If you’ve been following my football (soccer) related stories for the last year or so, you’ll know that I love the sport and almost anything that has to do with it (love the Football Manager series) and that I really, really didn’t like the last FIFA game, FIFA 16 Ultimate Team (Free), because it was a menu-hopping card game with the occasional kicking of the ball. For me, the last good FIFA game was FIFA 14 because it had both Ultimate Team and a number of other ways to play the game – quickplay, leagues, quick online matches, etc. What does the future hold for the franchise on mobile? Well, EA has just shown off some of the new features for the upcoming FIFA Mobile, and I’m perplexed more than anything.

So, according to the developers, the new FIFA game has been completely redesigned with mobile in mind and will feature the Attack Mode, daily live content, a new approach to squad building, and online leagues to compete against players worldwide. The official website describes the game as “quick, fun & accessible," words that in this case scare me quite a bit. Gameplay is completely re-imagined in the “new and creative Attack Mode" that lets you play quick and exciting “turned-based" matches where you only play your team’s attacking chances for each half before passing the game to your opponent to do the same.

Yes, that is as weird as it sounds because all you’ll be doing is attacking against an AI defense. But I do have to give to it to EA, they are definitely re-imagining the sport for those lacking attention spans or love for the actual sport. Now, I won’t have an issue with this mode if it’s just one of many modes I can play, but let’s just say I’m worried that this is the mode that will dominate this year’s FIFA.

There’s another new feature, Live Events, which is daily content based on stories and matches happening around the globe. This one sounds like fun, but the rest of the description mentions “quick, fun mini-games" that “reward you with themed Tokens to redeem for free players and packs." What does sound like fun is the ability to join your friends or other players in online leagues, and I can’t wait to see how EA will take all the fun away from this mode. And, finally, there will be a new approach to building your ultimate team squad.

As you can tell, I’m beyond reserved when it comes to the upcoming FIFA Mobile, and after seeing how the franchise changed from FIFA 14 to FIFA 16 Ultimate Team, I believe I’m correct to be so. Keep in mind that I’m one of those old enough to have played a ton of previous iterations of FIFA on PC, console, and then mobile, and what I want from my football games is the ability to actually play football without having to jump through too many hoops or navigate too many menus.

I’m probably part of the minority here and maybe younger players love modes like Ultimate Team (I know for a fact that it makes EA a ton of money). So, if you’re one of those players who enjoyed last year’s FIFA, I think you’re probably going to like this one even more. If you are like me, though, brace for impact and keep all fingers and toes crossed. The game will be out at some point this Fall, it will be F2P, and you can go and talk about it in our forum thread.