Incredibly Boring Entry In The Franchise
I have been playing FIFA/EA FC games for almost 30 years at this point. I will always buy them, because I love soccer and am willing to overlook the glaring issues just to play a modern game with updated rosters. This is by far the blandest entry yet. Any innovation is almost impossible to notice, and in other places it seems to have taken steps backwards.
ULTIMATE TEAM: I've only played this game mode for about 5 years. I do actually enjoy it, and have a good time with building my own team and evolving players throughout the year. The problem is, like all games with MTX, it doesn't value your time at all, and everything good seems to be fully behind a paywall. It is loot box gambling, plain and simple. There is still fun to be had, but it seems increasingly difficult to build a team of actually good players. I've seen complaints about competitive modes, although I only play squad battles. And it's in this mode, along with player career, that I've noticed the biggest downgrade. I've historically played on world class difficulty. Sometimes bumping it down to professional for really difficult teams. This year, world class is broken. All the AI opponent does is play possession ball in their own third, rarely pushing further than that. Regardless of what minute the game is in or whether they are winning or losing, they play with absolutely zero urgency. I consider myself a decent player, and end most games at 40% possession if I'm lucky. It may be one thing if certain teams played this way, but it is EVERY. SINGLE. TEAM. It is not only frustrating, but it is incredibly boring. To me, that is the biggest criticism I can levy against year's entry. It is not fun. It is a slog. Add to that the amount that you need to play to build a good team, it is just desperately unenjoyable.
PLAYER CAREER: I haven't done a player career in several years, and I'm honestly questioning why I did it this time. Sometimes I just put the game on and listen to podcasts or music. It still suits me for that, but wow it is quite bad. At least to my memory, it doesn't seem to have changed at all. Your scout still bothers you with inane messages all the time. The social media and news posts on the main page rotate so quickly that you just being to ignore them. As you should, because clicking into them reveals the dumbest AI comments you have ever seen. They rarely have any connotation to the actual post. As for the gameplay, I have the same issues as ultimate team. World class isn't just difficult, but it is soul-suckingly boring. All you do is chase the ball around the middle of the field, with the opposing team turning around and passing backwards if you get within a few meters of them. I've switched to professional difficulty, for my own sanity, and now my player scores 50 a season as a CDM, along with nearly 100 assists. That's an insane gap between the two difficulty levels. Not that it matters, because every season my agent tells me the board are not happy with my season, despite completing every objective, being one of the top goal scorers/assisters, consistently having above 9.0 match rating, and being a nailed on starter. Even at an 80 rating, the agent only recommends teams in far flung corners of the globe that I have never even heard of. Apparently my selection of Portsmouth (Portsmouth!) for my career path in season 3 of my career is aiming too high. Despite being a CAM, I'm sure the next team will play a 442 and ask me to play CDM. No problem, if I knew that in advance.... but of course that's not possible. All you get to see is 3 or 4 different team philosophies with absolutely no indication of formation until you are at the stage of signing the contract.
Despite all of my hours, because I just want to play soccer, this has been a terrible experience. It is a shame that there is no viable alternative. I don't even have enough word count left to get into my myriad other issues.