EA Sports released the teaser for the latest edition in their flagship series last night, the hotly anticipated FIFA 17 demo, and it hasn’t disappointed.

In terms of changes, the biggest sports game franchise going have shaken things up with their latest release, implementing the new Frostbite engine which has been so successful in EA’s Battlefield series.

FIFA’s biggest competitors, Pro Evolution Soccer, have been slowly catching up over the past few years, and rocked EA in nabbing their cover star, Lionel Messi, and his club Barcelona as affiliates for the new season.

In terms of gameplay, the deal with the Catalan giants is rather meaningless, but it has turned heads amongst fans who have long disregarded PES as an alternative.

With fans being left hanging on for the demo release until 6pm on Tuesday night, there was tangible excitement across social media, but was it all worth it?

With FIFA 17 still in it’s infancy, what can we learn from the demo and what can we expect from the full game? Our gaming boffins at Shoot!  take you through the top five talking points from the new game…

Pace is king once again

With FIFA 16, we saw a more balanced gameplay, where just running through defences wasn’t everything, the last edition of the game encouraged the player to utilise their midfield technicians as opposed to bombing down the wings with the likes of Ronaldo and Bale.

However, in the new game it is apparent that pace once again rules, whilst it is not as damning for your opponent as it was on FIFA 15, the fact that in the demo Man United’s Wayne Rooney can cruise past a Man City back line is rather worrying for those tika-taka fans out there.

Man United will be scarily good

With the big money signings in Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Paul Pogba, as well as FIFA favourite, Anthony Martial in their squad, Mourinho’s Man United are the ones to beat on FIFA 17.

They may not have got one over on their rivals, Man City, in the real world, but the Red Devils interactive counterparts will dominate year-after-year in EA’s world. A great pick if you want to take on the world in career mode, or climb to the top of the online rankings in Seasons mode.

Big gameplay shake-up

With the new Frostbite engine comes some great changes in terms of gameplay in FIFA 17, from in-play action to set pieces, they’ve overhauled the lot.

Corners are perhaps the best of the set peice changes, with the new mechanics allowing the player to pinpoint the area they want to play the ball into, and the style in which they want to get the ball there which results in far more chances for the side attacking the goal. Furthermore, a big bug off FIFA 16, it’s passing mechanics, seem to have been fixed. Whereas before a pass could go in any old direction, the player on FIFA 17 has far more control around their style of play.

The Journey is a game-changer

The big news for this years game is the addition of the cinematic narrative mode, The Journey, which follows London born striker, Alex Hunter, as he rises through the ranks at a Premier League club of your choice.

The FIFA 17 demo offers a snapshot of the new mode, as Hunter makes his Man United debut off the bench at Stamford Bridge. The brief glimpse offered in EA’s teaser showcases exactly why The Journey is worth getting excited about, in just the 20 minutes or so of game time the demo gives you, it doesn’t take long to become attached to and invested in the story of the young forward, the mode will be a massive hit.

If you don’t believe us, take a look at the full trailer:

FIFA is still top of the tree

Questions were raised over the summer and in the build up to the debut of FIFA 17, with many claiming that this may be the season for PES to take over the franchise they have long been in the shadow of.

Now, they are not the same game, no one would want them to be, and whilst the game play on PES is very good and the close up graphics, as well as those around the action on the pitch such as stadiums and tunnel shots, are arguably better than EA’s there is just something you can’t put your finger on that puts FIFA streets ahead of it’s competitor.