Despite the downsides of EA losing its FIFA partnership, EA Sports FC is now on the horizon with fans holding the expectation of an advanced football experience. With talks of new partnership deals with the English Premier League and current clubs confirmed to be maintained in the upcoming title, it stands as a fresh start for developers with the potential to push the game's capabilities beyond previous titles.
Considering the gradual evolution of the FIFA franchise over the years especially with the introduction of the "Frostbite Engine" starting from FIFA 17, it could very well turn out to be the same this time around with a plethora of changes to players' gameplay experience both on and off the field.
5 Player Controlled Expressions
As the player career mode has been available over a large majority of FIFA titles, there have been little to no changes to the way fans' created players are able to react on the pitch. By pressing the directional buttons on the gamepad used, there are four different reactions and expressions that are shown to add another layer of immersion during matches. This ranges from complaints of not receiving a pass properly, an expression of frustration, a mini dance as a celebration, or a quick thumbs up to teammates.
While this is very much a nice touch to gameplay, the issue lies in the non-existent impact it has on AI or the lack of variety in reactions, leading them to become repetitive very quickly. Not only should the amount of expressions players showcase be increased and varied, but developers should also integrate a system for both standard AI and created players to react to one another in a much more realistic manner, which in turn could affect the team dynamic and morale either positively or negatively.
4 Balanced AI/Manageable Difficulty
One of FIFA 23's main issues is the unrealistic nature of the AI in terms of the level of difficulty. Once players are skilled enough to play at higher difficulties such as Legendary or Ultimate, which is exclusive to career mode, almost every team they come across plays at a high intensity despite their players' low ratings and rankings. Regardless of how many goals players are up by against the AI, their desire and urgency to play fast and dangerous football with an eye for goal never fades, which breaks immersion instantaneously.
Rather than matches ending with a combined two or three goals, they will more than often end in outrageous amounts against lower-level teams. With EA Sports FC, developers must ensure that the higher difficulty levels are still reflective of teams' quality levels, while still maintaining a slight level of challenge against all opponents without incredibly tough bouts applying to all.
3 Variety Within Match Cutscenes
While implementations of different cutscenes have been prevalent in the FIFA franchise over the years, it appears as though ones that were already present were either replaced with improved and reimagined ones or removed from the games completely. While this would certainly not be an issue generally, it is with recent titles most especially FIFA 23, as cutscenes after fouls, free kicks, corners, or manager reactions are almost exactly the same every match.
This is another immersion breaker, especially for players that focus on offline modes such as career mode or kick-off, and despite it being nearly impossible to make sure every single cutscene is different and unique, developers for EA Sports FC must include a greater variety than what is currently present.
2 More Communication Between Players
Aside from half-time or full-time, and celebration cutscenes, there is a very limited level of interaction in FIFA games. This is not reflective of real football, especially among captains and defenders, who are almost constantly shouting instructions to players and communicating with them. Given the heavy focus on gameplay mechanics in terms of player movements, passing, shooting, and all of the other main aspects of the game, players off the ball can often appear robotic and lack any form of unique pattern or gestures.
This goes matches up with the aforementioned lack of player expressions or reactions, as this should all play a vital part in gameplay. Based on team morale and how players are feeling individually, implementing a feature that reflects their attitudes on the pitch would be highly beneficial to EA Sports FC's success and realism.
1 Team Talk In Dressing Rooms
Much like another popular simulation football game, Football Manager's team talks before matches, at half-time and full-time, which can very well be implemented in EA Sports FC for an entirely new experience. Regardless of whether this is in career mode or kick-off, the inclusion of a feature as such will push the new title further beyond every other FIFA title.
This would ultimately make team morale, player relationships, and transfer activity far more meaningful and impactful, as mistreating certain players during team talks could turn out to be more consequential or beneficial depending on the circumstances.
EA Sports FC is set to release in 2023.