If you’re a fan of football you’ll have been following the drama over at EA with a keen eye. Football fans have had it hard over the years, with the constant battle between Pro Evolution Soccer and FIFA being nearly as contentious as the Xbox vs PlayStation debate. Pro Evolution Soccer got significantly worse over those years, and with each passing year the developers at EA took their foot off the gas a little more, with the gameplay suffering. They got complacent.
Well, it seems that the very public breakup of FIFA and EA has put a fire under them somewhat, with the first gameplay trailer dropping for the upcoming EA Sports FC 24, and oh boy, it looks better than ever.
EA Sports FC 24, not FIFA
It’ll take a lot of time to refer to EA Sports’ biggest and best franchise as anything but ‘FIFA’, but we’ll have to get used to it, as with a new name comes some new gameplay mechanics, and some genuinely innovative technology for the game.
As you can see, EA Sports seem to have finally done away with the cookie-cutter approach to the franchise, and with good reason. A large-subset of fans gravitated towards the FIFA franchise due to name recognition, and EA Sports need to ensure they don’t lose those fans.
New features and mechanics are the order of the day, the biggest of which is obviously the Hypermotion Volumetric technology they’re using to capture individual players unique mannerisms and quirks. No longer are they needing players to turn up at a mo-cap studio, meaning the players actually recreated in game was limited to the biggest names. No, with this new technology they’ve been able to take video footage of any and every footballer, and using the game’s Frostbite engine, faithfully recreate them in game. From Haaland’s robotic running style to Vinicius Jr’s quick feet, the game will be a better recreation of the individuals playing it than ever before.
Related: All EA Sports FC 24 Icons Confirmed So Far
More than just the look and feel of the players is who is actually involved. For the longest time women’s football has been treated like an afterthought in EA Sports previous endeavours. That looks to have changed, finally, with the women of the sport getting the limelight as well. Ultimate Team has been touted to include both men and women for the first time, allowing a mixed-gender team to be fielded. Want Sam Kerr to partner up with Mbappe? Go right ahead.
Not only present in Ultimate Team, but a major component of the game will be featuring the women’s leagues, with major women’s football leagues from Spain, Germany, the UK and the Women’s Champions League all present and playable! It’s about time.
EA Sports FC 24 also looks to introduce two new concepts in ‘Play Styles’ and ‘Evolutions’. Play Styles will be a direct grouping of the players, as such, with every player in the game being one of thirty-four different Play Styles, from speed-dribbler, blocking power shots and more. This may not sound impressive, but it’ll add yet another dynamic to the game. Want an entire team of Hazard like dribblers? They’ll all end up getting crunched constantly and therefore injured, but a team of twinkle-toes is going to be fun to watch.
Evolutions is a mechanic specifically for Ultimate Team, where you’ll be able to evolve the cards you’ve got in a Pokemonesque style of improving the stats of the cards you own. No more being stuck with an 88-rated Haaland all season. Not the hardest sacrifice to make anyway.
In the world of football you’ll struggle to find a more contentious and well-hated governing body than FIFA, which no doubt factored into EA Sports deciding to split with them. If the rumours are to be believed, FIFA asked for more than double their usual $150million fee for licensing their name out, which according to the CEO of EA Sports at the time of the public split, was “nothing more than four letters on a box”, and with EA Sports FC 24 retaining all player likenesses, leagues and more besides, it’s hard to argue against that.
Buying FIFA annually was always a difficult choice. Spend your hard-earned money on a game you’ve already got essentially, just with a new coat of paint? If not, then your friends will create a club and leave you behind. Most ending up capitulating to the peer pressure. This time round however, with the new features, the increased focus on realism and no more FIFA-branding, the game looks more immersive than ever before and yet so incredibly different to what we’ve come to know, it’d be surprising if we don’t see record-breaking sales of this year’s football arcade/simulation experience. FIFA who?
What do you think? Are you going to be buying EA Sports FC 24? Let us know in the comments!
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