FIFA 17 is the latest game in the annual FIFA game franchise, and as a college student I don’t have enough money to spend on a game that is released yearly with just small new features and polished with better graphics. That’s not the case with FIFA 17: it feels like a big improvement from last year’s game.

A new game mode that makes this FIFA stand out from the rest of them is the story of Alex Hunter. You play as an English teenager who is trying to reach stardom in the Premier League, with the help from his mother and grandfather who also played in the league.

The story and the characters you meet make it a great story to play through. The only thing that really had me frustrated the whole time was the grading during games. It’s not really specific on why you’re either going up or down on rating while playing, even though you think you’re doing everything right. Though, this can be a fun way for someone who is new to FIFA games to use as a tutorial, to learn how to play while getting through this great story.

It’s nowhere near perfect, but EA is stepping in the right direction from where it was on FIFA 16. Now with Frostbite as their new engine, they pushed the game to look even better than last year’s game, not only with details of individual players but with stadiums, fans and even added club managers into the game.

With some great updates on some gameplay features, the one that caught my eye was the physical play in the game so you can battle for space by putting your body over the ball and shielding it and fighting for possession by pushing back and gaining more space.

Set pieces are also have a new feature with penalties being the biggest change, which makes it more difficult to take penalties, which is great when you’re playing against another player.

Though it seems like agility and speed play a bigger role in this game, I can’t get over the fact that responsiveness on individual players is kind of off way too often. Another problem I had was that A.I. does not respond well at times, when trying to pass the ball teammates might run directly across me either getting in the way of the pass or just over hitting the pass. The passing kind of feels off in this game as well, and I’ve had multiple issues with short passes that cost me games.

This game is just too dense to cover everything. Though this is not the best FIFA game that has been released, my verdict on the game is that FIFA is heading in the right direction with better graphics and a new game mode and it’s the most fun I’ve had with a FIFA game in a while.

(Four out of five stars)