Wave goodbye to your social life, FIFA 17 has arrived.
As with every year, EA SPORTS has brought in a host of changes for the newest edition of the world's biggest sports video game, completely overhauling the gameplay with the help of four new brand ambassadors: Marco Reus, Anthony Martial, James Rodriguez and Eden Hazard.
In addition to that, we've also witnessed the introduction of 'The Journey', FIFA's very own RPG that lets you control the career of Premier League prospect Alex Hunter. If that wasn't enough, FIFA is now powered by the Frostbite engine for the first time ever, giving us the most lifelike visuals we've ever seen on a pixel pitch.
With all these new changes and so much to explore, it can be hard to strip the game back to its core basics and focus on what's really important: winning games. Here's 5 ways to make a winning start on FIFA 17.
1. Choose the right team for Alex Hunter
2. Take time to master the game's new set pieces
One of the biggest problems veterans of the FIFA franchise will face when picking up the new game for the first time is getting to grips with the new set piece model. This year, EA SPORTS has put more freedom in the hands of gamers when it comes to dictating how they want to take a corner, place a free kick or smash home a penalty.
Historically, all set pieces were dictated by hitting the power bar at the right time and not much else. This year, you have a free-moving marker to pinpoint exactly where you want to take your corner, the option to hit free kicks with the outside of the boot and a complete rewrite of the way we take penalty kicks – which has already proved the most troublesome.
At this point, whether you've played the demo or been bombarded by clips of people completely scuffing their penalties on YouTube or Facebook, you'll understand just how much difficulty people are having. Our best advice is to keep things simple. With a host of new options available – from choosing how far you want your run up to be to how fast you'd like to approach the ball – it's tempting to get experimental and take the most braggadocios penalties you can, especially when you've programmed by previous FIFA games into thinking penalties are a piece of piss.
Stick to what has always worked. If you want to score every time, don't adjust your run up, avoid aiming for the very, very top corners (for risk of failure) and use the power bar to charge your shout about halfway up the gauge. While the new presentation and added options make this new mechanic seem revolutionary, in reality, you can score by pretty much doing the same things you've always done.
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When it comes to corner kicks and set piece deliveries into the box, you'll have the most success by aiming the ball to either the near or far post every time. Some even claim to have found a hack which guarantees you a goal every single time – but expect that to be patched out by EA SPORTS immediately.
Once you've pinpointed where you want the ball to go, you've got the opportunity to control your players in the box to make attacking runs towards the ball. Take this option and use it as often as you can and thanks to new game physics, which aims to recreate the chaos of a modern game of football, flick-ons and penalty box scrambles play a more important role than ever before.
4. Go all in on FUT Champions
FUT Champions is the new way to play FIFA Ultimate Team, and the early signs indicate that it's going to be the most rewarding mode yet.
Online tournaments are gone and in their place, Daily Knockout cups have arrived. There'll be a new tournament arriving each day – with their own rewards and entry requirements – and by winning one tournament, you'll advance into the 'Weekend League', which is the ultimate test of endurance for a FIFA player.
Weekend Leagues run from Friday through to Sunday, and in that time, you'll be tasked with playing a maximum of 40 games and winning as many games from that as you can. Everyone who enters the Weekend League and wins a game will receive a prize. Prizes are tiered based on how many games you win across the weekend, with the top prizes being in the hundreds of thousands of coins and limited-edition packs, which gives you a heightened chance of claiming an elusive Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi.
It looks pretty impossible to play 40 games in a single day, but spread your games across the weekend and if you fancy yourself as an elite player, you'll be rewarded.
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6. Don't forget to unlock your coin boosts on Ultimate Team
Everyone's priority at the start of another year of FIFA 17 is to build the best Ultimate Team money can buy as quickly and efficiently as possible. That pretty much means cramming in as many seasons and online tournaments as possible – but don't forget you've also got the possibility of getting free money.
Depending on your previous FIFA experience, you'll be able to browse the in-game catalogue of unlockable items including legendary kits, limited-edition matchballs and – most importantly – free coin boosts.
The coin boosts will give you from anywhere between 200 to 1,000 FUT coins after every game you play for a set period. Start with the biggest coin boosts first (1,000 coins for 15 consecutive games), it's the quickest way to build your transfer fund.
It seems pretty obvious but as you get no obvious in-game reminder from EA SPORTS, it can be easy to overlook.
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8. Don't quick sell all your FUT players
Another new FIFA Ultimate Team feature, 'Squad Building Challenges', might revolutionise the way you trade.
Everyone is familiar with the feeling of opening a Premium Gold Pack only to be presented with Jonjo Shelvey instead of James Rodriguez, and quick selling the list of useless extras straight away. Squad Building Challenges put hundreds of players that you might not otherwise use to good use.
In FIFA 17, EA SPORTS asks you to build a squad – hitting a list of criteria ranging from nationality, league and player quality – from all those players you have stored in your FUT club, in exchange for special rewards including packs and rare players.
The early rewards on offer for Squad Building Challenges are pretty promising, and as a result, it could be worth storing the non-rare gold cards you'd usually discard. At the very least, have a look at the Squad Building Challenges on offer before you open your next pack.
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EA SPORTS FIFA 17 is available now on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.
