Beginner’s Tips
With this in mind, get the most from FIFA 14 with these beginner’s tips that’ll get you off the bench and into the game.
Reaching the Back of the Net
EA Sports transformed scoring in FIFA 14 with the all-new Pure Shot and Real Ball Physics that make shooting the ball more realistic and satisfying. The ball can dip, dive, curve, rise and misfire depending how you strike it, either alone with a free shot on goal, or with a defender pulling on your jersey.
First thing you must learn is how hard to hit the ball to have your shot stay on target. Similar to previous FIFAs, there is a power meter for shots. Tap the shoot button (B/Circle) and the ball will roll towards the goalie. Hold it down too long and you might end up hitting someone in the face on the second tier balcony. The power meter is on a hair trigger as well, so practice makes perfect. Mastering the force put on the ball is key to getting good scoring chances.
You use the left stick to aim your shot while powering up to take the kick. As soon as you start powering up your shot, use the left stick to aim high or low, and what corner you want the ball to go towards. Hopefully it beats the keeper, but not the net.
Passing is Key
Passing the ball has always been a very important component of FIFA, this year more than ever. Unlike previous installments of the franchise, passing is the hardest it has ever been, thanks to revamped Teammate Intelligence. Defenders swarm as soon as the ball leaves your foot. The guy on the receiving end will try to get the ball, but two defenders will do the same.
Passing works the same as shooting with the power meter. Tap the pass button to perform a short pass to a close teammate, or hold it to send the ball to a teammate farther down the pitch. Survey the field and choose your passes wisely. One wrong pass could have you going from a scoring drive to quickly sprinting back on defense.
After going over how dangerous a bad pass can be, we’ll stress how important passing is. A good passing game will win and lose matches. You won’t be able to take one guy and run down the entire field dipping and dodging every defender for a glorious goal (yet). Passing is the glue that holds a winning team together, and we need your middle name to be Elmer.
Advance Player Tips
If you’re a newcomer or even a golden boot master in need of some practice, beginner’s tips will get you accustomed to the game’s basic elements. Once you get comfortable with that, you’re ready for these FIFA 14 advanced tips.
He Shoots, He Scores
You can’t win unless you score, and you can’t score unless you shoot. There are many different ways to take a crack at the goal. Just pulling back and letting it rip is one way, but they pay goalies tons of money for a reason. You might have to utilize technical shooting to beat the keeper.
Two words: finesse shot. Say it out loud and remember it. This is an amazing shot to use to put points on the board. If you ever wanted to bend it like Beckham, this is how it’s done. To take a finesse shot, hold down RB/R1 while powering up the shot. You have to aim where you want the ball to go with this shot, just like normal, but this will give you a good curve that helps squeeze the ball into the net, just out of the keeper’s reach.
The only downside is that you’ll sacrifice power for superior placement. With this in mind, get a good feel for how hard you hit a finesse kick compared to a normal kick on the power meter.
Another strike you should add to your kicking repertoire is the lob shot. The lob shot is the proverbial sand wedge of soccer. This propels the ball into the air like a chip shot. To perform a lob shot, press and hold the LB/L1 button while powering up your kick. This is a great shot to use if the goalie is off his line attacking you, or if there is only one defender in the way. There is no better feeling than chipping the ball over a goalie’s head and have it float into the net.
Finally, we have the one time shot. A well-performed one timer forces the defense to realign, but also looks awesome and gives you plenty of ammunition to trash talk your opponent. To pull off a one timer, all you have to do is press the kick button the moment the ball reaches your feet, be it from a ground or aerial pass. If your player’s stats are high enough, hold down LT/L2 while kicking and you might pull off a scissor kick for this shot.
Advanced Passing
If you read the beginner’s guide, you know EA Sports made passing the ball in FIFA 14 more challenging. Luckily for us, FIFA comes equipped with a variety of passes to help you get out of any situation.
The through pass is a pass every player needs to have up his or her sleeve. This is a great way to get out on a breakaway and beat the back line. A through pass aims to a spot ahead of the player you are passing to so he can get to it in mid stride. Not passing directly to a player is risky, so practice this one. It is a high risk, high reward pass. To perform a through pass, press Y/Triangle, and again, the power meter comes into play.
While discussing the through pass, there is a highflying variation called the lifted/lobbed through pass. This is the same type of pass, but in the air and over the heads of defenders. To perform this pass, hold down LB/L1 and then hit Y/Triangle. This type of pass is very effective if you catch a quick forward on a break that beat the offside call.
The last pass we will mention is the give and go. To perform a give and go, hold LB/L1 while pressing A/Cross. The give and go is the best way to try and get a defender off of your back and you into the open. A give and go is where you pass the ball to a teammate, and before the ball even gets to him, you start sprinting down field, so as soon as it hits your teammate’s feet he is passing it right back to you. This quick tap/tap pass is very effective, and a must for upper echelon players.
Control Tips
Struggling to get to grips with the basics in FIFA 14? Here’s the guide to staying on top of the ball.
– To clear the ball out of danger, or simply take a goal-kick and send the ball down the pitch, make a big swipe while in your own half. If a teammate is within range and position of the player who’s making the shot, they’ll attempt to pass the ball in their direction.
– Once you’ve mastered the basics of the game, you’ll want to look into faking some shots to keep your opponents on their toes. When you’re in the box, swipe left or right of the player to add a dummy effect to your play.
– If you want a player to break away from the pack, and gain a little more open space for themselves, hold down on the player and then drag them into the position you want them to move towards. This is a great way of building up attacking moves, and should be mastered as soon as you’ve nailed the basics.
– If you want to bring your goalkeeper into play in a one-on-one situation, hold down on the goalie and then drag towards the attacker. Note that this is a very risky strategy, as the striker may simply chip over your goalkeeper to score.
