FIFA 17 will introduce a narrative mode for the first time, according to this trailer just put out by EA Sports. Called "The Journey," it will trace the rise, the conflicts and the triumphs of a fictitious player in the Premier League. EA’s proprietary graphics engine, which powers many games including Star Wars: Battlefront and Battlefield 1 will now power the FIFA series. Hopefully this means we will see better player representation and better stadium renderings as well as more realistic dynamic lighting because playing a game set at 5:30pm doesn’t mean that the lighting looks like it’s noon. Also, with the new graphics engine, we should see better, more realistic player animations as well.
In a bid to make the franchise even more realistic, Electronic Arts is adding all-new narrative-driven features in FIFA 17’s story mode. Story mode is more than just your standard 'Be a Pro' option from previous installments of FIFA that allowed you to represent a single player and move between clubs. This new option hopes to bring out the human, emotional journey of fighting for a place amongst the Premiership greats, with a narrative decided by the game. The trailer below will give you some idea of what I mean. Here’s an official description: “For the first time ever in FIFA, live your story on and off the pitch as the Premier League’s next rising star, Alex Hunter. Play on any club in the Premier league, for authentic managers and alongside some of the best players on the planet.
Experience brand new worlds in FIFA 17, all while navigating your way through the emotional highs and lows of The Journey.The Journey will pull you through a true-to-life experience in the Premier League. It’s a cinematic world informed and influenced by real players, personalities, locations, and events that take you places you’ve never been and bring you experiences only available in FIFA 17. Sometimes we include links to online retail stores. If you click on one and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. For more information, go here. EA SPORTS last week unveiled even more details about their upcoming FIFA 17 release and their gameplay producer tells us there's still plenty more to come.
Fifa 17 story mode: Tottenham's Harry Kane and Dele Alli the experts as Alex Hunter and Jose Mourinho debut at Manchester United on Frostbite. The throw-ins are fixed! Or at least they’re different, anyway. There might be plenty of bigger and more eye-catching changes in this year’s FIFA--the addition of a new story mode, a long-in-the-works shift to an entirely new engine--but few things will matter to regular players more than the fact they’ve fixed the bloody throw-ins.
Or perhaps it won't. Eurogamer went hands on with FIFA 17's story mode and described it as genuinely different. You get "Mass Effect style dialogue wheels" to pick how you interact with your team mates and coaches off the pitch, and your performances affect how your career progresses. Play well, and presumably an England call-up beckons - play badly, and you'll be shipped off on loan to a lower league club to learn your craft. These eventualities are crafted in to interactive cutscenes which adapt to follow your career.
Chief among these is, oddly enough, a dialogue wheel that brings Mass Effect to mind. While Bioware’s got their hands full with Mass Effect: Andromeda, EA’s decided to bring over one of that galaxy-trotting franchise’s highlight features to their…football game. How exactly does that work? The dialogue wheel, a Mass Effect innovation, allows you to forgo full-length responses, opting instead for responding with a particular “tone.” In FIFA 17’s The Journey mode, the narrative centres around a young footballer named Alex Hunter.
