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Achieving the rare feat of platform parity on both PS3 and 360, the FIFA series now takes its first dive onto the succeeding consoles, taking advantage of the spec upgrade with EA Canada's brand new Ignite Engine. On the Xbox One and PS4 versions we're promised more than just a resolution increase - the new technology also brings a sharp increase in player animations, smarter AI, and fully polygonal 3D crowds to replace the sprite-work of previous games. But with this visual upheaval, and the rush to be there for day one of the console launches, has the series' history of platform parity been maintained for the new generation?To start things off, it's clear from the get-go that the fundamentals of FIFA's design haven't changed, and that the Ignite Engine essentially re-uses the same rendering techniques for player models, alongside plenty of motion capture data we've seen before. This extends to the gameplay, meaning those familiar with FIFA 14's slower accelerating players and balance in favour of lobbed balls will very much be at home with these next-gen offerings. However, eye-opening changes are in effect here - if not always evident under the skin so much as in terms of the gloss spread over the top.
By far the most eye-catching upgrade is the bump up from 720p to a full 1080p native resolution, which we can confirm is common to both Xbox One and PS4. Like seeing any sports broadcast making the move to HD, the boost in pixel definition adds greatly to the spectacle, and increasingly we find we can pick out players by eye rather than resorting to the call-outs from the commentary. This crisp 1080p presentation is something we've only enjoyed on the PC versions of the series so far - though curiously this format has no support for the revised Ignite Engine so far.
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