EA Sports Psvita Fifa 15 Cartridge

               Reviewing FIFA on the Vita gets to be more of a chore each year. How should I approach it? Should I go with a fresh approach every time and review the game on its own merits? As to be honest, that’s becoming increasingly difficult although I can’t imagine anyone being happy if I took the EA approach and just pasted last year’s review with different screens. Should I compare the performance to the existing Vita games AND those on other systems? The Vita certainly isn’t as powerful as other consoles but the series has seen some evolution and changes elsewhere are relevant, at least to me. To be honest, I think the all-round best way to tackle FIFA 15 on the Vita is to find a balance between the two viewpoints.

The EA approach to the Vita has been very simple; take last year’s title and slap new kits and squad rosters in and the job is done. Very simple, and very lazy but this time it is slightly different because it’s not exactly the same game as they have crazily removed the online multiplayer element of the game. Now I do not know who made this baffling decision, but FIFA is infinitely more fun when playing with others and only being able to play alone somewhat removes the point in the long run. There are other modes of course, but you can only play so many career modes or play custom tournaments before you get bored – you expect a little more for your money, and rightly so.

For newcomers to either FIFA on the Vita or indeed the Vita itself, FIFA 15 is an almost perfect port of the console version of FIFA 11. With no online functionality there is no online clubs, but this mode hasn’t yet been available on previous Vita versions nor has Ultimate Team, but we will come back to that in a bit.

                           What you do get for your money is three kick off modes where you can select any of the 500 officially licenced clubs in an exhibition match or two Be A Pro modes where you can specifically choose any player or even the goalkeeper. You can also create your own tournament with your own rules, selecting from over 50 real world tournaments or embark on your own career mode either as a player with your virtual pro, a manager or a player manager.

The game is certainly pretty and looks very nice on the Vita, the audio and commentary really making you feel like you are playing a decent game of football. There are also clever uses of the front and rear touch for passing and shooting respectively, although its highly likely you’ll turn these features off once you have popped all of the relevant trophies. Speaking of trophies, with no online modes there are no online trophies to speak of – which has made the platinum for this game even more attainable than ever. No five wins in a row, chipping the keeper or one hundred matches this time around; so if trophy hunting and platinum collecting are your kind of thing, this could be a little more appealing. So far, so good – it’s looking like an easy purchase, right?