EA Sports FC 24's gameplay reveal trailer reveals one second of gameplay
Same old balls in new shorts
EA Sports FC 24 got its first gameplay trailer this evening, following on from the in-engine cinematic trailer earlier in the week. Of the new trailer's one minute and 50 seconds, there's a single second of what you might recognise as "gameplay" - while the rest is filled with more unrepresentative footage.
The trailer was release at the end of longer livestream where EA did at least share a few more details about their newly-named football sim.
In the interminably long, rambling livestream in which this trailer was shown, EA announced that two new women's leagues would be featured in FC24, the Spanish Liga F and German Frauen-Bundesliga. Women players will also be available in Ultimate Team for the first time. It's a step forward since women's club football was first added in the last iteration.
"Hypermotion" animation also returns. In FIFA 23, the system allowed EA to capture footage of staged matches and training drills and turn real player movements directly into in-game animations, rather than relying on motion capture performances in a studio. Hypermotion V in EAFC24 goes a step further by allowing them to convert footage of real professional matches into animation. The example given, in the trailer and during the stream, was Haaland's flying kick against Dortmund last season. It was also suggested EA would use the system to add new animations to the game throughout the real football season.
Everything else shown or discussed was vague, expected, or measly. EA confirmed that they had the exclusive Premier League license, as well as the UEFA licenses including the Champions League. They bragged about their "GPU Cloth", which aims to make player kits swoosh around more believably. Pundits and commentators are now modelled in-game, they're using sports data company Opta to better reflect player's real skills and style, and "EA Sports FC Pro" is a new platform supporting esports tournaments.
I think there's an inverse relationship between how much a game announcement spends bragging about "authenticity" and "innovation", and how much actually new, interesting things a game includes. Because if a game has cool new ideas, they tend to be self-evident. Does anyone, anywhere, really care that the shorts wobble when players pump their thighs? I know I do not.
EA Sports FC 24 will release on September 29th, with early access for those who pre-order a fancy edition on September 22nd.