With people across the globe currently suffering from World Cup fever, it’s a great time to discuss the most highly anticipated football game of the year, FIFA 15. But with its annual release cycle, the FIFA franchise is often criticised for not making significant progress with each new edition.

Having said that, FIFA 15 is set to be the latest and greatest FIFA yet, and it seems as though its developers have really listened to fan feedback this time around. And even though FIFA 15’s official release date isn’t until the end of September, you can still guarantee yourself a copy by pre-ordering online:

FIFA 15 Ultimate Team Edition with Pre-Order Pack exclusive @GAME - £67.99

(includes football, t-shirt, collectors tin)

FIFA 15 Ultimate Team Edition @ Amazon - £52

FIFA 15 @ Tesco - £45

Despite not being released yet, there’s still enough substance already to identify the five following most called for changes:

More emotion

FIFA’s developers want gamers to get a true feeling of emotion when playing FIFA 15. They’re trying to recreate the feeling that football fans get when they watch their favourite sport on the TV.

To achieve this, every player in the new game has their own set of emotions and characteristics that can be seen on the pitch. Apparently, there are more than 600 reactions that can be witnessed in a single game.

Context-sensitive artificial intelligence

This innovation is potentially massive and means that FIFA 15 could be a truly ground-breaking title. Imagine playing a game of football where your computer opponents adapt their style and tactics automatically depending on the situation.

For example, if you are losing and there’s not long to go, you can expect your opponents to sit back and defend till the cows come home. However, turn that situation around and you’ll see them throw everything at you, including the kitchen sink!

Improved tackling

As in real life, tackling is now much more balanced and doesn’t always favour the attacking player in one-on-one situations. So, if you’re a defensive maestro who likes to lock down the pitch and keep a clean sheet, FIFA 15 is definitely for you.

If, however, you like to play attacking football and run at defensive line with world-class players like Messi, you should expect that the defensive side will get the upper hand more often than they did in previous FIFA titles.

Fitter players

FIFA 14 was criticised by many for its bulky, shapeless player models. FIFA 15’s developers have definitely reversed this and the bodies of players in the latest instalment are far more muscular and athletic.

After all, real-life footballers are elite athletes and should be represented this way in any football-based games that are released, right?

Visible pitch wear and tear

FIFA fans will testify that no matter what the weather; no matter how intense the game; the pitch condition in previous versions always remained constant - not in FIFA 15.

Now, every slide tackle, miskick and footprint makes a visual impact on the playing surface. So much so that at the end of big games the surface is totally unrecognisable and would need a world-class grounds man to fix it!