FIFA 15, like The Sims 4, is all about emotions

This might be the first trailer to make me give a football game a curious glance since the days of the Mega Drive, and it's all thanks to EA's current obsession with emotions. Not content with turning The Sims into an emotional melting pot, they're giving each player in the noble game of football their own "emotional intelligence", which will visibly change over time depending on how the match is progressing. While players won't sit cross-legged in a huff after someone misses a goal, their reaction animations will alter in both positive and negative ways to proceedings, according to this latest trailer. See what this entails after the break.

Basically, each player's mood will elevate or sour depending on the outcome of the match, and this good/bad mood will progress throughout the game, revealing itself in reaction animations and in enthusiastic goal celebrations like that big pile-on up there. There's also talk of more dynamic crowds, meaning that spectators will now have their own distinct group personalities based on the team they're rooting for.

Sure, it's all surface stuff, but given that EA has spent the last couple of decades working on the mechanics of video game football, it's nice to see some thought spared for the drama and atmosphere that comes with the sport. FIFA 15, contrary to the name, is out this September, and unlike the previous game, the PC version will be based on FIFA's 'next-gen' engine .

Tom Sykes

Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.

Latest in Sports
Tony Hawk doing a kickflip or whatever the hell it is in the cover art for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4
Tony Hawk apparently intervened to get Bam Margera into Pro Skater 3+4: 'No, you're gonna do it'
A goalkeeper in a plague mask wields an axe
Silent Hill gets a soccer league in FEAR FA 98, and you can play the demo now
Roman Reigns in the ring in WWE 2k25
WWE 2K25: Every superstar on the roster
Tony Hawk doing a kickflip or whatever the hell it is in the cover art for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 remake is real, and it's coming in July with new skaters, parks, music, and more
Image for
Sure seems like the new Call of Duty map is teasing a Tony Hawk's Pro Skater game
Football players flying through the air
PC Gamer's simulated Super Bowl 2025 predicts Eagles victory, player getting hit so hard he flies out of the stadium and into the parking lot
Latest in News
Assassin's Creed Shadows promo image
Ubisoft scores a legendary ratio against Elon Musk on his own platform—which hopefully marks a final end to all the Assassin's Creed Shadows' culture war nonsense
Tzarina Katarin Bokha, the Ice Queen of Kislev
Total War: Warhammer 3 rolls out a cool Kislev overhaul, changes befitting Tzeench’s magic, new projectile units and creakier skeletal horses
An image of a golden first place award from Geoguessr
'We're actually getting GeoGuessr on Steam before GTA 6': the Google Street View puzzler arrives on Valve's platform this April
Napster client circa 1999
Former music-pirating platform Napster to be reborn rather ironically as a metaverse for musicians to connect with their fans after $207 million deal
The snazzy red and black HyperX Cloud Alpha wireless headphones float in a teal void. The microphone is attached to the headset.
The best wireless gaming headset is now even better in the Amazon Big Spring Sale, boasting a more than $50 discount
A chip being held up in an Intel fab
Intel is reportedly 'working to finalize commitments from Nvidia' as a foundry partner, suggesting gaming potential for the 18A node