EA SPORTS™ FIFA 23

Review

I can still remember playing the original FIFA International Soccer back in 1993! Since then, I have become a real fan of the series and every single year since that first experience, I have to get the latest game. Like every game series, some games are better than others, but it depends on your taste.  So, after 16 hours of gameplay on Origin, what do I think about the latest game from EA SPORTS™, FIFA 23?

EA SPORTS™ FIFA 23 is an immersive football simulation developed by EA Canada and EA Romania and published by Electronics Arts on the 30^th of September 2022 on the Origin platform. The game is also available on Steam, Epic Games, Playstation PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.

One of the welcoming features is the Anti Cheat software that EA has introduced in this latest game. I think it is about time that EA cracks down on these players who are constantly cheating online. But, it is a big controversy as many people who have purchased this game found themselves not being able to launch it. And to be fair, I encounter this issue myself every few launches. In my case, I just have to relaunch the game and voila, the Anti Cheat updates itself, and I can play the game. It is a bit frustrating, but I don’t believe, as others do, that the launch of FIFA 23 is a disastrous launch. And after 16 hours of gameplay on the Origin platform, I have a fair assessment of what I like and dislike about FIFA 23.

The big improvement for me in FIFA 23 is the graphics. The faces of the players are really accurate, and the fluidity of the game has improved as they’ve introduced the new HyperMotion2 Technology on PC and the gameplay is a bit slower than FIFA 22. However, occasionally, I experience lag while playing in career mode (solo) and online. I guess one of the issues is the cross-play feature. I wouldn’t say I like it as I am a fair dinkum PC player, but I must be fair and say it is not as bad as other games that I’ve played that offer the cross-play feature.

If you’re like me and have played all the games of the series, you might find that playing below the Legendary level of difficulty with an average team might provide a bit of a challenge. But if you are looking for a good, intense football match, you might want to play at the highest difficulty level. Not because the AI is bad (on the contrary, it’s actually excellent), but because of the years of practice that you’ve accumulated playing the previous games.

There are several modes of play, but if you are a FIFA fan, there are no new modes. You still have the Career, Online Seasons and Friendlies Games, Tournaments, Ultimate Team, Volta, Skill Games and Practice Arena. They have also included Women’s football this year which is a welcome addition to the game. After all, women’s football is growing worldwide, and the level of football they are producing is getting better and better every year. Well done, ladies!

I like the introduction of the power shot, which is super cool but difficult to do. When you activate the power shot, your player will slow down, which gives the defenders of the other team extra time to block the shot. Also, the power shot is manual. So, when you activate this shot, you need to be careful of the power, which depends on how long you press the shot button, and then you will have to manually choose the direction of the shot with the left stick on your gamepad. It is tricky to get it right, but when you do, oh boy, it’s an incoming cannonball, Mr. goalkeeper! The other thing that I think they have done right is to change the penalties, free kicks and corners mechanism. Penalties are back to simple, which is so good. With the free kicks and corners, you now have angles to choose on the ball, which makes more sense. I disliked penalties the most in FIFA 2022, I must say.

And here is my rant. I don’t understand these people who choose an online competitive mode of play, which is the Season mode, and because they are losing the game, they decide to quit before the end of the match. They even quit if they’re winning, it is just amazing! To give you an idea, I played 16 games online in the Season’s mode. I lost 3, drew 3 and won 10! My losses were severe losses, all above 4 goals, but I kept playing. After all, someone wanted to play, and I had to give them that respect. They were better, and I learned of few things from these thrashing scores and kept playing until the end. What is truly stupid is that one of my losses, my opponent, was winning 2-1, and after enduring attack after attack with 20 minutes to go, they lost connection. Well, they simply pressed the main menu button and exited the match! That’s crazy, and the anti-cheat did jack as they were awarded the win. So here we are; after 16 games online, 6 players left the game before the end of the match because they were losing, and one left because they didn’t want to draw a game with 20 minutes to go. That is nearly 50% of the FIFA community as far as I am concerned. If 50% of the community can’t take a loss and learn about their mistakes, they should play friendly games online! I think EA should start implementing some sort of ban on these players or simply disallow the ability to quit in the competitive mode (season), at least!

For the last several years, EA has marketed their Ultimate Game Edition, where people who pay $20 on top of the normal price get a whopping 3 days’ early access to their games before release day. That, my friends, is an absolute joke. But thankfully, we will have the World Cup update for free! But you still have micro-purchase with their FIFA points to help you build your Ultimate Team. $120 AUD for 12000 FIFA points! Another joke, right?

Superb graphics and the animations are tremendous. There is one thing I always like in FIFA games, and that is the soundtrack, and once again, they have amalgamated great tracks in this year’s game. Full controller support and the game is translated into 21 languages. The cross-play feature is not bad at all but expect occasional lag if you are playing against console players. Frustrating app launch as the EA anti-cheat fails to update. However, I tried to launch the game 3 times this morning before writing this review, and I had no problem launching the game. Overall, I am enjoying the game.

Review written by THE CPT FROGGY for Zeepond.com

EA SPORTS™ FIFA 23 Steam Store Page

EA SPORTS™ FIFA 23 EA Store Page