FIFA 19 Review: 6 Ups & 4 Downs

4. Tactics Are Finally Heading In The Right Direction

Tactics in prior FIFA games boiled down to attack, attack, attack, scoring first, then switching to 'Counter Attack' and 'Park The Bus' so teams would have brick walls to get through and you'd still have a chance of nabbing another. It worked almost every single time, and it was dull.

Finally, there's some movement and a sense of progression with that side of the game. In FIFA 19, the tactics you pick seem to matter more than ever, and this represents a step towards ensuring the exact same set up for every match won't work in the future. All EA need to do is continue down this path, and things will be more engaging than ever in future titles.

The new tactical mechanics work better in the full game than they did in the demo too, and that's nice to see. It's obvious that EA did some more tinkering pre-release. Their work has paid off; plotting the differences between positional play on all out attack (where players are on the park and how many flood the box, basically) and tightening things up to drop back is a real thrill.

There's more to come once EA get to grips with the idea that hey, tactical changes matter in football. For now, this will do. Some of the new on-the-fly tweaks, such as commanding strikers to drop back and help out in defence or sending wing backs flooding forward when in possession, are intuitive and well-implemented.