5 Things You Need to Know About FIFA 17

Image via EA SPORTS

One of the most exciting bits of news to come from EA Sports is that – for the first time ever – FIFA 17 is being built on the Frostbite engine, which is used by EA DICE to create the most authentic looking games on the market right now, such as Battlefield, Star Was: Battlefront and Mirror's Edge.

As a result, more players will be more true to life than ever before and enhanced lighting makes the match environments look more stunning than ever before. Of course, one of the major upsides of Frostbite is its ability to render real world environments – something EA Sports football-specific Ignite engine never had the capability to do.

Frostbite is built for immersive first-person shooters or expansive role-playing games. This means that – for the first time – FIFA won't just be set on the pitch.

You'll never take free kicks the same away again on FIFA 17.

In an extremely welcome change, all the game's set pieces have been totally rewritten – giving you more freedom to pull off the type's of free kicks you only score in you dreams. The most exciting change we got to grips with was the option to take direct free kicks with the outside of your boot – yeah, you can now score free kicks that are every bit as good as Robert Carlos' famous strike. It's a minor change, but an extremely fun one.

Penalties are also different. They've never really changed even since the mid-90s days of the first PlayStation. For the last 20 years you've been told to stop the power bar in the right area, choose a direction, and hope for the best. In FIFA 17, you can completely control your run up – you can sprint from outside the box, or take it from a standing start. How you do this completely changes the momentum of the free kick (and it's harder than you might think to perfect).

Finally, corner kicks are no longer a lucky dip with FIFA producer McHardy saying that "you'll finally feel like you've earned your headed goals". As the player taking the free kick, you'll pin point where you want the ball to go and as the player looking to head the ball, you'll joust and make space that gives you the best run and connection on the impending delivery.

This year, FIFA 17 has four brand ambassadors that we expect – but are not certain – will have the honour of gracing the always long-awaited cover artwork when it drops later this year.

Four of the brightest young talents in European football will take FIFA forward into a new age: James Rodiguez, Anthony Martial, Eden Hazard and Marco Reus. Each of the players has been picked to symbolise the evolution of the FIFA franchise (Rodriguez with set pieces, Martial with attacking play, etc).

Whether you're playing as Alex Hunter or Wayne Rooney, FIFA 17 has been rewritten to ensure that attacking play gets the shine it deserves.

Aaron McHardy admitted the game had taken some flack last year for being a little too ponderous – especially when it comes to AI – so the producers have gone back to the drawing board to redevelop how players think in FIFA 17. Perhaps, most crucially, players now understand space better than ever before. In previous editions of the game, attacking players would make runs into spaces where it was only possible to receive the ball and score directly from – leaving a lot of the play a little unsophisticated and pretty flat. This year, players will be making the types of runs we never usually see, whether they're fake runs to draw a defender out of position, or into space where they can play a ball, not just shoot from. In short, players are moving in an intelligent manner, not a linear one.

Elsewhere, McHardy also stated an intention to give the world's leading players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale a bit more "zip". He said the pace of the game left that a little bit lost in previous years, so expect to see even more players on Ultimate Team building their teams around speed.

The way players use the ball has also been reengineered. Last year, the 'pass with purpose' function was a big hit – so it's been extended. Now, goalkeepers can place driven free kicks and attackers can hit driven shots – full of power, low on height – at goal.

FIFA 17 promises to be a lot more than an annual stats update.

FIFA 17 drops on September 27th in North America, and September 29th in the rest of the world.