FIFA 21 - Official Gameplay and List of New Features
Today, EA presented gameplay footage from FIFA 21 and a list of novelties that are to make the new game more attractive.
Today at 8:00 AM PT, EA Sports unveiled the official trailer of FIFA 21. After the moderately successful FIFA 20, in which the players complained about getting lack of polish and boredom, instead of fun and pleasure, FIFA 21 is set to be a breath of fresh air (to which every fan of the series would certainly respond positively). Most of the changes will affect the layer of dribbling in the broadest sense of the word and the movement of players, which is to be more natural.
The Canadians based the promotion of the new installment of their series on six key aspects.
The agile dribbling system is designed to improve the passing of defenders by the attacking team by giving them more control over their leg work, which is to be useful in one-on-one duels. To this should be added new dribbles, making it difficult for talented dribblers to lose the ball.
Individual formation, in turn, is a variation for both defenders and attackers. This will increase the player's orientation on the pitch as his skills increase (and in Ultimate Team mode it will also increase their price). The gamers have been complaining for years about the poor AI in the game, which caused defenders to disperse before the attackers in panic, and the only salvation for the situation was... playing as helpers and leaving the defenders to their own antics. Likewise, the attackers would no longer stand in a line but would move out to pass and break the offside line.
Creative running is nothing more than giving us an influence on the movement of players without the ball, who have lived their own lives. Beginning with FIFA 21 it will be us who will decide where our fellows from the pitch will run with the right analog stick. I'm not sure if the system will work, or if it will only complicate the game and be so unreadable that it'll be removed from the next installments, just like playing as the goalkeeper that evaporated several installments ago and we can only control the goalkeeper in a very limited way.
The smoothness of clashes between players is certainly a welcome novelty because despite the improvements in the game engine, virtual players often still move as rigidly as robots, which prevents from playing the ball. Their balance will be improved, as well as the range of movements that will make what we see on the screen seem more real.
The basics of football is the broadest concept, but probably also the most fundamental one, as EA has decided to take care of mid-air play (and not only that). In FIFA 20 goals scored using head were bordering on miracle, and the players missed an empty goal significantly more than they should. This was the aftermath of FIFA 19, where "heads" could win every match, so to balance the next game, this element was practically cut out. Now we will get control over where and how we hit the ball with our heads, which may allow for more variety in the game, rather than monotonous taping of the ball in front of the penalty area, with no chance of a throw-in. In addition, the whole team will play smarter, both when blocking shots by defenders and dribbling with strikers.
The last and most vaguely described novelty is the competition mode, which, as EA says, will introduce "more possibilities for tricks, dribbling, and tactics, so that rivals in the Legendary and Ultimate levels will be more demanding and the game against them will give more satisfaction". This is probably the announcement of the famous option to dynamically adjust AI to our skill level so that the game doesn't drop us on the deep end or discourage us with low difficulty when playing better.
There was also mention of the "rewind" mode, which will enable us to reverse time in offline matches so that the player can repeat an action in which something didn't work out.
It remains to be hoped that these numerous innovations will actually make the new FIFA more enjoyable and a better game than its predecessor and will not end with the statement "but FIFA 22 is sure to be good".
FIFA 21 will launch on PC, Xbox One, PS4 and Nintendo Switch on October 9, this year. The release date on PS5 and Xboxie Series X is not yet known, but it is speculated that this will happen near the launch of new consoles.
