FIFA 23 Review – End of an Era

FIFA 23 is the last year from Electronic Arts to carry this name. A long-term partnership between EA and the FIFA organization has come to an end, which could shake up the relatively calm waters of soccer simulation in the coming years. Before we fully turn our attention to the future direction of the series under the new name EA Sports FC, we will talk about whether the developers were able to say goodbye to FIFA with dignity.

• Platform: PS5 (Verified), Xbox SeriesX/S, PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch (Legacy)
• Publication date: 09/30/2022
• Producer: EA Canada and EA Romania (electronic art)
• Genre: sport
• Czech localization: yes (subtitles)
• Multiplayer: Yes
• Data to download: 45 GB (PS5)
• Price: 2099 CZK (PS Store)

Again, a little better

It must be admitted that one of the main reasons why players buy a new FIFU every year is the current squads. The amount of licensed content has been one of the main advantages of the series for many years. This year is no exception, offering over 30 different leagues, a number of national teams and countless real teams, stadiums and players. The new episode offers women’s club football for the first time, which is represented by the major leagues in England and France.

This year, the developers focused on HyperMotion 2 technology even before the release.

After the break, the licensed second Italian league also returned to the game. On the other hand, compared to last year, the best competitions in Japan and Mexico were excluded from the offer. However, the leading European leagues are traditionally fully accessible. Some exception in this regard is the first Italian league, in which again several teams have fictitious names and logos. If you ask about the Czech league, you will still search in vain. Domestic fans have to be content with the presence of national teams and a trio of clubs in the form of Pilsen, Slavia and Sparta. You can also play for national teams from the upcoming Men’s and Women’s World Cups.

But FIFA is not only licenses. After all, I’m waiting for something extra by the new year for the full price. This year, even before the release, the developers paid great attention to the HyperMotion 2 technology, which deals with the processing of animation, movement and physics of individual players. In this regard, it must be admitted that the improvement of technology is clearly visible at first sight. You can recognize changes simply by observing the movement of individual players or by frequent contact between them or the ball itself. Some attention deserves only goalkeepers, whose game seemed to me rather uneven during the game.

Still arcade

As for the pace of the game itself, nothing fundamentally changed in this direction. FIFA is still an arcade that primarily relies on speed, cycles and attack phase. In practice, this means that you score goals relatively easily and in relatively large numbers. On the other hand, it is much more difficult to prevent the opponent’s actions. Due to the emphasis on speed, which, however, is no more than in the previous parts, interludes often disappear from matches. In short, everything has a relatively large impact and a lot of goals are scored. I have often witnessed, for example, a frenzied turn of matches, for example, from 0:3 to the final 5:4, which does not seem very realistic.

In the new part, the fans in the stadiums have received improvements.

So, if you are looking for the most believable interpretation of football, the new FIFA will not please you too much this time either. A clear emphasis on a more arcade note is also demonstrated by another new item called the Power shot. This is an extremely powerful projectile that, when activated, slightly slows down time and zooms in on the camera. After scoring a goal, the game gives you statistics about the speed of the shot, the distance from the target or the xG value in the form of an impressive animation. Other innovations touched on standard situations. The system of drawing direct and corner kicks has been significantly reworked. Now you can accurately select the point of contact with the ball, thereby influencing its subsequent trajectory, direction or turn. This is a positive change that allows you to play more original standards.

It is also worth mentioning the traditionally pleasant-looking cut-scenes and sophisticated faces of the players. In the new part, the fans in the stadiums have been improved, and they seem noticeably livelier. Gone are the days when we only looked at static mannequins. The audiovisual part in general jumped a little in the new year and once again confirmed to me that this is one of the main attractions of FIFA this year as well. In addition to players on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles, PC players can also take advantage of the next generation version for the first time. Unfortunately, according to various user reviews, the PC version is riddled with bugs and technical shortcomings. The PS5 version I tested ran during testing, except for a few funny situations where the physics didn’t work quite right, no issues.

FUT comes first

In terms of content, as in previous years, the developers have focused mainly on the Ultimate Team mode, in which you create and manage your own team. Enough has already been written about its monetization model, which would be more suitable for a free-to-play game. This year, everything remains the same, so be prepared for the fact that the game will quite often offer you to spend more money on microtransactions in this game mode. In terms of Ultimate Team content this year, there are two relatively big pieces of news. First, the interaction system has been noticeably redesigned.

This is a career mode that really deserves more innovation as the years go by.

In the past, it was very important that your squad consisted of players from the same league and, ideally, the same nationality. At such a moment, the cooperation between the individual players was perfect and their productivity grew. FIFA 23 has greatly simplified this somewhat restrictive system. The old system has been replaced by a clear indicator of overall interaction, the level of which does not affect the performance of players on the field so much. In the new FIFA, you no longer have to look so hard at the nationality or country a player is active in when creating a squad. Another new FUT feature is the Moments mode. It is a series of short tasks in which the authors give you various primitive tasks, for example, in the form of a certain number of passes in a limited time. However, there are also historical moments when you need to score a goal in a match against a specific player or nationality. The whole idea of ​​trying to zoom in on a particular historical match or the journey of a particular player (currently, for example, Kylian Mbappe) is a good one.

After all, targeting famous matches from the past is something that can easily work at FIFA thanks to the abundance of licenses and funding. However, I see the problem with the current form of the FUT Moments mode precisely in its rigid binding to the Ultimate team. To be able to play, for example, the aforementioned challenge series with Kylian Mbappé, he must be on your Ultimate team. And it’s basically the same with other problems. At first glance, an interesting mode works in practice rather as an additional motivation for investing in microtransactions and packages. From a financial point of view, this is probably a logical step for EA. However, I can’t help but feel that this type of content would make a lot more sense from a player’s point of view in a standalone form or as part of a career where it might appeal to players who lack the story mode.

Street football is fun, especially with friends.

It is the career mode that really deserves some major innovations over the years. Personally, I spend the most time in it every year, so I’m all the more sad to put it on the back burner. Given the huge revenue that developers are making from FUT, it would probably be foolish to expect significant innovations from a mode that, in short, will not bring in such a lot of money for creators. In terms of career, the only thing to look out for this year is the opportunity to win back a coaching career from one of the real coaches, which is complemented by Ted Lasso from the series of the same name. Nice, but not very bulky novelty. In addition to FUT and Career, classic modes such as Kick-Off and Season are also available, which probably need no introduction. Fans of light entertainment will certainly be pleased with the presence of the VOLTA mode. This street football game is especially interesting in the company of friends.

Despite the shortcomings described above, the developers at EA Sports were able to say goodbye to the FIFA brand with dignity. It’s a worthwhile job that especially benefits from the power of HyperMotion 2 technology, a great audiovisual site, and a good presentation. Also commendable is the overhauled standards system and a generally large amount of content led by licenses. However, I would still welcome more news. Some of them are left somewhere halfway, and other authors are probably saving for the next year, when the transition to a new brand directly spurs more innovation.