The most recent update is already getting us excited ahead of the release of FIFA 20. New game modes and significant updates to gameplay are certainly reasons to be positive.
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FIFA 20 Release Date
EA Sports FIFA 20 is set to be released on 27th September 2019. If you want to get your hands on it as soon as it’s released, but can’t be bothered to head to the store at midnight, pre-order your copy using the links above.
As you would expect, FIFA 20 is set to be released on all major platforms – PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC. Our previous blog discusses the likelihood of us seeing FIFA 20 on Google Stadia.
Career Mode
At this time, little is known about what is planned for career mode in FIFA 20. The cynics think it will be scrapped, the more optimistic players are expecting a radical overhaul. We’re expecting something in the middle, but we’ll have to wait and see. EA have promised an in depth update on career mode at the end of July. We’ll update the article when we know more about it. The fact that it’s been mentioned sounds promising, or are we setting ourselves up for disappointment?
VOLTA Football
Rumours had been building for a long time that EA were working on an updated version of FIFA Street. For those of you that weren’t playing FIFA between 2005-2012, FIFA Street aimed to capture the essence of street football. Small games that don’t take place on a traditional football pitch, using (and often, abusing) skill moves to outplay the opposition. Four instalments of FIFA Street were released during those years, to mixed reviews. However, the games have developed something of a cult status amongst players.
Skip forward to June 2019 and EA have just announced VOLTA (translates as ‘to return’ in Portuguese) Football. They also enlisted the help of Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund and PSG to help them promote this new game mode.
What is VOLTA Football?
EA are using the tagline “Break New Ground” to suggest something, well, groundbreaking? But isn’t it just a reworked version of FIFA Street? Well yes and no.
Yes, because it is street football at its core. Set on small arena style pitches, it is a form of football where close control and skill moves are used to outmanoeuvre opposition in close quarters.
No, because we haven’t seen a version of FIFA Street for seven years. Despite a lot of criticism (plenty of it valid), the game has moved on in that time. Yes you can say it’s taken a backward step in some areas, but the gameplay and graphics are better. Don’t forget that the FIFA Street series was released on the previous generation of consoles, PS3 and Xbox 360. The first iteration came out on Playstation 2 and the original Xbox!
Positive Signs?
Another arguable improvement is the fact that it is a game mode included with FIFA 20. You won’t have to shell out for the cost of an additional game this time. This means it’s built on the same game engine, so a lot of the gameplay (see below) will be similar. It’s really down to personal preference but the realism this time around is likely to be a big improvement. Nothing against the cartoonish avatars of Peter Crouch and Ronaldinho we saw in the previous series, but VOLTA doesn’t appear to be as much of a button basher as its predecessor.
“EA Sports volta takes football back to the streets with the authentic culture, creativity and style of the small-sided game”
EA Sports – FIFA 20 Promotional Website
VOLTA Football Game Modes
Interestingly, VOLTA will be playable across three game modes; story, online and kick off. The presence of a story mode makes it likely that VOLTA will take over from The Journey in FIFA 20. There’s been no mention of Alex Hunter or The Journey in the promotional material we’ve seen so far, so it’s safe to assume EA have moved on from that game mode. The online mode will consist of a league, where you can be promoted and relegated much like in Online Divisions. Kick off is the other mode available within VOLTA and would appear to be a standard kick off mode – but giving you the ability to put professional teams into the game mode.
If you’re a fan of professional futsal, you’ll be pleased to know that you can play to those rules in this mode. For something more casual, it’s a standard 4v4 or 5v5 mode. Want more chaos? Abandon the goalkeepers completely and play ‘rush’ in 3v3 or 4v4. Another possibility for customisation is the ability to use the walls or not, we think it’s too tempting to play the ball against the wall and skip past an opponent.
Leave the Pitch Behind
Perhaps not escaping the arcade game vibe completely, VOLTA will a number of different arenas or playgrounds set across the globe. So far we’ve seen a rooftop pitch in Tokyo, an underpass in Amsterdam and perhaps most pleasing is a London estate inspired playground cage.
Customisation
Finally we come to customisation. In 2019, with the meteoric rise of the likes of Fortnite, it’s unavoidable. So VOLTA will allow you to customise your in-game avatar with clothing, hairstyles, tattoos and celebrations. Expect everyone to say they hate it, but 100% of players will be using it. Our first thought on this subject was microtransactions. It’s a divisive subject but often acceptable when the game itself is free. Thankfully, EA have confirmed that vanity items will be unlocked via gameplay rather than a credit card.
FIFA 20 Gameplay
First of all, let’s set some expectations. This is the fourth FIFA title to use EA’s Frostbite game engine. FIFA 14, 15 and 16 were all built on IGNITE, so the switch to Frostbite 3 for FIFA 17 was a big deal. The even more obvious limitation? FIFA 20 will be released largely on consoles that are six years old. With the next generation of consoles rumoured to be released in 2020, this is likely to be the final release with PS4 and Xbox One leading the line. Until the PS5 and Xbox’s Project Scarlett are released, there’s only so much that can change year to year. It’s worth pointing out at this stage we are talking about the gameplay, at an engine level. We appreciate, and in fact agree, that EA could be doing more to improve the likes of career mode.
With that out of the way, let’s talk about the gameplay in FIFA 20. This year, they’re calling it “Football Intelligence”, a rehash of the gameplay system designed to offer more realism.
Authentic Game Flow
EA are promising an improvement to AI defending, which many players will be happy to hear. AI defenders will provide “intelligent” defensive support, working with the user-controlled player rather than against. Improved tackling is mentioned but most importantly, defensive positioning has been worked on.
Natural Player Motion is pretty self explanatory, this should add more realism and hopefully feels less like scripted animations.
Taking players on seems to be an obsession of EA’s, they can’t release a trailer without having an attacker skilfully beat a defender. Therefore it’s no surprise that Dynamic one on ones are listed as a feature, this seems to centre around the pace of a game and player spacing – intentionally leading to more dynamic take ons.
Decisive Moments
There’s a few things to unpack here, but this is all about giving the player more control at key moments during a match. Let’s start with defending again, Controlled Tackling will combine the “Active Touch System” and brand new tackle animations. The idea here is that cleaner tackles are more likely to result in you winning and keeping the ball. Sounds promising, but we’ll give you a second while you have a flashback of every perfectly timed tackle you’ve ever made where the ball bounces straight to an unmarked opponent.
The new Strafe Dribbling mechanic sounds vague when talking about agility, but we presume it’s going to offer a more realistic style of slower dribbling.
Free kicks and penalties seem to be changed each year so seeing Set Piece Refresh on the list is no surprise. We’re unclear on what exactly “deeper options” means, but pushing towards a more skill based system sounds like a good idea.
Last year’s game added timed finishing, this year it’s being called Composed Finishing. This is also promoted as an overhaul to the shooting system, a consistent mechanic that offers the ability to be clinical but also gets the risk and reward balance right.
Ball Physics System
It’s clear to see that ‘realism’ is a recurring theme in the way EA are talking about FIFA 20. Ball spin and bounce will be governed by what they’ve called Football Informed Motion. Presumably that just means someone who actually watches football? More interesting to us is the addition of New Shot Trajectories. Swerved set pieces already exist to our knowledge, but you’ll now be able to hit shots that dip or rise – as well as the notorious knuckleball. We see the chances of at least one of these being completely overpowered when the game is first released as very likely.
All in all, the changes mentioned don’t sound that different to it’s predecessors, but we’ll know more in July.
Pro Clubs
Another game mode that we’ve been promised an update on is Pro Clubs. It’s always been quite popular, if a little hamstrung by the tendency for every player to bomb forward, regardless of their assigned position. Don’t get us started on the afros. We should know more about this at the end of July.
Ultimate Team
The controversial one. There is no denying it is the absolute priority for EA, considering the player engagement and (most crucially) the additional revenue it brings. The slow crackdown on loot boxes seems unlikely to halt this juggernaut, so don’t expect it to go away. We’ll have an update for you on Utimate Team in August.