EA's yearly FIFA release is often controversial. While they all sell well, some argue that the publisher hasn't changed them enough to warrant each edition's price. The graphics scarcely improve between successive releases and sometimes even the gameplay is only minorly tweaked, with the major additions to each new title being minimal at best.
The current version of FIFA 21 has not really seen drastic improvements in graphics. Although, the next-gen iteration does have some improvements over its PS4/Xbox One counterparts. While visually the latest edition hasn't changed too much, there are several new attacking mechanics that have added some much-needed variety. There has even been some quality of life improvements. But, there are still some ways in which FIFA 20 is better.
Updated August 4, 2021, by Thomas Heath: As FIFA 22 approaches, the end of the FIFA 21 game cycle is upon us. After a year of patches, content releases, and updates to the ultimate team mode, we updated this list to better reflect the current opinion of both FIFA 21, and FIFA 20. These entries reflect content seen across both game cycles and look at how each game succeeded over the other in certain areas, not limited to content releases and gameplay features.
10 FI🧔FA 20: League SBCs Were Better
For the past few itꦚerations, "League SBCs" were really useful for creating good squads, as well as an effective way to farm higher-rated cards in order to complete other SBCs. In FIFA 20, League SBCs awarded players with boosted cards based on players in every league and were updated over the year to feature players from different Promos including flashbacks and Team Of The Season.
Each team in a given league had challenges where you would give up 11 players from each team in the 🐠league in return for packs. In FIFA 21, EA opted to give out untradeable packs, with no special players being rewa⭕rded for completing them.
9 FIFA 21: Directed Pass And Go ⛦
"Directed Pass and Go" is one of the best mechanics added to FIFA 21. Mastering it will allow you to create far more scoring opportunities than before. Essentially, after passing the ball, quickly flick the right stick in the direction you want the 𒈔passer to run.
This will make you pass the ball to who you intended while the initial player who had the ball will run in the direction of your choosing. There are many ways in which this is useful; for example, as your off-the-ball player runs, the opponent's defenders will track them. This will leave a gap in their defense for you to exploit.
8 FIFA 20: Promo Events ♑
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FIFA 20 had some great Promotional events, ranging from the Headliners Promo, which saw players upgraded based on real-life performances, to the Shapeshifters event, which saw the release of player cards in unique positions such as N'Golo Kante who received a center-back card despite being a midfielder. In comparison to FIFA 21, the promo events in FIFA 20 were much better, with a greater variety of player choices and more interesting ideas being used.
Many of the reused promotionไs in FIFA 21, such as FUT Birthday, were viewed by the majority of the player base as being much weaker than in previous editions. They also seemed less focused on gameplay content with a greater emphasis being put on acquiring new players through buyable packs, rather than having the ability to earn them in-game.
7 ꧙ FIFA 21: More Ways To Score Go💜als
FIFA 20's "meta" was dreadfully dull. Low defensive depth and width made it nigh on impossible to break down opponents without passing it around their box a million times until a clear opening presented itself. For a game about the beautiful game, there were astoundingly few ways to score.
Luckily, FIFA 21 has far more options when it comes to attacking. Wide-play is back, crosses are back, and heading is back. It is genuinely refreshing💎 being able to play differently from FIFA 20. Near-post shots are also not absurdly broken either, and finesse shots remain as strong as ever. The game feels more balanced than FIFA 20, with players successfully using a wider range of tactics.
6 FIFA 20: Ico⭕n Swaps
Icon Swaps was a new feature added to FIFA 20 and it definitely was better in that game, giving players the ability to earn different icons through completing in-game challenges in both the Division Rivals and Squad Battle modes. There have been three seasons of Icon Swaps in both games, but FIFA 21 took a much d🌃ifferent approach to the idea, removing most icons from the list of choices and instead, opting to add different types of packs.
Players liked Icon Swaps because it allowed them to guarantee a specific reward,💜 whether that be a Didier Drogba or Zinedine Zidane, so the choice from EA to narrow the pool of picks in FIFA 21s Icon Swaps to a much smaller number and replacing them with randomized packs was definitely a bad idea. If the feature returns in FIFA 22, players will be hoping to see a system similar to that in FIFA 20.
5 FIFA 21: Objectives Can Be Completed In Fr🦂iendlies
A lot of the objectives released in FIFA 21 allowed players to jump into the friendly mode in order to complete them. This meant that games used to complete objectives wouldn't impact players' records and made completing objectives a lot less stressful and more enjoyable.
Division Rivals is less infuriating to play because your record, points, and ultimately rewards are no longer affected by completing objectives to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:obtain high-rated cards. It still isn't a perfect system, but moving objectives to Friendlies has been welcomed by most players, especially with the addition of modes such as Silver Stars and Managerial Masterpiece.
4 FIFA 20: Had More Li𓄧censes
FIFA 🍬has long been the more dominant franchise over Pro Evolution Soccer (PES). For many years, this has been because EA had the rights to more licenses than Konami. Thus, FIFA was able to use official team names, badges, and kits.
However, PES has slowly been acquiring more and more rights. Last year, it managed to nab Juventus which meant FIFA had to use the name "Piemonte Calcio." PES has now managed to snag even more licenses from Serie A. Italian football fans may soon look to FIFA's rival if EA is not careful.
3 💃 FIFA 21: Co-Op Ultimate Team 🏅
FIFA 21 finally 🧜saw the addition of Co-Op Ultimate Team after years of fan demand and the feature has been received greatly by the FIFA community. It is limited somewhat, with players only being able to play with their friends in a few game modes, but being able to share squads with your friends is a great addition to the game෴ and will hopefully be expanded upon in years to come.
With this new feature, you can now complete objectives with friends in the friendly mode, or head into Division Rivals and compete against other players to head up the rankings and qualify for the Weekend League. It isn't cross-platform though, which is a shame, meaning players across generations or systems are unable to play with one another.
2 FIFA 20: Slow🧸er Gameplay 🌠
FIFA 20's gameplay was slightly slower than FIFA 21's resulting in an arguably more realistic game, more akin to real football as opposed to the arcadey feel seen in other games. Of course, this comes down to personal preference but FIFA 21 has definitely received some complaints for being much faster and more pace-based than FIFA 20.
It's more noticeable when you compare it to FIFA 21, with the latest installment having a meta that revolves around 'skill spamming' as opposed to playing in the more traditional style of football seen in the actual game itself. The speed boost in particular being the target of a lot of vitriol within the FIFA community.
1 FIFA 21: Division Rivals Rewards Rebalancing 𒐪
FIFA 21 brought a lot of changes to Division Rivals, with the biggest being a weekly limit on the number of games you can play that count towarဣds reward progress. You get 30 games to accumulate as many points as possible before being unable to gain anymore. There is also an overlap between Rivals and the Weekend League, with Weekend League g🐲ames also counting towards Rivals points accumulation.
This allows skillful players to succeed over those who have more time to put into the game, and also allows players to earn rewards in both game modes without having to dedicate too much time towards playing it during the week. Some players have been opposed to the change, but it gives the majority the chance to back away from FIFA's competitive game modes and play something else.