, there has always been one made for geeks kingdom that he or she can showcase their skills – EA Sports’ FIFA branded football games. The latest iteration has just hit the stores, both the physical one and the one more and more gamers are getting used to these days – the app stores of iOS and Android.

FIFA 14 is now available on the Google Play store, something that brought relief to the forgotten FIFA fans on Android who, along with Amazon users, were left in the cold when FIFA 13 was not released for the platforms. You can head onto the Google Play store here and download your free copy, which comes with a few freebies thrown in for those users who download it in the first week.

So what are the good points of EA & FIFA’s latest football extravaganza?

- Absolutely brilliant. The new version of the game has also been optimised for tablets, so for all those users who love those big(ger) screens, it will be a hoot. The game showcases improved graphics and whole new way of controlling the players. For all those who played FIFA 12 on android, you still have the old school controllers.

- If you are looking for something different, there are optimised touch based controls that once you get used to can prove to be a real hoot to use.

To pass the ball to another player – tap on the player you want to pass the ball to.

To move with ball and sprint – Hold and drag the player to move with the ball. If you want to ensure a bigger gap between your player who has the ball and the opposition, press down onto the screen to the area you want him to move and he will start sprinting.

To shoot – Swipe from your player’s position to the area of the goal you would like to hit – if you want to put more power behind the shot make a faster and longer swipe but do note that this will come at the cost of accuracy.

What’s not so good?

One thing you have to realise though is that this game is a freemium game – you can download the game for free but not all the content inside the game is free. Quite a lot of the major stuff like tournament mode and managerial mode are “pay to unlock and play”. Also, despite the monstrous size of the game (1.35 GB), there is still a lot more stuff that you will have to keep on downloading as you go further in the game.

Another problem with the game is that the AI seems to be a bit slow on the uptake, often reacting late to a shot on goal.

Verdict

FIFA 14 is a brilliant game to play, especially on PCs and gaming consoles. The new version of the game has been optimised for usage on mobile devices and is quite a step ahead. If you are willing to part with some cash, you can have a game on your hands that can keep you occupied for a long time. The free version of the game, though, does let you explore around quite a bit and provided you adapt to the controls and you use your coins wisely, you can still go far with the game.