We are now one step away from the next gen and EA Sports with the version for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One has created a solid foundation pending the release of FIFA 21 for the new generation consoles PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
The gameplay, which proved already solid in the last edition, has been further refined to make the game experience incredibly satisfying. A more balanced defensive AI, greater importance to the central area of the field with more realistic game situations thanks to smoother clashes and more natural ball contests. The offensive phase has also been renewed with the introduction of Intelligent Positioning and Creative Runs, an explosive mix that completes a satisfying and fun gameplay.
The improvements in the defensive phase were significant and aimed to reproduce the attitudes and movements of the best defenders in the world. The shoulder-to-shoulder tackles of the defenders have been reworked from scratch to improve the timing of the interventions and increase the possibility of recovering the ball. It will also be possible to make real blocks with defenders with great physical strength, the defender on duty will be able to interpose between the ball and the attacker to regain possession or to protect the ball as it rolls off the pitch. Of course, defenders with higher defensive stats will be able to guarantee a more solid defensive phase and make more effective interventions than players with lower parameters.
Despite these clear improvements, the defenders will certainly not have an easy life, as the offensive phase will be characterized by more intelligent passages that will allow to create a more effective and spectacular game plot. All this also thanks to the possibility of performing Agile Dribbling in every area of the pitch, even with less technically players. An absolute novelty that will not only allow you to more easily overtake your opponent and create greater unpredictability and more scoring chances in the offensive phase, but will also allow you, certainly with some risk, to get out of some critical game situations and keep possession of the ball.
To complete this remarkable gameplay development, the effectiveness of the head shots was also reworked, which in the last edition were practically unusable. In FIFA 21, some improvements have been made to the finalization with the introduction of manual headers, which will give you more possibilities to score with a head, without however altering the balance of reality. To activate this option, simply disable Assisted Headers via the game menus.
In addition to the improvements developed for each single department, the Canadian software house has significantly improved the tactical attitude of the CPU with the introduction of the Competitive Mode, which we will find in the Career and in the Squad Battles. Lovers of offline game modes that use the Legend or Extreme difficulty level won’t have an easy time. Thanks to this novelty it will be possible to observe in game the unmistakable style of play of some of the most representative and strong players of real football, but not only, it will be perceived a greater aggressiveness of the players controlled by the CPU and a greater propensity in dribbling, insertions in the spaces with a single goal that of scoring goals and dominating the opposing team.
The Managers of the Future – A career that resembles a managerial
After years of grueling waiting on the part of fans of this mode finally Electronic Arts has heavily renewed their career making it more interactive which will lead to a profound management of their team.
Thanks to the interactive game simulation you can see every aspect of the players. From physical fitness, to the level of performance of each individual player, to the general statistics of the match. You can make both tactical and technical measures quickly, and if not even this is enough to change the fate of the game at any time you can become protagonists pad in hand and lead your team’s comeback.
In addition to the management aspect of the games, the area dedicated to the development of your players has also been revised. It will be possible to carry out targeted training to improve both the statistics that characterize your players and to improve the statistics in which they are deficient up to determine, if necessary, even a change of role compared to what they usually cover on the green rectangle thanks to careful weekly planning of both team and individual training sessions.
The training aspect is now no longer aimed only at the long-term development of your squad members. With active training you will have the opportunity to prepare your team for the next seasonal match thanks to the introduction of a new parameter called Sharpness. A high Sharpness parameter in a large number of players than your ideal eleven will guarantee a better chance of winning the game. The higher the Sharpness parameter, the greater the boost of specific characteristics, divided by role, that players will receive.
To support this new parameter, the developers of Electronic Arts have also included a new feedback system in the menus that will allow you to quickly view the degree of clarity of all your players and identify those who can guarantee excellent performance.
The area dedicated to transfers also saw the introduction of new types of negotiations to define the purchase and sale of players and with regard to contractual renewals. Managers will have the opportunity to formulate loan offers with the right of redemption, furthermore even the AI has been made more interactive and varied in the dynamics of the negotiations. If you are interested in your player, you can also receive trade offers and not just cash offers. In addition, significant improvements have also been made in the management of contract renewals by the AI which will be able to keep the best players in the squad more easily without releasing them at the end of the contract. In any case, you can manage this aspect before each new season by modifying the “Negotiation Difficult” parameter which will give you the possibility to select elastic negotiations where the cpu will be more flexible or to select rigorous negotiations to find yourself facing an almost adamant CPU on decisions taken.
To complete this already rich list of news there is the “Homegrown Talent” (Available only for the Champions and Ultimate versions). In this way your club will already have an observer for the youth sector and an adequate number of members for the “youth team”.
With the “Homegrown talent” bonus when you create a new save file for Career mode, in the youth team you will find a great potential player with the same nationality as the club.
The streets in the spotlight with VOLTA Football
After the hype of last year Electronic Arts has bet again on this interesting mode by further developing it and introducing great news.
Great importance has been given to the game animation that guarantee dynamic and fun gameplay. Many new and renewed skill moves offer countless game situations and unprecedented scenarios. In addition, greater importance has been given to the skills of the individual player who if able to reach a level of five-star skill will be able to take advantage of skill moves that other players will not be able to perform if they have not reached the same level.
The improvements have also been made for other characteristics of Volta’s gameplay, in particular the defensive phase, the offensive phase and the shot have been optimized, which will guarantee greater variety and greater concreteness in front of the goal.
In order not to miss anything, countless game modes have also been added that will allow you to play cooperatively with other gamers and unlock new rewards. With Volta you will have various gameplay opportunities such as Community Matches, Team Up with Friends, Divisions and Special Battles. Each of these modes will have pre-established objectives, which will be updated periodically by EA Sports and will guarantee hours and hours of fun with your virtual friends.
In addition to the cooperative modes, you will also have the opportunity to try your hand at a single player story mode that will feature the former Brazilian phenomenon of Milan Kaka and many other real-world street football talents.
New locations and new clothing items complete a mode that is already rich in content and that can make you unique in VOLTA FOOTBALL competitions.
The Queen Mode – FIFA 21 Ultimate Team
For years now Ultimate Team has been a pillar of the series and for this reason EA Sports has revolutionized the various modes available to bring a breath of freshness.
The improvements made to this game mode were aimed at giving new enthusiasm to the all community for a new season full of events and new content.
One of the most important innovations is certainly the introduction of the FUT Co-Ops that will allow gamers of the community to join forces to achieve objectives and obtain rewards throughout the season. Probably the Canadian software house wanted to introduce a modality that should create greater collaboration and cohesion between community members.
Cooperation is not only provided in multiplayer games, in fact by playing the Man vs Machine event the XP earned in the games against the CPU will be added up to increase the global level and receive important rewards every week.
A radical change was found in the Division Rivals with the introduction of entry rewards, based on the results obtained in the five games that serve to determine the Placement Division of the competition. It will be possible to redeem up to a maximum of 124.000 coins by placing in division 2. In addition, to eliminate the altered matchmaking that occurred during the session of objectives to be completed in the Division Rival matches, a limit of useful matches has been introduced to determine the rewards that they are sorted every week.
If you could have easily relegated before and then quickly move up the rankings and still get the maximum possible reward, in FUT 21 the weekly ranking of the Division Rivals will be determined “only” by the first 40 games played. Once this limit has been exceeded, it will still be possible to continue playing but without obtaining useful points for the classic weekly which determines the level of rewards.
Even in terms of settings Electronic Arts has worked a lot, in fact in FIFA 21 Ultimate Team, the stadiums, graphics, choirs up to the color of the lines that delimit the pitch can be customized to your liking by unlocking the various levels necessary for get new content.
The most important and probably most appreciated by the community was the removal of the fitness cards that forced gamers to spend thousands of coins to purchase them especially in cases where it was decided to invest all the resources in a single team. Additionally, some of the more used chemistry style cards, such as the shadow card, have received a significant downgrade in stat boost.
Do not forget the introduction of the TOP 200 in the toughest competition to face in the FUT 21 mode, the FUT Champions Weekend League. Unlike in past years EA Sports has decided to reward the top 200 in the world with rich rewards and not just the top 100.
We also remind you that 11 Icons have been added to the official roster and that in FUT 21 EA Sports, starting from November, will make the SBC Icons available again.
Pro Club – We’re not there yet ….
While there were substantial changes for all the other modalities, development did not follow the same trend for the Pro Club. The introduction of greater customization of the AI players in the club and the introduction of a screen in the game menus that will allow fans of the series to manage more deeply the team tactics have not convinced.
Graphics and Lights – Less developed but there is a reason ……..
By now the current gen consoles have been pushed to the limit after almost a decade and for this reason from the purely graphic and lights aspect in FIFA 21 there are few differences compared to its predecessor. A shareable choice given the imminent arrival of the new generation consoles. On PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X we will certainly see a graphic improvement, lights and the introduction of some new animations even if the definitive generation step will probably only be seen with FIFA 22 which will be developed entirely for the Next Gen platforms.
EA Sports has also allocated its resources to the development of the Dual Entitlement, thanks to which all those who purchase FIFA 21 on the current gen PlayStation 4 or Xbox One platforms before the release of FIFA 22, will be able to obtain the version for the next generation console equivalent (Xbox Series X or PlayStation®5 system) at no additional cost.
