Electronic Arts does not fail its annual appointment with the launch of FIFA 20, the new installment of the company’s star soccer simulator that comes stomping the fight for the crown. This time FIFA has great additions, although it remains very conservative in its formula and few innovations compared to other years. Even so, we are facing one of the most complete football titles in its history due to the number of modes it brings. So, is FIFA 20 the King of this year? Here is my review!
GRAPHICS AND GAMEPLAY
Graphically it looks great again although we can’t really expect major improvements. Maybe they are waiting for a new generation of hardware and perhaps also a new engine to improve those graphics even more. The field and the stadiums look nice, but the faces of the non-scanned players remain an annual annoyance. The gameplay is of course the most important element, but it feels a bit more of the same than FIFA 19. There is now an option to dribble sideways, which I noticed is sometimes a really handy gameplay move to use. There are also some new animations for tackles and new ball physics.
The biggest changes in gameplay are the tweaks to the defenders and attackers. Where in recent years the defenders were able to keep up with the fast attackers, this has now been addressed. Counters are therefore much more deadly and more common. Extremely fast players have a big advantage as a result and are therefore overpowered most of the time. Defenders also do not seem to feel very strongly about taking a ball, and computer-controlled defenders are often looking at a situation without intervening.
VOLTA MODE
Without a doubt, VOLTA is one of the most striking and fun game modes this year. For all of those who grew up with the classic PlayStation 2 FIFA STREET, this addition really changes how we can play in FIFA. EA has made the decision to stop with Hunter’s story to get into the street world of football. VOLTA is a new and interesting proposal to offer something new in the market and attract the attention of a large part of the public. This addition gives a twist to what has always been the main branch of FIFA, giving us the opportunity to create our own character as we see fit. Use your character to become the champion of the street soccer World Cup.
This new mode also includes several modalities such as the VOLTA League that gives us the opportunity to test our team against players via online. In this way, we must focus on winning matches to get points and be able to climb the Division. On the other hand we have the VOLTA Tour that is dedicated only in the games of 5 against 5 in large fields in the style of futsal. These are the options that we can find if we enter VOLTA from the FIFA 20 main menu, in addition to being able to play its Story Mode, of course.
In my opinion, VOLTA is one of FIFA’s best additions in recent years, especially for those lovers of FIFA STREET. This is a great step forward to offer something different, fun and unique. I hope EA will evolve and polish VOLTA more and more in future deliveries.
CAREER MODE
The Career mode of FIFA has been pushed aside for a long time, because all focus was on Ultimate Team. The previous two editions brought us real-time negotiations, the Champions League and Europa League. Really larger innovations in this popular mode were not forthcoming. This should finally happen this year, but it has turned out to be a disappointment. This time you have more options to adjust the appearance of the manager and there are also press conferences. The choices you make here influence the relationship with the players, along with the playing time you give and the way you respond to personal messages.
A good relationship ensures a better football player in the following games, so this is certainly a nice addition. The biggest innovation is Player’s Potential. If a player has had a good season and played a lot, he will be a lot better in the new season. All in all, these are small additions and not something that the Career mode fans were really waiting for. In addition, the mode also contains errors, of course. Teams for some reason don’t play their strongest line-up, many strange transfers are happening, and top teams lose against small clubs way too often and are very low in the table. Career mode was once the flagship of FIFA, but that is really no longer the case. There really needs to be more effort put into the mode or maybe they need to build it from scratch.
ULTIMATE TEAM
This year FIFA Ultimate Team has focused all its efforts on adding a friendlier menu for the player, with cleaner and more elegant sections to navigate through. Now everything is much better ordered and explained, decisions that are appreciated because now moving around FUT is much simpler than ever. But if I have to praise one of the decisions, is the amount of content in rewards, objectives and challenges that have been added in comparison with FIFA 19, a title in which you were practically forced to stay inside for hours. For the occasion EA has preferred to reinvent these systems, facilitating its players the possibility of getting rewards thanks to the daily and weekly challenges.
With all the small improvements added to the visual section, FUT also takes advantage – as is evident – of the adjustments in FIFA 20 playability in general, while maintaining its essence in the other aspects. In FUT it is still important to open packs to get better players, contracts or accessories for your team. Having powerful staff and good chemistry will make you win more matches. Therefore, the microtransactions continue.
PIEMONTE CALCIO
Did you know that Cristiano Ronaldo plays for Piemonte Calcio these days? Of course this is not correct; he just plays for Juventus, but this time the license is fully owned by Konami. This is a bit painful since Electronic Arts was always the one with all licenses. Although the name and kits are not correct, at least the player names and their appearances are real. For the rest, FIFA 20 is again the game with the most competitions and modes.
At the moment, especially the fast attackers are overpowered and although this results in entertaining games and nice scores, this is something that should be tweaked. The biggest innovation comes in the form of Volta. Ultimate Team is again the most addictive of all modes and despite some changes, Career is again the “we don’t really care” mode. All in all, FIFA 20 is a very entertaining and extensive football game, but it does not bring enough innovation.
The Review
FIFA 20
Like previous years, FIFA 20 is a very complete football game full of modes and with the typical FIFA gameplay. This year it plays a little better than last year, but the gameplay is not very innovative.
PROS
- VOLTA is one of the best additions
- A lot of game modes
- Ultimate Team remains addictive
CONS
- Attackers overpowered
- Career Mode
- Non-scanned player faces are annoying
