FIFA 15 showcases better keepers, Ultimate Team improvements

Biggest of all for FIFA 15's first new-gen, Ignite-engine-powered PC showing are the additions to Ultimate Team.

We've covered FIFA 15's wobbly nets, muddy pitches and scary ability to steal human faces- what news from Gamescom?

Biggest of all for FIFA 15's first new-gen, Ignite-engine-powered PC showing are the additions to Ultimate Team. Now players can challenge a friend's Ultimate Team over five games through the new Friendly Seasons mode. There's also the ability to create 'concept squads' by experimenting with players you don't own, and purchase loan players from EA Sports' Football Club catalogue.

Then there are the goalies, often ignored in football games despite them being the tallest and shoutiest men on the pitch. They've been given new branching animations that react to changes in the ball's flight, and smarter approaches to one-on-one situations. No longer will they charge straight ahead like they've got horse blinkers on, but adjust their runs to meet the ball. And If it becomes clear they won't, they'll retreat back to their nets all red-faced.

Players also benefit from more realistic goalies. Because shot-stoppers better adhere to the laws of momentum—unlocked from physics-defying and uninterruptible animations—you can send them the wrong way with feints and shimmies.

Finally, there's Match Day Live Hub, a feed for all the latest league standings, transfer gossip and player stats. It pulls player-chosen information from the globally respected football website, Goal.

All this comes hot on the heels of EA's new Premier League deal that brings 20 stadiums and 200 freshly-scanned faces. Oh, and this year also gives us full access to all 18 teams from the Turkish Süper Lig. Why hello there, Kardemir Demir Çelik Karabükspor.

You'll get to wrap your head around this dizzying array of new content when the game launches September 26. A demo is scheduled for early September.

Find all our Gamescom 2014 coverage right here.