Nextgen made it to PC.
FIFA 23 is out. EA Sports has improved HyperMotion technology and released the long-awaited crossplay between consoles and PC. We have played a new part of the main football simulator and share our impressions with you.
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The gameplay is the same, but the live stadium and new animations decide
Surprising fact: the gameplay of FIFA 23 has not changed much, but a lot of small details have completely changed the feel of the gameplay. HyperMotion 2 is the highlight of the new PC version. The players received more than 6 thousand animations, and the graphics stepped into the era of new generation consoles. Running the game on ancient hardware will not be easy.
A clear picture immediately catches the eye. Many soapy angles are gone, and every blade of grass is visible on the lawn. Football players have become much more realistic. The new hair shaders lowered the fps a lot, but made the facial hair very natural.
EA has improved various aspects of the gameplay. The players perfectly control the ball, make incredibly beautiful tackles, and the grass sags and keeps traces until the end of the match. Different types of accelerations have appeared, but their influence is not yet clear. Sometimes slow attackers will accelerate and run away from the defenders, but the runners remained cheating. Each goal is accompanied by a 3D animation of the grid, which looks like a real one. The replays are embellished with augmented reality elements – xG and impact distance.
The standards have changed. During penalty kicks, you need to hit a narrowing circle, and free kicks and corners have become more dangerous due to the choice of the point of impact on the ball. The new meta is the Swede with a reverse twist.
The cannon strike advertised in the announcements at first looks like a one-time entertainment. It requires space and a few seconds of preparation, which rarely occur in competitive modes. And five substitutions appeared in the game. The innovation increased the dynamics — the final thirds of the matches became richer.
The new teamwork turned the game upside down. The old FUT modes were not touched
EA has done minimal work with FUT. The updated divisions and the two-stage Weekend League took root well, so they were not changed. The main changes affected teamwork and game positions. The old lineup assembly logic no longer works.
More partners are needed for perfect communication in FIFA 23, but now they can be positioned all over the field. Players with similar clubs, leagues and nationalities will be eligible. The maximum speed bonus from chemistry has been reduced to +8, and offline hyperlinking requires three teammates. Players without teamwork are marked with an exclamation point. They do not lose stats, but do not give bonus points to other players. If you do not understand anything, collect one league — this method still works.
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The Ultimate Team cards now have alternate positions. They match the playing styles of real football players and are switched using a universal consumable. Some slow cards found themselves in the center, but the system does not work perfectly. For example, the well-known all-rounder Oscar De Marcos, who in recent years played right-back, received only a standard lateral as an alternative. But most of the stars are transferred correctly.
Unpleasantly surprised by the prices of some players. Fixed ranges are bewildering: some unplayable players like Ruben Dias are incredibly expensive, but good cards are also often overpriced. If EA doesn’t intervene on release, fifers are waiting for a showdown in the transfer market.
There are a lot of mistakes in starting IPCs. EA removed player loyalty, which gave an extra chemistry score, but did not take this detail into account in some builds. For example, the fourth SBC of the Around the World hybrid requires two chemistry points for each player at the same time and 24 total. SBCs still cannot be built either in the web application or in the PC client. Users say that this assembly has already been fixed on consoles.
Position changes also have complaints: they do not work passively and do not fit well into drafts. It seems that both systems will be finalized, but they have the right backlog. The absurdities with rigid ligaments and crooked rearrangements are terribly tired.
«Moments» — a new single top mode. After him, I no longer want to go to Squad Battles
Moments is the new single player mode in FUT 23. It features dozens of anti-AI scenarios to complete within a given time limit. For example, a quest chain for Kylian Mbappe, the face of FIFA 23, is available at the start. The striker will be issued in advance, and the contracts of your players in Moments will be saved. Mabppe’s scenarios will require PSG players and the French to complete.
Usually tasks require effective actions, but there are exceptions. The first goals are monotonous and more suitable for FUT beginners, but to complete complex scenarios, you will have to calculate timings and learn specific tricks. Not even all experienced players will pass them.
FUT Stars are awarded for completing Scenarios. The reward will be higher if you choose the increased difficulty of the enemy. In the rewards menu, stars are exchanged for sets of players and items. Most packs are for sale.
The regime has huge potential. Any scenario is possible: rebuilding the careers of great football players, iconic World Cup moments, challenging puzzles with a minimum amount of time. «Moments» are much more interesting than insipid matches in Squad Battles.
Real managers and «Richmond» from the series «Ted Lasso» were added to the coach’s career. Players have character
Hundreds of real coaches were brought into the career. All 20 managers are available in the Premier League: from Pep Guardiola to Frank Lampard, but there are also drawdowns — the Bundesliga and Ligue 1 have received only one coach so far. Even Stanislav Cherchesov got here! It looks like EA is getting serious about licenses and plans to expand the selection of coaches as much as possible in the future.
An unexpected gift for fans of the series «Ted Lasso» was the appearance in FIFA 23 of the football club «Richmond». He went to the rest of the world and is available for quick matches, but is best suited for a real career — with Ted Lasso as head coach and future stars Jamie Tartt and Sam Obisanya. A total of 10 characters from the series are available.
Simulation control is the main gameplay innovation of the career. The system is reminiscent of the «Moments» mode: the game throws you into the key episodes of the match, in which you decide the outcome of the meeting. You can leave only attacking situations and save a little more time. A new transfer analyst will help beginners with trades, but experienced fifers will find it useless.
Even better pumped career for the player. The endless ordeals against bots are now diluted with a deep personalization of the football player. The decisions made affect the character of the player. For each action, individuality points are accumulated, which are distributed among three archetypes («Rod», «Single» and «Maestro») and form the personality of a football player. The game also offers purchases of various services and investments.
In addition to the character, many realistic inserts appeared in the career with episodes of training and communication with the press. Customization has extended to real trainers. Both careers are moving in a casual direction and are designed to appeal to newcomers, but still lack deep mechanics. Well, at least thank you for Richmond!
Seasons of Volta and Pro Clubs have been merged. Added women’s clubs and a new anti-cheat
Clubs of the pros and Volta were deprived of serious improvements. Street football has got the “Flight” ability, which temporarily improves heading. Pro Clubs has added a training mode to hone your skills. In it, you can additionally upgrade your character, but there is a limit — 2 thousand experience points per week. Kick-off matches now last only 4 minutes, and in case of a draw, the outcome of the match is determined by extra time with the golden goal rule.
Pro Clubs and Volta received a single seasonal progression, avatar transfer and shop. A shared ecosystem is a good idea for co-op, but in FIFA 23 it was made for show. EA has once again left the modes without awards for Ultimate Team, so only die-hard fans will play them.
Women’s clubs are a nice new addition to FIFA 23. The leagues of England and France have appeared in the game — Barclays WSL and D1 Arkema, which are available in a single tournament format. The main star of women’s football, Alexia Putellas, has overtaken Messi in absentia in the rating (92nd vs. 91st), but so far only available as part of the Spanish national team.
It’s fun to play women’s teams. EA Sports has taken advantage of HyperMotion 2 technology and recorded even more unique animations, such as the very fast footsteps of soccer players while running. Try at least a quick match!
Fresh anti-cheat deserves special attention. He made me suffer when launching through Origin, but did the main thing — he ensured adequate cross-play work. EA has finally solved the problem of online drafting. Cheaters farmed coins with the help of bots, so the mode almost always crashed after the first game. I played several matches and did not notice this problem. Looks like the draft on PC has been fixed!
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Should I look for workarounds to play FIFA 23? Yes, on PC the differences are too obvious. A new lineup build, a host of gameplay improvements, and the Richmond Career are well worth checking out.
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