FIFA 21 (2020)

Stadia is battling with something as standard as FIFA 21, and that is honestly disturbing. It’s one more story of the greatest highs and the most minimal lows, and it spells further issues for the fate of the platform.

You know exactly what you are going to get with FIFA and FIFA 21 has some misses but a significant amount of hits. Player faces could be improved with some key players missing their actual faces but that’s only a minor point in the grand scheme of things. It feels substantially better than FIFA 20 and it’s definitely a game that will get a lot more game time from me than the previous title. There are still a lot of gameplay elements that need improving so hopefully, a patch will address them very soon.

The few positives do not outweigh the negatives. EA Sports continues to phone it in with the FIFA series while single-player gamers cry out for better options.

The lack of changes in FIFA 21 overall, particularly compared to FIFA 20 is telling. The iconic pairing of Martin Tyler and Alan Smith have been removed from commentary, and for what it's worth they may as well have taken the goalkeepers with them. Modes have had tiny incremental touches added to them which amount to very little more than quality of life enhancements. However, it cannot be argued that FIFA 21 is still a fun arcade experience bursting with a plethora of different modes whether it be FUT, Career Mode, VOLTA or House Rules.FIFA 21 hasn't re-written the wheel but it is fun, fast attacking football and hopefully EA have big plans to shake up the franchise next year for its true next-gen console experience.

“The beautiful game” is a phrase with a history that runs back to 1958. Football really has, for better or worse, the most passionate fans in the world. Those fans head out in their droves every year to buy the latest iteration of FIFA. Unsurprisingly FIFA holds the title for fastest selling sports franchise game series of all time. Every single year FIFA tends to face some harsh criticism. This is rightfully so when you consider last year’s Nintendo Switch offering reviewed by Harvey Fry here. The question is, do EA Sports really care about the gameplay and immersion into the football experience? Or, are they more focused on their bottom line, Ultimate Team micro-transactions and licenses? Well this year, I’m pleased to say comfortably, they’ve found a perfect balance of commerciality and customer experience.