Gaming Matters: FIFA17 The Journey - Part 1

With the new FIFA17 game out I have a number of projects to complete in the next 12 months. In career mode I'll start a save as Chelsea but with a view to managing other clubs later in the career. If time permits I'll also do another Phoenix Rising series like I did with Wimbledon if FIFA16. I'm also looking to use Ultimate Team more than I did last year and for the first time have a go at Co-op Seasons each week with my best mate. The one that everyone is talking about and vlogging on YouTube though is The Journey.

If you're reading this as a FIFA fan then unless you've been in a Fritzl bunker for the past few months you'll know it's your chance to dictate the future of a young character called Alex Hunter. Having started playing this I can see it's a balance between playing FIFA and a role playing game as you have conversations in which the answers you choose dictate how people around you behave. You also have to go through the training routines which I always hated or simulated in FIFA16 and although there is the option to do that it would not be an immersive experience if I did. I'll blog my journey through The Journey in regular segments but if you plan on playing the game there will be spoilers. Not everything that happens to me will happen to you though as every decision can lead to a new path.

The story starts with Alex as a young boy on the park being watched by scouts. I won't focus on the back story as that's for you to learn if you play but (here comes the first spoiler) at the end of this segment is your first piece of action. There's a penalty awarded and as a young Alex I had to take it. Now I'd practiced the new penalty system on the demo but hadn't tried it on the full game yet. To cut the story short I fluffed the penalty and the keeper saved it. Whether this affects the future of my character or whether it was just a little intro I have no idea. The thing is I really felt gutted and responsible for this little kid even though he's just an AI character. I think it was at that point that this game gripped me as I didn't want to let the little guy down again.

The next main participation is the Exit Trials where as a young lad with no contract I had to play in front of scouts to secure a future. There was a 45 minute game followed by training drills and then 45 minute game. There are twenty lads looking to impress the scouts and I needed to finish in the top ten to proceed. I didn't do bad in the first half game and was surprisingly successful in the training drills, even topping the score board at one point. I think in the second game I was trying too hard to doing something impressive to raise my match rating and was missing tackles, rushing passes and losing the ball. In the end I finished ninth of the ten players – not fantastic but it's progress.

After signing with an agent he comes to say that all twenty EPL clubs are interested in me and which one do I want. As a Chelsea fan I was automatically drawn to them but one thing the agent said to me struck home. As a youth you want a club with plenty of playing time and you're more likely to get that further down the table. So after dismissing Chelsea and ruling out the other top clubs and relegation fodder (although I pondered Bournemouth and Watford) I plumped for Crystal Palace. I do like the Eagles anyway but their status suited the game in my opinion. Maybe the same things would happen if I went to Chelsea anyway but I wanted to play it this way.

So at the start of my Palace career we went on the pre-season tour to USA to face PSG, Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid in friendlies. I'm sure the writers expect most players to pick a top six EPL club to play for which would better suit the friendlies arranged. By the time I came on for my debut as a substitute in the PSG match we were already ahead with a goal from Freddie Ladapo. I had 36 minutes to shine and managed to get fouled in the box which led to a penalty scored by Yohan Cabaye. After that I hit the post but failed to find the net myself. I got a rating of 8.0 which pleased my and the stats after showed 100% success from my 10 passes.

The next match was Borussia Dortmund and a chance to start up front as Alan Pardew rotates his squad. I really need to develop Hunter's pace, ball control and dribbling as well as the finishing. I did get a couple of chances but didn't score again. I did manage to set up Andros Townsend for the winner in the second half through with a great through-ball. I was worried in the first half when I was fouled by Felix Passlack and the little cross appeared next to my player to indicate an injury. Luckily it was just a knock and didn't last long but I was concerned about losing my chance to shine. This match finished with a 9.0 rating thanks to my assist.

Finally we faced Real Madrid and I was back on the bench as Pardew played the first team. Christian Benteke suffered an injury in the second half and I was on as the main striker to face arguably the biggest, greatest and most famous club in the world. I came on as a 56th minute substitute and my first touch was from the kick off as Palace scored from the free kick following Benteke's injury (Townsend heading in a long ball). I finally broke my duck and found the net for my first Palace goal, soon to be followed by a second and a third. For the first goal I was played in superbly by James McArthur to fire past Ruben Yanez in the Real goal with a left foot shot after losing my marker. The second was the best of the three, played down the right wing by another ball from McArthur I raced away from Nacho Fernandez. I turned inside Pepe towards goal and before Achraf Hakimi could close me down I fired the ball into the top right corner to make it 3-0.

I finished the match with a hat trick against Real Madrid even though the last goal was so feeble I probably didn't deserve it. Palace beat Real Madrid 4-0 (only on FIFA eh!?) and my rating was a perfect 10.0.

Replays of goals (click to view on YouTube): First Goal

Second Goal

Third Goal