FIFA 22: 33 things that make a difference

It’s that time of year when the days start to get shorter, the football season has started, and inevitably EA Sports launches a new FIFA. But what’s new in FIFA 22? And more importantly, what will really make a difference? Here’s everything we think is worth keeping in mind:

How to play

1. Hypermotion – This year’s buzzword is Hypermotion; new technology that is being implemented in the PS5 and Series X / S versions of FIFA 22. This machine learning algorithm learns from capturing real 11v11 matches and then performs new animations in real time to create organic player movements, including passing, shooting, and something as simple as catching the ball.

Players take the ball in stride with ease and jerking and stuttering are kept to a minimum during sprints when trying to pick up a pass. It promises a much more fluid feel for the general game. For more details on this, check out my game preview here.

2. Rewriting the goalkeeper – Misleading goalkeeping has been a problem that has plagued FIFA recently, but a new intelligence system aims to make them much more reliable. New personality types are also being introduced to replicate the different goalie styles found all over the world, from sweepers to pure shooting plugs.

3. Explosive sprint – This new mechanic allows attackers to draw a defender close to them before accelerating with a sharp pace. It should allow for more dynamic one-on-one encounters, but hopefully it won’t be as overpowered as FIFA 21’s bridge skill skill.

4. True ball physics – Improved ball physics makes it feel more realistic than ever when sliding on a wet surface or holding onto grass while kicking a ball overhead.

5. New attack tactics – Players can finally apply different playstyles to each half of the field, which means you can press high with attackers but also keep defenders deep if you want to avoid a counterattack.

Career mode

6. Create your club – Now you can create your own football club from scratch and join the league of your choice. The customization options will be familiar to anyone who has played for professional clubs, but you can design your own uniform, crest, stadium, even the pattern of the grass on the field. You will then be able to choose the average skill and age of your players which are then randomly generated as your starting squad.

7. Sub appearances – When playing a solo player career, you can now be substituted during a match. Something that maybe should have been in FIFA a while ago, but aims to deliver the experience of being a young player with the goal of breaking into the team and impressing the coach.

8. Manager qualification – Continue to impress that manager and your manager rating will increase and be represented by a bar that fills up the more faith they have in you. However, let it slide all the way to red and you will find yourself out of alignment.

9. Match objectives – Once you enter the field, you will be given three match objectives to complete for maximum XP. These vary depending on factors, including your position on the field, the formation you’re in, and the opposition you’re playing with, and range from achieving a minimum match rating of 10 to scoring a goal outside the box.

10. Progression of new players – There is room for much more experimentation now when building your player. A revamped skill tree lets you specialize much more and put points on specific attributes.

11. Player benefits – There is also the new perk system that is set up to make tangible improvements to your player and team. Perks are unlocked as you level up, and you can equip up to three of them to bring into a match. Perks grant you additional stat boosts in addition to your own and are activated automatically when certain conditions are met. For example, once the Ranged Shooting perk is activated, it grants you the Delicate Shooting trait for a weak 5-star foot boost, while Defensive Cover increases defensive awareness, interceptions, and tackles for all of your Teammates.

12. Costume atmosphere – Cinematic sequences will not be played from the dressing room at the end of each game, reflecting ups and downs over the course of a season. Bottles of water can be thrown at the end of a landslide defeat in the derby, or champagne corks flying after a victorious cup final.

13. Alex Scott’s Comment – Alex Scott, former England international and current fantastic expert, joins the squad as FIFA’s first female member of the commentary squad. She will give you updates from across the field as other matches are played simultaneously, a role previously held by Alan McInally.

14. Dynamic types – Any player can now be proudly displayed by fans at the stadium in all his 50-foot glory. Who is shown will change depending on who are the best players in the club and who has been there the longest. Yes, that includes its own generated player.

Professional clubs

15. Come with friends – If you can’t get your entire team together for a full session, but you still want to play with some of your friends, now you can do so by grouping and participating in a few matches without affecting your club’s record. It’s not always easy to sync up to 10 more people for one night, so this is a welcome addition to Pro Clubs.

16. Player growth – Now it will be clearer than ever to see how much XP you get from each game with post-game screens that break down your performance and how close you are to reaching the next level and those all-important skill points.

17. Benefits – These will also go to the Pro Clubs. See above in the Career Mode section for information on how benefits work for your practitioner.

18. Enhanced club customization – There is now a much higher level of customization available when customizing your pro club in FIFA 22. Change everything from seat colors, goal songs, goal net shape, pitch wear, stadium banners and much, much more.

19. Players added – For the first time, virtual female professionals can now be created and played alongside their male counterparts with no additional impact on the game.

Ultimate team

20. FUT Heroes – A new type of card for cult sports characters who may not have icon status but left a huge mark on the game. These include the likes of Robbie Keane, David Ginola, Clint Dempsey, and Mario Gomez. They will provide a green chemistry link for any player in the same league as on their card.

21. Division Rivals Renewal – A structure in Divison Rivals that now unfolds over an entire season. Win matches to progress through new stages, ranks, and divisions on your way to better weekly rewards. Stay at the right level for your skill by playing matches and reaching checkpoints. You will receive rewards based on your performance both at the end of each week and at the end of each season.

22. Elite division – Above Division 1 is a new Elite Division reserved for the most skilled players. The best players in this division will have the opportunity to compete in the FIFA Global Series.

23. FUT Champions Renewal – Qualify for the FUT Champions Weekend League by playing playoff matches during the week and earning enough points. Each week’s Finals will now consist of 20 games to play over the weekend, up from 30 in recent years. A new point-based system will determine the rewards.

24. Cooperative public matching – You no longer need to pair up with a friend to play cooperatively online in FUT. Find a partner and enter the FUT Friendlies lobby to play 2v2.

Weather

25, new skill meter – To emphasize the difference between Volta and other modes, a new skill meter encourages players to play in style. Different moves are rewarded with different point values ​​and include beating players with skill moves, unhinged opponents, and passes bouncing off the wall. More consolidated points means that your next goal is worth more, from 2 to 4.

26. Signature skills – One of three signature skills can be added to your player. These work on a cooldown and can be activated with the button on the right shoulder. These abilities are titled Power Strike, Pure Pace, and Aggressive Tackle, and they apply various benefits to your character.

27. Increased skill moves – A greater number of skill moves has been added to the simple skill moves mechanic (holding the left shoulder button) to provide more variety in the game. Various standing skill moves are now also available, such as a ball stand and fake shoe tie feint.

28. New base statistics – When creating your Volta player, there are no more uphill battles to fight to prepare him for the streets. Each player starts out with an 82 overall rating and a 5-star weak foot and skill moves, so it feels great to play right away.

29. Rear arcade – This year a lot of mini-games have been added in the Virtua Tennis style. If you want a break from real soccer, try including Dodgeball, Foot Tennis, and the oddly named Disco Lava.

30. Return of seasons – A new way to play Volta that has been borrowed from FUT is Volta Seasons. Essentially a 6-week long battle pass that you can complete to earn new cosmetics.

31. Player Recruitment Eliminated – The focus is primarily on building your own character this year, so much so that, in fact, you won’t be able to recruit pro players, celebrities, or Icons for your Volta squads.

32. No history of Volta – For the first time since Volta mode was released, there will be no Volta single player story mode in FIFA 22, instead the focus has been on the multiplayer experience.

33. Two Player Celebrations – Well, this may not be something that really matters. But I think it’s nice to be able to run up to a teammate and give him a high-five after a beautiful team goal in Volta.

And that’s it! All you have to do now is wait until FIFA 22 is released and we will see the difference in the sum of all these changes.

Simon Cardy can’t wait another year to line up against Varane and Mendy. Find it on Twitter at @CardySimon.