FIFA 22 is the latest installment to EA Sport’s never-ending FIFA franchise. The game itself was recently released on multiple consoles. I prefer the PC version on Steam because I have my Neon Keyboard waiting for me whenever I decide to buy a game. I usually skip a year or two when playing FIFA games due to the fact that every year the game is a Control+C and Control+V. This has been the main issue of the FIFA Franchise; the developers aren’t putting their full effort in giving us a game that is different from the previous ones.
I’m not saying to start from scratch but at least add some valuable factors and make some noticeable changes other than improving the graphics. There’s a saying that “Why fix something that is not broken” well I personally can’t say that for the FIFA franchise because there are minor and noticeable gameplay issues each year that overlap the bad with the good.
Anyway, that was my frustration after buying over 7 FIFA games in the past 10 years. Moving on to the latest installment, FIFA 22 and let’s see what it has to offer and are there any noticeable changes made, or are they just following the same copy-paste formula since FIFA 14.
Although I prefer arcade-based games such as WWE All-Stars, 2K Battleground over simulation games, I still had fun playing the likes of WWE 2K19, NBA 2K19 and the majority of the FIFA games after FIFA 17 (excluding FIFA 21).
Let’s start off with the goods about the game, the realistic graphics. As I mentioned above, I love the arcade style of games over simulation but sometimes these amazing-looking games are introduced in the market that really intrigue me to buy the game even if the gameplay is slow, I still like playing them.
FIFA 22 in my opinion has one of the best visual presentations out of all FIFA games in the past and I love every second of it. So much detail has been put into the graphics to make the game look as realistic as possible and to be honest, I’m not disappointed. Good Work EA!
Speaking of realism, the use of new Hypermotion technology to enhance the overall animation of the game makes the game look so much better and with the addition of over 4000 animations including multi-player interactions, the game feels like I’m actually watching the game on my TV.
Now, I’ll talk about why players buy FIFA games every year. The short answer is that they want to enjoy playing the Career Mode and since I’m talking all good about the game right now, I’ll start off with the huge improvements made in the Players Career Mode.
The Career Mode in FIFA franchise has been my favorite mode since the start. Why you may ask? Well, it’s because I get to live a life that people can only imagine. Imagine playing a game where you start off as a nobody and after spending countless hours breaking the buttons on your keyboard; or joystick depending on what you prefer, grinding your way to the top and finally becoming a Legend you always deserved to be. Now that’s a recipe for a good playtime my friend.
I appreciate the changes made to the Players Career Mode in FIFA 22 with the feature of your manager’s trust. It’s basically a trust bar on the top left corner that helps you see how much trust your manager has in you and in order to maintain or increase the trust between the two of you, you’re required to complete certain objectives given to you by your manager and completing them with ease will surely grant you a starting spot in the team.
It feels like the developers put all of their efforts into the Players Career Mode because I’m not finished with the newer additions yet. With all the improvements we got, there’s one that stands out the most for me and that is the introduction of a leveling system.
Basically, it works just like the trust bar with you completing different objectives given by your manager. But that’s far from the end as completing objectives given by the manager or generally improving your ratings, you’ll get rewarded with Perk Points as you level up. These Perk Points helped me a lot in boosting my overall ability.
Remember when I said that Career mode was my favorite mode in the FIFA series?! Well, that was true up until I played Volta. If I’m being honest, Volta was never my cup of tea until I played FIFA 22 and oh boy it delivered.
Also, knowing how good the game looks this year and considering the fact that I love Arcade over Simulation (I’ve told that more than once now), Volta made room in my heart as it’s a fun experience and takes me away from the standard FIFA gameplay and that’s probably the most fun I’ve had playing a FIFA game.
There are other improvements to the gameplay that includes enhanced net physics, areal duals, head goals, and new animations added to the goalkeeper and the player’s movement. Lastly, the ball-handling in FIFA 22 has improved so much than previous installments as this year the AI is capable of immediately chasing the ball as you lose it making it harder for you to get the ball back if it lands under the feet of the opposition. This set of improvements really made an impact in making this game far more superior than FIFA 21.
At first, it was really hard to find anything bad about the game but after playing it for over 7 hours I found it really bothering to hear the commentary team act like they were reading from a script. I mean, obviously, they were given scripts during the production but, come on! the commentary sounds really mechanical and takes away the realism from the game which as I mentioned before is the main upgrade from previous installments. That’s a minor issue that can be ignored by some players but for me, commentary plays an important role in any sports game as it has its own vibe.
Speaking of issues, the customization. I’ve been playing 2K games all my life whether it be WWE OR NBA, 2K has been a part of my life ever since I got my first WWE 2K game back in 2013.
If you compare 2K with EA right now, at least 2K gives their fanbase more customization options. I’m playing a FIFA game in 2021 with a lack of customization options even with all the new additions made to the game.
While on the topic of lacking. I still find the VOLTA an amazing experience to escape the reality of the game however, even a mode like VOLTA has been lacking some features in FIFA 22 as the single-player options seem to be quite limited and that really saddens me because as mentioned earlier, VOLTA has been my favorite part of the FIFA series due to the arcade element added to the mix.
Lastly, I want to address the God awful microtransactions. I’m sure I’m not the only one who hates this from the bottom of my heart. These microtransactions act like DLCs in 2K games, all the good characters are locked behind a door that can only be unlocked if you empty your wallet.
After spending $59.99 on the game, who in their right mind would spend additional money to unlock characters. That should be our right to have them unlocked from the start. However, EA is making around $1.62 billion across different Ultimate Team modes so there’s no one stopping them from doing this again next year.
Even with all the minor issues and obviously the money-hungry microtransactions, I really enjoyed playing FIFA 22. The gameplay is top-notch, the graphics are better than ever and who can forget about VOLTA. The game in general is not that different from FIFA 21. EA took FIFA 21 and upgraded the entire game to make it look like a million bucks and the formula worked as the game looks and works beautifully.
