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The biggest gameplay upgrade comes in the form of FIFA 15's dynamic team tactics



There’s a good chance you’ve said or will say some variation of these quotes while playing FIFA 15 (PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One.) The first-world anger doesn’t only come from the game forcing you to drop the FIFA 14’s tricks. It’s just wild to see a product set as a sim focus so much on theatrics of football rather than what the game usually looks like on the weekend.

FIFA 15 Ultimate Team expands outside of your Xbox One. You can buy, sell, trade and manage your team through the web and companion apps on mobile devices. The FIFA Companion app has been available for a while on Windows Phone, but it has been updated to complement the latest version of the game. One thing you should note is that the Transfer Market where you buy, sell, and trade players has been mostly down outside of the Xbox One since the game's release. It has recently come back online, but we don't know if it's going to be stable from now on.

The biggest gameplay upgrade comes in the form of FIFA 15's dynamic team tactics. The left and right D-Pad buttons that switch your team back and forth between "Defensive" and "Attacking" feel more potent than ever, with players (and opponents) reacting accordingly. There are also two new settings to choose from - "all out attack" and "park the bus" (or "Chelsea mode" as some prefer to call it). For the first time in a FIFA game, changing tactics and formation on the fly feels of genuine importance.

It opens up a whole new world of unique attacking advantages (or disadvantages, if you believe the assertion that it’s the only time you have 10 men on the pitch without being shown a red card). Most importantly, you can now skip that irritating phase when there are two balls on the pitch. Also, you can now defensively hoard the ball in corners and sidelines by making it very difficult for the opposition to obtain the ball in order to waste time, or cause you to accidentally tackle the ball out of play for a throw-in or corner.

Corners have also been enhanced, with special tactics activated by pressing one of the four directions on the D-pad. Rather than just hoofing the ball hopefully into the box you can instruct players to crowd the keeper, make a run to the near or far post, or drop to the edge of the box. How successful they are depends on your delivery of the ball and the quality of the defending, but it’s nice to finally have some tactical options at set pieces.