https://www.cybersport.ru/fifa/articles/tot-zhe-futbol-tolko-luchshe-obzor-fifa-21

Nextgen will wait

When it became clear that 2023 would be a transitional year for generations of consoles, sports fans were perhaps the most delighted in the world, because historically FIFA and its brethren changed most of all when the current devices in the Xbox and PlayStation lines were changed. The Electronic Arts football series immediately found itself in an advantageous position, since its main (and only) competitor, Pro Evolution Soccer, made a kind of hara-kiri in the offseason: the Japanese suddenly announced long before the start of sales that PES for the nextgen would arrive only in 2023, and now the developers under the guise of a new game will release the usual “seasonal update”.

Thus, FIFA in absentia took the lead in the fight for the client. In addition, EA suddenly announced an attraction of unprecedented generosity: owners of copies of footsim for the current generation of consoles will receive free game updates for the next gen. It seemed that the “corporation of evil” (according to the assessment of average gamers) changed its course abruptly, but … If so, we will have to wait for the real results of such a decision at least until the release of new consoles, because FIFA 21 for PS4 is practically the same FIFA 20, just better polished.

How to improve football?

Despite the fact that fans have been scolding EA for the release of supposedly identical games under new covers for more than ten years now, each new part of FIFA still receives a number of killer features, which the publisher’s marketing department relies on in all commercials. In 2023, these chips were:

• dexterous dribbling;
• non-standard running up;
• better positioning;
• natural collision behavior system;
• the basics of football (there is clearly a problem with naming).

Let’s analyze them separately. Let’s start with the key one – with non-standard races that were once in FIFA and now are finally back. First of all, this system is needed for playing “against the wall” – if before, after pressing L1 + X, you had to hope that the artificial intelligence would consider your idea and go behind the backs of the defenders (which did not always happen the way you wanted), now you have control over the running player is completely in your hands.

If you continue to hold L1 after initiating a wall game, you can use the right stick to determine the trajectory of the running footballer, while maintaining control over the one who should return the ball to him. It is as difficult to manage as it sounds, but in fact it turns out to be a very effective tool for opening enemy defenses. The damned “scoops” (L1 + triangle), which in the previous FIFA were triggered only in exceptional cases, are now able to give you one-on-one outputs in each attack – of course, if you master control over two players at once.

The system also works in the opposite direction: you can lock control on a specific player and manually move him to the desired position, having first given the ball. The AI ​​will try to get the pass back under attack, but as my little experience in online games has shown, the first option still works better.

Dexterous dribbling is a monstrous mechanic that allows Raheem Sterling, Lionel Messi and other players of this type to keep the ball in completely impossible situations. If you have a footballer at your disposal, about whom Viktor Gusev from the old parts of FIFA could say that he is “able to beat three in the trolleybus passage”, then by pressing R1 you can turn on a new dribbling model and increase your chances to “swing” even the most stubborn defender.

In a way, this is a continuation of the ideas of Volta’s street mode, adapted to the realities of the original FIFA. After pressing R1, the player “tidies” the ball to his feet and can instantly change the direction of movement. For those who are accustomed to the dynamics of regular matches (for example, for me), such dribbling will become a real headache – simply because before the players were technically unable to spin around so quickly. However, unlike the running system, you can (hopefully) get used to dexterous dribbling over time. Now my passive defensive style with a low block line of the enemy quite often leads to failures.

At the beginning of the path to the ideal

The other changes from EA’s checklist aren’t new gameplay tweaks, but rather a polish of old rough edges. And it’s great! The best choice of position is the official recognition of the developers that there were serious problems with artificial intelligence in the game until 2023. You know what this is about, if at least once while playing in FIFA 20 you thought about why one of the best forwards of the generation Robert Lewandowski in your team goes offside as often as Dmitry Sychev, and Paul Pogba suddenly decides that he is winger, and for 15 minutes goes somewhere on the semi-flank.

The answer to these riddles is simple: last FIFA didn’t have a better positioning system! With her, the forwards learned to stay on the offside line (at least the best of them), the midfielders – to open up between the zones, the defenders – to close the directions for cutting passes, and the defenders – to block shots efficiently.

In practice, this is not so noticeable: you just see an ordinary football match in which the players are doing what the tactical scheme should be. But for FIFA, it really is an upgrade.

The natural collision system is another blatant bug fix that the developers have hidden under a pretty name. Now players will not get stuck in each other, setting off a monstrous chain reaction from falls. Thanks to this feature of the engine, you could still find thousands of collections of funny moments from FIFA on YouTube, but now they seem to finally become smaller. However, the system clearly still needs to be worked on – in the very first training mini-game, my Anthony Martial got stuck in a dummy and drove it across the field for more than a minute. Well, not all at once!

There are a couple of minor changes behind the mysterious wording of the “foundation of football”: the developers have unlocked the choice of direction when heading, making it much easier to score from the second floor. Now you can deliberately choose the far corner, and not hit at close range, as it was most often done in the 20th FIFA. The second fix is ​​the simplification of long through passes, but I did not notice any real changes in this aspect.

But I noticed changes in the system of strikes: they became much more biting and powerful. Punching the goalkeeper with full force in the near corner is now not a fantastic scenario, but an absolutely ordinary outcome of a quick attack on the flank. In addition, strikes after sharp turns or from under themselves now fly quite hard and are quite capable of ending with a goal – FIFA really encourages experimentation with strikes from unusual positions.

In addition, the developers have added many new animations that have refreshed the visual component of the game. In the first match, I managed to score an amazing goal with a roundhouse heel in the best traditions of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and in the second, I discovered a dozen new animations of feints. Of course, this is not a gameplay revolution. However, in the first months, you will still sometimes pause games just to consider an unusual blow or feint that you have not seen before – and this, you see, is nice.

What about the modes?

Despite the improvements in gameplay, FIFA will still receive a fair barrage of criticism for not having the slightest change in game modes. Ultimate Team, Kick-Off, “Online Seasons” – they all remained the same compared to FIFA 20 (and 19 and 18 …). Forgotten by all “Career” also received no upgrades. Of course, you can still sign ten geeks and enjoy your scouting skills, but Football Manager is still much better suited for this.

Volta mode deserves special mention, which became the main innovation in FIFA last year. This is where EA’s experimentation with Sports Sims continued as the story of Alex Hunter from FIFA 19 came to its logical end. In 2019, gamers were told about street football players who had to “earn respect” on boxes around the planet and make their way to the World Cup. There were betrayals, intrigues, and cameos of streetball legend Ed van Gils, who played the role of the villain in the story.

In FIFA 21, they decided not to continue this story, as, in fact, and experiment with story modes. Technically, the new part also has a “cinematic experience” – it was called “Debut”, but it will take you no more than a couple of hours to complete it. The story here is about the same: a young street squad is trying to get to the top, but the developers regretted the plot twists.

In order to achieve the goal, the team needs to win … four matches, which are immediately available, and after that – take part in four more games directly at the final event. Football legends will appear in history, but it is very difficult to justify the absence of a real plot (taking into account the fact that Debut is presented as a “cinematic experience”).