Next gen plays great both with sliders designed to better fit manual controls and with default settings. I've actually now returned from using sliders to just playing with default settings, with semi/assisted controls, Normal gamespeed, on World Class, and it's great.
There's still issues, and I might tweak things slightly to account for my defensive woes (IMO the CPU's ability to retain possession in the attacking third is a bit OP), but next gen FIFA plays the best football straight out of the box BY FAR.
Probably the best thing I can say is that while for years now I've hated playing with the best teams in FIFA because of how fast the game plays - my CMs have always been with lower league teams - my next gen CMs have been with Spurs and Chelsea so far and I've yet to feel compelled to start a lower league CM.
With this as the first installment of a new console cycle, we could be in for a real treat this gen.