Sporf’s FIFA 22 review

It’s that time of year again where the gaming and football community are hyped for the latest instalment of FIFA – and this year is no different.

From gameplay changes to new skill moves to upgraded players and new icons, FIFA 22 has something for everyone.

Let’s start with some of the gameplay changes, something I first saw in July when I was invited to a preview event where the developers took us through each game mode.

Having played Ultimate Team from the beginning and holding on to my FUT Founder account, that was what I was most interested in combined with the gameplay.

Sam Rivera, one of EA’s Associate Producers, led the chat on gameplay and piqued my interest with the next-gen exclusive ‘HyperMotion’ technology.

This allowed EA to use a 11v11 game for the first time ever to motion capture how players moved, which in turn adds 4,000 new animations to the game.

That’s evident from the get-go with goalkeepers now able to pull off more saves compared to FIFA 21. Their rework means one-on-ones are now much harder to score and players must find more creative ways of scoring. Last year, you’d be wondering how the opposition had scored, now they’ll be asking the questions when your ‘keeper pulls off save after save from 6 yards out.

One technique that seems OP early on, as highlighted by The Fifa Analyst, is the green timed finesse shot. I’ve found it most effective from outside the area on a slight angle and, if you time it right, these seem impossible to stop.

Ways of scoring aren’t the only thing that’s changed with NextGen gameplay as the pace of the game has slowed down to a much more ‘life like’ pace.

Going off social media, Next Gen gameplay is completely different to Old Gen, which represents something similar to FIFA 21, and it will take some time to get used to but I believe it’s a very positive change.

Onto skill moves, there’s 4 new ones to master this year:

Four-touch turn (Hold L2/LT + Flick RS back + Flick RS back)

Skilled bridge (Hold L2/LT + Double Tap R1/RB)

First Time Spin (Hold L1/LB + R1+RB as ball comes towards player)

Scoop Turn Fake (Hold LS in opposite direction after doing a forward scoop turn)

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Whilst the new skill moves are nice, they aren’t as powerful as they were in FIFA 21 – something I’m delighted about. As much as I loved a La Croqueta or an Elastico, I was fed up of getting to late Sunday in Weekend League and skill moves being cancelled non-stop.

Don’t get me wrong, they can still be used but no longer to the effect of what they were whereas passing and movement seems more key this time around.

An early favourite of mine is the lofted through ball (L1/LB + Triangle/Y) to get my attackers in behind, although you will face a lot of defences that are on drop back.

The new ball motion gives them the effectiveness, as with normal through balls, whilst part of the new animation system sees changes to how players bring the ball down and adding in the small, additional touches that you see in real life.

With every new game, there will be glitches in the animation system – as seen on Twitter – but it’s expected and will no doubt be patched within the first month of the game being live.

The changes aren’t just on the pitch for gameplay this year with a more analytical approach to the post-match review. xG and heat maps are two of the new additions that stand out to me, although you will be frustrated when you’re playing Rivals and have an xG of 3.0 compared to the actual scoreline.

Graphics-wise, FIFA 22 smashes it out of the park. From the pre-game ‘movie’ as an introduction to the game to the matchday experience, it feels almost TV-like. Having recently played on every game from the original to 22, it’s amazing how far we’ve come since that very first iteration in 1993.

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Whilst I won’t get the full experience playing FUT as I skip a lot of cutscenes, kick-off and career mode users will fully benefit from some of the pre and post-match cutscenes such as the groundsperson preparing the pitch, walkout sequences and changing room scenes both before and after the games. I’ll mention career mode changes later on as there are some big ones there too.

Alex Scott becomes the 1st female voice in the history of FIFA as she joins as the pitchside reporter and is one of 2 new faces in the as Stewart Robson joins Derek Rae with all 3 benefitting from a new interruption system to react to what happens in the game

Now we move onto my favourite mode – Ultimate Team. Where do I start? Redesign of the Rivals system? Do weekend League rewards refresh? New Icons and Heroes?

All combined make for a much more interesting experience this year as the meta changes and more players have become usable. Jan Vertonghen (+17 pace) and Pepe (+14 pace) are two examples of this whilst playing full-backs at centre back won’t have the same effect it once did. 

There are four new icons to chase after (Cafu, Iker Casillas, Robin van Persie & Wayne Rooney) with a selection of Heroes being added to the game which give a strong link to players from the league that they represent. David Ginola looks to be the best early on but I can’t wait to see how Joe Cole performs in-game and try and replicate THAT Sweden goal from the 2006 World Cup.

No matter what players you have in your team, you’ll want to try out the new Rivals & Weekend League systems that have been put in place. Rivals now takes place over a season with weekly rewards on a Thursday with everyone starting out in Division 10 and the ultimate goal of reaching Division 1.

If you’re good enough, there’s a brand new Elite division that essentially sees the best of the best compete with a top 200 ranking system and the absence of relegation out of it means more competitiveness at a high level – something I’ll never have to worry about.

I’m still trying to get my head around the Rivals rewards, but something I do know is that the Weekend League rewards are much better this year.

The new system sees it more to a qualification, play-offs and then 20 games of FUT’s most competitive mode – 10 games less than FIFA 21.

In amongst that is a new points system for those 20 games with 4 points being awarded for a win and 1 point for a loss if you don’t rage quit. 

Instead of Gold 3 and Elite 1, we get a new rank system from 1-6 with different points required for each level meaning that if you lose 8 games and not want to play on, you’ll still get a player pick, 2 x Jumbo Premium Gold Packs, 1 x Prime Gold Players Pack & 5,000 coins.

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The above video from La5ty will explain it in much more detail, but I am very excited for these changes and can’t wait for Weekend League to kick off on 15th October. Did I also mention that rewards can be claimed straight away? No more waiting until Thursday!

Preview packs are back, albeit just for 7.5k packs for now but they’re well worth trying to see what you could possibly get.

I could sit and write about FUT all day but I do need to highlight some more good chances in the game in other modes.

Career Mode is another very popular mode and has undergone great changes for FIFA 22. From creating a club to take your local non-league side to the top or bringing a fictional team to life, such as Harchester United, to the cinematic scenes and the ability to come on as a substitute in a player career.

Let’s focus on that create-a-club mode for now and you can set the name, nickname, commentary name, league and then the team you’ll replace, your rival, create kits, a badge and stadium (similar to pro clubs model), set a star rating, transfer budget and board expectations – and that’s all before you get into games.

Whilst I don’t spend a lot of time in Career Mode, one person that does is Chesnoid Gaming and he’s already well on his way to the top with Chesnoid FC so go check out the video below to see all the changes in action!

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Volta has a more FIFA street vibe to it with restyled gameplay and more ‘arcade’ type games to it with dodgeball, foot tennis and disco lava featuring. This was one of the modes I had for the Beta and would highly recommend if you ever need a break from FUT.

Lastly, Pro Clubs sees a vast amount of changes to keep up with the other game modes. You’ll now be able to play drop-in games with up to 4 friends and the option to team fill as well as having greater control of player growth with different perks being able to be unlocked and used.

You’ll also have greater stadium customisation than in FIFA 21 but perhaps the biggest change of all is female virtual pros being in the game for the 1st time ever – a huge step in the right direction for the game to inspire the next generation of footballers and gamers.

To summarise, FIFA 22 feels a huge step up from FIFA 21 and a massive step forward for PS5 & Xbox Series S/X users. The new animation system, although goalkeepers need a slight nerf, combined with the gameplay and FUT changes makes it a winner for me and I can’t wait to grind throughout the year again to see where I end up.

Rating: 8/10

Credit image credit: Getty

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