The Cookie Jar
EPC brings you the latest from Pilani’s very own. A section by you, for you. Not necessarily about you however.
Another round with Der Raumdeuter
A review of EA Sports’ latest offering—FIFA 14
H
aving released the latest in the FIFA series, EA is giving the claustrophobic
Pro Evolution Soccer a hard time in its coffin. The release of FIFA 14 marks
the mournful descend of the final nail into its place – if FIFA 13 did not do
the job, FIFA 14 does it with conviction.
EA Canada’s FIFA 13 was right out of the top drawer – never had such a prepossessing
simulation of the beautiful game ever been made. FIFA 14 is more realistic,
sophisticated and precise. It’s too early to judge, but it might even be better than its
predecessor. Let that sink in for a while. Long awaited and much hyped, the newer
version rolled out for all platforms by September 27th and is already living up to the hype
the teasers and trailers on EA’s YouTube channel created. With the likes of Lionel
Messi, Robert Lewandowski, Tim Cahill, Javier Hernadez, Gareth Bale and El Sharaawy
on the covers, EA has no lack of advertising value.
exciting end to end gameplay. Goals do not come easy against decent opposition.
Defending has been made easier –
no longer can Theo Walcott outpace
literally all left-backs in the world
using his sheer pace like in FIFA 13.
Over a period of time of playing the
game, you will notice that you will
have more control over your players
while defending than while holding
possession. Get used to giving away
unnecessary throw in-s and corner
kicks. Sprinting with the ball is an
entirely new experience. Hold down
right trigger to accelerate and left
trigger to slow down and protect the
ball – much like driving in racing games. FIFA 14 lets you make turns in any direction at
full speed at the expense of control over the ball. Add to this the new ‘Precision
Dribbling’ feature, and you get what is, by far the most astounding balance ever struck
between complexity and precision in a football game.
The new tile interface is a refreshing change but becomes, after a while, a slight
inconvenience. Other than the fact that these big grey rectangles pervade the interface,
most of the other menus work more or less the same way. Career mode has been
completely revamped – it will take time to get used to the new methods. Scouting is
given much more importance in FIFA 14. Signing a player requires a painstaking
amount of homework to be done on your part while gauging his attributes. Searching
for players by their attributes has been taken out of the game completely. Skill games are
An original copy of the game will cost you 2500 Indian Rupees. A new copy of the game
newer, better and require much more mastery over manual controls. Of course
comes loaded with updated squads, kit numbers and plenty of new faces. A galore of
customisation features are always available if you want to throw a few changes around in
new celebrations has been added along with a few outright wacky ones. Try holding
gameplay and the team rosters.
down player change and double tapping shoot when you score with Daniel Sturridge
The first symptoms of the overhaul in gameplay are observed as soon as you hit “Play against Chelsea. FIFA 14 scores well on vital points of gameplay. Not everyone will like
Match”. The voice of a pre-match commentator makes an interesting prelude to the the slower game and the inordinate emphasis on build-up play, but then which game
familiar voices of match commentators Martin Tyler and Alan Smith or Clive Tyldesley doesn’t take getting used to?
and Andy Townsend. The game lacks any sort of uniformity in tempo – much like a
Overall, FIFA 14 is the closest any Football game has ever been to simulating reality and
football match that real-time players will be used to. Players become far from
is definitely worth forgetting the words “SKiDROW” and “crack” to splash out 2500
effervescent sometimes and completing a pass will tend to take ages. Passing the ball and
bucks for. Trust Messi, Bale and Lewandowski when they say it’s worth it.
maintaining long stints of possession eventually speeds up the game and make for
Pilani’s Big Ben to Chime Again
BITS alumnus initiates Clock Tower restoration
T
he Clock Tower is one of BITS Pilani’s most iconic
structures on campus and only a few of the oldest
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