Jude Bellingham gets on the ball in the middle of the park. Ahead of him, Allan Saint-Maximin makes a run inside. One pinpoint pass later, Maxi has the ball beyond the defender and whipped into the box. Ihlas Bebou rises, but his glancing header goes just wide. The names change, but the game stays the same. This is FIFA, just as it always has been - except this year, FIFA 22 is a little different.

At least, the next-gen version is. HyperMotion isn’t quite the game changer youꩲ might 𓆏think it is - for the first three or four matches, I didn’t even notice it was there. The new tech comes courtesy of 11 v 11 motion captured matches, with the aim of simulating more realistic movement for the AI, both on your team and on the opposition. It takes a while for you to see it, which I fear means many casual players (FIFA’s main audience) won’t notice it at all. Once you do though, it becomes clear that FIFA 22꧅ is a sizable step up.

Related: Allan Saint-Maximin's FIFA 22 Downgrade Is A Sad Reminder Of Life As A Newcastle Fan

Players n✨o longer just run forward. Some weave inside, others get chalk on their boots. Rather than race into the box, some linger on the edge deliberately, a la Lampard or Fernandes. When defending, centre backs are more likely t🌳o screen runners. Full backs know when to get tight and when to drop off. Twice, when breaking away in the middle of the park, an AI defender tripped me on purpose.

As frustrating as that is as a player in the moment, as a reviewer (and as a player thinking about the big picture of FIFA’s evolution) it’s incredibly impressive. The art of the foul is a major part of the modern game - just look at 168澳洲幸༺运ꦫ5开奖网:Chiellini on Saka in the Euro 2020 final.

HyperMotion is the big talking point, and it does offer a significant change. As for the rest of the game - on the pitch at least - it’s FIFA. There’s running, kicking, passing, shooting, and scoring; or 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:as Alex Scott might say, runnin’, 🅷kickin’, passin’, shootin’, and scorin’. Keepers still aren’t great at times. It’s worth mentioning hair tech too - it probably won’t be talked about much, but ♒the level of detail offered to the game’s superstars (see Jadon Sancho below) is incredible.

It feels somehow wrong to spend much time talking about non-pitch elements of FIFA, especially after reviewing NBA 2K22 ꧂and complaining at all the ways it fights against being a basketball game. FIFA 22 has no such problems - it fully embraces the sport it aims to simulate. Still, th🌺e changes around the act𝔍ual football are many, but minor.

Menus have had a complete overhaul on the home screen, now much cleaner but as a result, finding what you want takes a little longer. In place of readily viewable game modes are 3D models of Heung-min Son and David Alaba - you’re🀅 welcome, I guess. We also get more info on stats after the game.

I’m in the minority of FIFA players, in that I think Career Mode is what FIFA is all about. In some ways, it hasn’t changed. Deadline Day still feels like a waste. The menus, scouting, and messaging is t🅺he same. Transfers are negotiated in the same way. The manager avatars are identical. Press conferences are still there.

However, create-a-club is a substantial𝓡 new Career addition that I’ll write about in more depth later this week. You cho꧒ose your league, star level, team to replace, squad age, and all the customisation like kits, badges, and stadium. You then get randomly generated fake players who combine to match your star rating and age parameters - once the season starts, you can sign real players, which is how Bellingham, Saint-Maximin, and Bebou came to join TheGamer FC. No spaces.

Ultimate Team, the mode the majority plays, is mostly unchanged, but that’s hardly surprising given its popularity. After spending the 5,000 FIFA points I got with the Ultimate Edition, Jan Oblak and Lucas Hernandez were my only ‘great’ players, aside from loanees. You need to be in it for the long haul, or pump in real money. As for the preview packs, considering you can still open an unseen pack alongside the preview, it’ll just make people check if the preview one is good, then gamble on the unseen one if it's not. Online Mode is also unchanged, but then there were no major issues with it in the first place.

Volta this year is&hellip😼; look, does anyone care? I know it’s just press, influencers, and early acces🌸s players with the game right now, but I tried three times and couldn’t find a single Volta Battle. Volta Arcade, which has some decent mini games, has also needed at least one CPU player each time. The offline mode feels pointless. It uses too much of the core FIFA engine, which isn’t quite built for the Pure Tekkerz Volta needs.

Last year, rewards for playing Volta included Dua Lipa. This year, it’s patterned compression pants. I suspect Volta could work, perhaps as a stand🧸-al🌌one double-A release, but it’s out of place here.

FIFA 22 is just like any other FIFA game. It’s a very, very good football game, and with NBA 2K taking its eyes off the prize in favour of the State Farm drip, it’s left with a tap-in to be 2021’s b🅘est sports sim. HyperMotion makes a difference, create-a-club adds some personality, and everything else is the same. What more were you expecting?

Score 4/5. An Xbox Series X/S code was provided by the publisher

Next: 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Using PSG In FIFA 22 Is Cheating