this season. Playing the career mode,
we found the action surprisingly easy,
even on Legendary difficulty. In an
early match, we even managed to tool
up Liverpool 5-1 at Anfield because
the Reds couldn’t live with the pace
of Aubameyang and Nicola Pépé. Who
would have thought EA would dig a
need for speed?
Dropping the ball
Defending has also been given a bit of
a shake-up. EA calls it ‘Active Touch
Tackling’ (ugh), yet in reality it just
means that standing tackles have a
little more range to them. Players now
stick their legs out that much further,
making interceptions a bit easier.
This is countered by the fact that
applying pressure by pressing A when
defending has lost a bit of its homing
effect, with a looser, more manual
feel. Still, off-the-ball tactics continue
to feel clumsy and often flummox our
fingers. A more streamlined approach
to defending is long overdue.
As for modes, both career and
Ultimate Team have undergone some
minor changes. The former now lets
you play as a completely customisable
male or female manager, while you
can raise or lower player morale
by choosing either aggressive or
sympathetic options from a Mass
Effect-style dialogue wheel during
press conferences. It’s a fairly
cosmetic change that has no real
effect on how your season pans out.
When it comes to the life-
swallowing card collector, FUT can
still prove scarily addictive. House
Rules have finally been ported into
the mode, meaning you can play
offline games of the possession-
obsessed King Of The Hill with pals
on your couch. As moreish as putting
mishmash teams of superstars and
old-school icons together is, though,
FUT feels increasingly tone-deaf when
there are so many real-world concerns
surrounding loot boxes and gambling.
EA’s description of FUT paid-for packsas ‘surprise mechanics’ sadly makes
an excellent mode feel a bit icky.
As a series, FIFA is at a real
crossroads. There’s no denying this
is the most comprehensive football
package on the market; a bumper
celebration of the sport that tries to
cater to both hardcore obsessives and
casual Match Of The Day viewers. Yet
while FUT and career mode can easily
eat weeks of your life, the increasingly
sterile, one-note on-field action is
beginning to drag. Thank (the hand of)
god for Volta. QMAX PEN
Penalties are an utter
pain this year. Unlike
the simpler system of
its predecessor,
FIFA 20 decides to
overcomplicate its
shooty soup. To score
a pen now, you must
first point and hold a
reticule to mark
where you want the
shot to go – a finicky
system that will likely
strain your fingers as
you wrestle the shaky
marker. It’s then a
case of focusing on a
tiny golf-style swing
meter, stopping on
the central green
section, and hoping
your player doesn’t
sky their effort. As the
meter is so teeny, it’s
easy to misjudge your
pen. Row Z says hello.“More than past
entries, players
seem to be stuck
in invisible
eight-axis ruts”
ABOVE Revy and
their ultra
annoying crew
have the most
goofy grins
around.
BELOW Facing the
media in career
mode lets you
build or dampen
team morale.OXM VERDICT
A new Volta mode
lights up a bumper
footy package, but
FIFA could do with
an overhaul.7
BELOW Penalties
in FIFA 20 are
particularly
tricky. Expect a
horrible scuffed
miss or two.More Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 075