●●●○○
“They could have at least added a few more character options for your manager, or some more character models for player agents, so it doesn’t look like every player in the world is represented by one of 6 people”
Every year I try to figure out whether EA have taken any real chances with the world’s most famous football game, other than increasing the number on the box. FIFA’s presentation is excellent, albeit very similar to last year, though they’ve certainly made the gameplay slower. Both players and passing seem to lack a bit of velocity compared to previous iterations. Last year, at least for me, crossing was king, and anyone unfortunate enough to play against me faced nearly 90 minutes of crosses to the back post. Through balls have been improved to make them far more useful this year. Almost any player can send a slick pass along the ground that will slice the defence wide open, in fact they are so effective I’d be expecting a nerf in the near future. First touches have been tweaked to allow for a number of new flicks to give you a quick advantage. ‘Timed Finishing’ adds some complexity to shooting. Press the shoot button, then as your player makes connection with the ball, hit it again for an added power boost, however mistime it and you’ll be breaking the nose of a spectator in row Z.
There are also some arcade style additions to the offline free play, with game modes like ‘survival’, where each goal you score removes a player from your team, and more self explanatory modes like ‘headers and volleys’ and ‘no rules’. You can now also play any cup final from the Kick-Off menu, which will make having your mates over to play feel that little bit more prestigious. These provide a more varied experience than ever, though limiting them to offline play seems like a very odd decision.
The big addition to this edition of FIFA is the return of the UEFA competitions, the Champions League and Europa League, after a decade’s absence from the series. EA have gone to great lengths to do the biggest club competition in the world justice. Derek Rae and Lee Dixon are a new commentary duo specifically for the European competitions and the in-game graphics reflect what you’d see on a Tuesday and Wednesday night on TV. Unfortunately FIFA’s commentary generally struggles when compared to the likes of the NBA 2K games, and you will hear repeated lines often – so much so that I expect to be muting them entirely sooner rather than later.
“Mistime a shot and you’ll be breaking the nose of a spectator in row Z.”
Over the years, I’ve spent the majority of my time playing Career Mode, building European footballing dynasties. Disappointingly, Career Mode is completely unchanged from last year, except for the Champions League and Europa League replacing their knock-off EA counterparts. It’s still a fun experience, but they could have at least added a few more character options for your manager, or some more character models for player agents, so it doesn’t look like every player in the world is represented by one of 6 people.
This means I may commit more time to Ultimate Team this year. However, it too remains unchanged from last year, with the exception of some new additions to its retired ‘Icon’ players, now including Roy Keane, Paul Scholes, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, to name a few. Squad Battles, where you play another user’s squad controlled by AI, give even average players like myself a decent way to make coins and receive packs on a weekly basis. In reality though, Ultimate Team still exists solely to goad players into gambling their real world money with FIFA Points. With the recent reveal that the odds of receiving the best rare cards in packs are about 4.6%, I wouldn’t hold out much hope of building a great team unless your pockets are as deep as Manchester City’s.
The Journey returns too, this time with three different characters with their own stories, which can be played separately or inter-woven into one narrative. If you’ve enjoyed the previous installments, then you’ll enjoy this too, although I wouldn’t expect there to be a single person who’s clamouring to buy FIFA solely to know the fate of Alex Hunter and friends.
FIFA 19 is more of a lateral step than a forward one. The gameplay additions are interesting, but overall the game is slower, for which it suffers. I like the new Kick-Off modes – I just wish you could play them online. Ultimate Team will as always hoover up user money and leave them craving catharsis. It’s great to have the Champions League back and I am a sucker for that anthem, but I don’t think they’ve made the most of the licence yet.
Overall FIFA 19 is a decent installment, though if they take a few more sideways steps, EA may find itself off the pitch entirely.
