14 DAY TRIAL // 
2020 ended up becoming one of the most horrible years in many decades, and after giving us no other option than to stay away from each other for obvious reasons, it also forced authorities across the world to cancel some of the most highly anticipated events.
Including the UEFA Euro 2020, that is, as the football (or soccer, as Americans call it) tournament ended up being pushed back for one year simply because it was too risky to bring all the players together at a time when the world had to embrace the concept of social distancing.
While from a health perspective 2021 isn’t much different, when it comes to sports in general and football in particular, this year brought quite a lot of good news. In addition to the 2020 summer Olympics, which also took place this year, Euro 2020 finally happened in the summer, with Italy once again winning the tournament after beating England 3-2 in a penalty shootout.
And there’s more good news for football fans. FIFA, the most popular football game on the planet, is back, this time with a lot more good news as compared to its predecessor.
EA has decided to finally step away from Frostbite, the engine it has used beginning with FIFA 17, and make the switch to what’s being called Hypermotion Technology. Used exclusively on new-gen consoles, like the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X|S, the new gameplay engine is supposed to be mind-blowing.
But is it really? Let’s find out together.
First and foremost, let’s start with the essentials before moving on to the gameplay experience. In addition to the well-known career and the Ultimate Team mode that everybody’s playing, there’s more good news for those who aren’t entirely new to FIFA.
Volta, a mode that made its debut back in FIFA 20, is back in this new release, obviously with lots of improvements. Still letting you enjoy the magic of street football, Volta now comes with a so-called Skill Meter that lets you do get all kinds of gimmicks by simply performing skill moves or completing different challenges during a game. So for example, one of your goals could end up being worth two goals if your Skill Meter is high enough.
Volta also comes with Signature Abilities, which is essentially a custom skill of a specific player that allows it to excel in a certain regard. It comes with a cooldown, and this makes perfect sense because otherwise, you could end up scoring goal after goal.
The Ultimate Team is the one that everybody is playing, so worry not, the struggle to make as many coins as possible is still there.
FIFA 22 is still in its early days, so the transfer market isn’t necessarily the right place to look for players. If you want to buy a star like Mbappe, for instance, be ready to spend a small fortune, but this isn’t necessarily much different from less known players, as people around the world are still setting really high prices even for bronze players.
And just like before, the moment a new SBC is released, the price of players that could help complete it skyrockets, and obviously, EA has no reason to regulate this. But on the other hand, it makes it harder for those who don’t want to spend real money to complete SBCs, especially as even the cheapest bronze player ends up costing several thousands of coins overnight.
Anticipating what happens next and keeping plenty of players in your club seems to be the right way to go, but of course, it’s not really an option for non-pro gamers who just want to have fun.
Ultimate Team isn’t much different from FIFA 21. In my case, all the packs that I opened brought disappointing players, and just like in the previous FIFA, I really can’t understand how some people out there end up getting Messi, Mbappe, or super-rare gold players that cost a fortune in the first place.
The best I got was Toni Kroos, which in FIFA 22 is 88 rated and at the time of writing this article costs close to 12,000 coins. But of course, I got the untradeable card, so there’s not much I can do with Kroos anyway, especially since I started playing with an England squad.
High chemistry is once again the secret of a strong squad, so just make sure you don’t end up building your team using players from multiple leagues and countries across the world. This isn’t much different from FIFA 21, so if you’ve played FUT before, you should know exactly what you need to do.
Now let’s talk gameplay.
If you’re wondering if the new Hypermotion engine is worth it, this depends on your expectations from FIFA 22. Indeed, everything feels smoother and the graphics on PlayStation 5 are impressive, to say the least, but on the other hand, I’m seeing lots of pro players who just want to stick with the old-gen version on PlayStation 5 because the game is too slow.
Indeed, FIFA 22 does feel slower than its predecessors, but on the other hand, it’s no longer as arcade-ish as before. And this is where Hypermotion seems to do its magic, as the players feel more natural on the pitch and keeping an eye on the ball is much easier. And thanks to the substantially improved graphics, you can totally enjoy a skill move or a well-placed shot even during the game, not necessarily when watching the replay.
But on the other hand, FIFA 22 isn’t by any means different from the previous titles in the franchise when it comes to bugs. And these make everything incredibly frustrating even for a casual player.
If you’ve already played the game you probably know what I’m referring to. It’s incredibly easy to score with a long-range finesse shot, no matter the rating of the player you’re using for the whole thing, and quite a lot of gamers playing Rivals are just abusing the hell out of this problem. It’s frustratingly easy to get three, four, five, or even more goals from someone who clearly isn’t a professional player, simply because the moment they get close to the box, they just take a finesse shot and that’s it.
Then, when you go one-on-one with the keeper in a game of FIFA 22, there’s a 99 percent chance it’s a miss. Unless you use a highly rated player, that is, and of course, unless you use a finesse shot. Goalkeepers are amazingly efficient when it comes to protecting the net in one-on-one situations, and unless you master the finishing skills, it’s really easy to waste another chance.
Another thing that I noticed is that the morale impact when you’re getting a lot of goals is much more substantial in FIFA 22. If your opponent ends up scoring 3 goals, your players would no longer be capable even to do some simple passes, let alone any skills or scoring a goal themselves. So once you receive 3 goals, there’s a chance you end up getting another 5 or more just because your squad is so upset with what’s happening on the pitch.
Of course, this makes perfect sense at some level, but you wouldn’t necessarily expect the overall impact of the morale to be so huge on players like Messi and Neymar anyway.
Other than that, FIFA 22 is pure FIFA in all regards. It’s buggy, entertaining, frustrating when you’re losing game after game, enjoyable when you promote to a higher league, and incredibly challenging if you’re playing FUT and what to build a better squad.
Want a little advice? Since the game is in its early days, just play as many squad battles as possible, especially against the teams of the week, do the SBCs, and keep going for Rivals, even if you’re losing a lot. This is the only way to complete more objectives and to eventually get more coins to help you progress in the game.
The Good
- Hypermotion engine totally worth it
- Welcome Volta improvements
- Gameplay feels more natural
- Arcade-ish moves are gone
The Bad
- Too many bugs
- Updates still prioritizing PC
- No regulations on player prices
Conclusion
EA clearly has a lot of things to polish in FIFA 22, and the first update that is already live on PC is the living proof the company is very committed to doing this in the short term.
But as I said earlier, FIFA 22 is based on the same mix of good things and bad things as its predecessor, and the number of bugs currently available in the game just ruins the experience for many of us. It’s unacceptable to ignore the long-range finesse shot bug for so long, letting those who abuse it easily progress in the game at a time when we’re still in its early days, and doing this is incredibly important.
In the coming months, however, I expect FIFA 22 to become a lot more polished, as the same thing pretty much happened in the case of the previous titles in the franchise anyway. Fingers crossed, however, for FIFA 22 to end up putting the focus on skills rather than on how well you manage to exploit a bug.
Review code provided by the publisher.
