FIFA 23: Hands-On Preview
FIFA is back for another year, but jokes about the remarkable inevitability of gaming’s football simulation behemoth should be uttered in hushed tones. Not because EA doesn’t deserve flak for its piecemeal iteration, but because FIFA 23 will be the series’ last hurrah ahead of a shock branding change to EA Sports FC in 2023.
The death of such a historic licensing deal creates a sombre atmosphere around this year’s game, but EA is determined to make the end of an era feel jubilant. With expanded crossplay, the addition of women’s club football and two FIFA World Cups in its release window, FIFA 23 plans to go out with a bang. Having spent a whole weekend with an in-progress build of the game, the revised take on gameplay feels appropriately theatrical.
FIFA 23’s most noticeable gameplay change arrives thanks to the addition of power shots, a new way to strike the ball achieved by holding both bumpers and pressing the shoot button. Like a Final Fantasy limit break, the camera swells on the player you’re controlling as they gear up and wallop the ball in an attempt to K.O. the keeper. The trade-off is that the slow wind-up leaves you wide open to be dispossessed, and it’s easy to muck up. This system (which wouldn’t look out of place in Mario Strikers) disrupts the defensive play that plagues FIFA 22, where penalty boxes tend to become impenetrable sardine tins full of defenders, ready to poo-poo all of your most exciting opportunities.
Granted, I was playing offline, but Power Shots definitely allowed for more creative shooting opportunities, both in the air and on the ground. They feel so rewarding to pull off that it can become distracting as you try to perfect your analogue stick accuracy to bang composed volleys into the
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