FIFA 23 review – the final whistle blows for EA

metro.co.uk:

Will EA’s final FIFA game go out with a bang or a whimper? GameCentral gives its initial verdict on the last ever FIFA game from EA Sports.

The first FIFA game was released in 1993 for the Mega Drive, way back when the Premier League was a mere infant. 30 years later, the partnership between EA and FIFA is drawing to a close and any future FIFA-adjacent games will take a very different shape. In terms of EA’s future, it’s working on EA Sports FC for next year and in light of this final entry it seems it may be saving its best tricks for its own new IP.

EA announced many changes to this year’s instalment of FIFA and has delivered exactly what was promised, but nothing in excess of that. The end result feels limiting and a disappointment, mostly because the same frustrations that have always existed in the franchise are still as strikingly annoying as they’ve always been.

Following our first impressions, we’ve now racked up over 20 hours with the game and are ready to give it a full review. Although, as always with FIFA, there are likely to be major changes in the months ahead, as new updates are released – although perhaps not necessarily as many as usual, given the changes coming next year.

We initially spent some frustrating hours managing a League Two team, which was where our first encounter with a lot of the new mechanics took place. The new sprint feature, AcceleRATE, gives a more believable adjustment to sprinting and pace. Players are sorted into one of three archetypes: explosive, lengthy, or controlled.

Explosive players are quick off the mark and can gain pace almost immediately, whereas lengthy players take time to accelerate but reach impressive top speeds. Controlled players are a healthy balance between the two.