FIFA Mobile Soccer

FIFA takes the excitement of what it feels like to be out on the soccer field in front of thousands of cheering fans and shrinks it down to a simulation of the game playable on mobile devices. Electronic Arts has established themselves as one of the primary leaders when it comes to sports video games in the modern age, and that's as true for soccer with FIFA as it is with NBA 2K and Madden. While FIFA may find some competition with the arguably more accurate Pro Evolution Soccer, FIFA manages to hold its crown year in and year out due to its monopoly on major league licensing and the sheer fun and presentation of the minute to minute soccer experience. But their attempt to translate these strengths to the mobile space produces somewhat mixed results.

EA has spent years analyzing the artistry of field play and translating it into a controller format that matches the style and rhythm of the game. The mobile version is touch-based by necessity, and that results in a gameplay style that's naturally more limited than what you'll find on traditional console and PC releases. In fact, EA has offered two control schemes. The first offers on screen controls that do their best to replicate the experience of the bigger brother FIFA game, while the other controls your players through simple gestures. The former is unnecessarily fidgety while the latter is too simplistic to make you feel like you have that much control over how the game plays out.

But the not rote features of mobile development extend well beyond the controls themselves to influence practically every aspect of the game. As has become the standard for mobile games, there's naturally a collection element here. In this case, it means collecting players or other unwanted items and storing them in a "plan" where multiple versions can be traded in for new rewards. It's an unnecessarily complicated system that puts grinding over gameplay, requires an extended amount of play to reap any rewards, and encourages the player to use real money to speed up the process in a rather transparent way. Then there's the software as a service model which EA has been pushing strongly in both their mobile and console experiences. Events earn you items and gold and encourage regular play, and combined with Leagues (which essentially serve as the game's version of clans or guilds) push players to stay on the treadmill. A higher point is the addition of Attack Mode, a system that smartly breaks down the traditional game of soccer into bite sized segments and asks you to achieve particular objectives while in possession of the ball. While it's not completely where it needs to be, it shows promise. If EA can focus on the aspects of mobile gaming that work - like Attack Mode - and lean out of the more predatory practices inherent in the end, they may have a title worthy of the FIFA mantle. But for now, the mobile version is half baked.