FIFA 23 Brings A Whole Lot New While Refining The Old

Whenever we hear EA Sports, the first game that comes to most minds is the beloved FIFA franchise, and for the last 29 years, Electronic Arts has been launching a football game every year under the FIFA branding.

However, not anymore. Starting in 2023, EA would no longer have the rights to add FIFA to its football games and it would only be called EA Sports FC.

So when EA asked me to try out the last FIFA game (so to speak) I was quite excited to try what EA has to offer, and boy, was I surprised. Here¡¯s how FIFA 23 brought the new while refining the old.

Introduction of Women¡¯s Club Football

It took 29 years, but EA finally made it happen -- it brought the ability to play as women¡¯s club teams with Barclays Women¡¯s Super League and Division 1 Arkema, as well as UEFA Women¡¯s Champions League Knockout Stage scheduled to come out sometime early next year.

EA

Women¡¯s Clubs included in the game include Juventus Women, Real Madrid Femenino, Chelsea Women, Manchester City Women, Olympique Lyonnais F¨¦minin, Paris Saint-Germain F¨¦minine and many others.

Better, more intuitive mechanics

One of the biggest upgrades that I felt with this iteration of FIFA is with the mechanics of the game -- the core elements of the gameplay have been reworked, making tasks like dribbling, passing and shooting feel a lot more in control.

It does take a few matches to understand these changes and use them to your advantage, but when it does, it offers a gaming experience that¡¯s just so satisfying.

What¡¯s cooler is that this is clubbed with a new set of unique animations that EA has recorded and learnt from actual football matches, offering a never-before level of authenticity.

Hypermotion 2

FIFA 22 was revolutionary in the way the game looked and felt, animation-wise, with every fast-paced move looking as organic as the real deal. And with FIFA 23, EA has taken this to a whole new level.

The Hypermotion 2 is based on data from two new full-match motion capture shoots as well as five training drills with professional teams.

EA

This also includes the first-ever mocap of a women¡¯s match, resulting in stellar quality, life-like animations.

To make the imagery a lot more realistic, advanced ML algorithms are at play, learning from a cumulative 9.2 million frames of advanced match capture and creating new animation in real time.

Crossplay is finally here

This has to be one of the most-awaited inclusions to ever come to FIFA -- users can play cross-platform, meaning, PlayStation players won¡¯t be stuck with playing with only PS players, they can now play with Xbox or even PC players.

Crossplay is available for players on the same platform generation -- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Stadia, and PC versions of FIFA 23 will be cross-play compatible with each other. Previous gen players on Xbox One and PS4 will get to play with each other.

Crossplay is being made available in FUT Division Rivals, FUT Champions, FUT Ultimate Online Draft, FUT Online Friendlies, FUT Play as a friend, Online friendlies, Online Seasons and Virtual Bundesliga.

Upgrades to Career mode

While Career mode is mostly unchanged, there have been some strange inclusions -- you have the ability to pick a real-life manager or even Ted Lasso from the popular AppleTV+ series to lead the team to victory. You also have the option to play as AFC Richmond, which will only really matter to you if you¡¯re a fan of the show.

What does make a difference this year is the new Play Highlights feature. The game allows you to enter a particularly tense juncture in a game, apart from the conventional play, simulate or the ability to enter or exit a particular match.

What does suck, however, is that it doesn't allow players to make substitutions, and players are locked to the number of tries the computer creates for you. Regardless, it can be a neat feature if you want to quickly clear through the season calendar.

EA

Should you buy FIFA 23?

EA¡¯s FIFA 23 brings noteworthy refinements to the beloved franchise alongside some nifty cool features to make it feel fresh, more intuitive and organic.

While it¡¯ll suck to say the long EA Sports FC, while referring to the game title next year, FIFA 23 is the perfect closing, marking the end of the most iconic collaboration in the history of sports video gaming and it only excites me about how it would evolve further next year.

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