FIFA 23 – Test, Sports

The wild 90s

When, in the winter of 1993, the first pixelated FIFA players scurried across tube TVs powered by Mega Drive consoles and a little later the 3DO version turned the graphics screw again, only a few experts guessed what a multinational -Billion-dollar brand EA’s Canada office has it in the pipeline. Incidentally, 1993 also means: Rehagel’s Werder Bremen are reigning German champions, also thanks to their outstanding playmaker Andreas Herzog. At FC Bayern, the Colombian newcomer Adolfo Valencia is hunting for goals, which we remember today mainly because of a particularly shameful Lothar Matthäus anecdote. The Italian Juve star Roberto Baggio became world soccer player – almost at the same time as FIFA International Soccer was launched – about seven months before he shot the most important penalty of his career into the sky over Pasadena and crowned Brazil world champions. Just before that, Wattenscheid and VfB Leipzig were relegated from the highest German division in men’s football. Wattenscheid 09 (today Regionalliga West) and VfB Leipzig (today as 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig in the Regionalliga Nordost)! That’s how long ago the 1993/94 season was!

Almost 30 years and 20 Bayern championships later, EA is presenting a fairly successful conclusion to its FIFA era – before the series is of course cheerfully continued next year as EA Sports FC. Let’s start with the most obvious innovation: the finally improved integration of women’s football. Regular guest Kylian Mbappé and – brand new – Australian Sam Kerr, who plays for Chelsea, look at me from the virtual cover of my Ultimate Edition. I had expected that FIFA 23 would again not have a story mode, but that even a kind of playable feel-good intro (last year with Mbappé) is missing is a pity. So Kerr and Mbappé take me by the hand and explain to me how FIFA works. Anyone who has never played EA’s virtual kick, or has not played it for a long time, can look forward to a series of explainer games with bonus tasks and a special “high-tech” camera that is enhanced with tutorial overlays.

Kerr is one of several hundred kickers who kick the ball in FIFA 23: Anyone who, like me, followed the Women’s European Championship in England will immediately recognize the stars of the tournament – Poppi’s jubilant gesture, Wendie Renard’s physical dominance or the English stars Hemp and White were accurately carried over into the game. 18 national teams and two leagues (England and France) have made it into the women’s section of FIFA 23. That’s two leagues more than last year, but of course still far too little. I would have liked to question VfL Wolfsburg’s one-woman show in the women’s Bundesliga or lead the women from my favorite club FC Barcelona onto the field. In FUT or the career modes, the same rules apply as in the orthodox monastic republic of Mount Athos in eastern Greece: No women allowed! So we can say: The new leagues, the great modeled poster girls – in the second tier similarities to the real athletes are already less – as well as Kerr’s presence in the menu and on the cover are an important step in the right direction. At the same time, however, there is still a lot of work ahead of the Canadian development team.

Roberto Carlos would be proud

You may have guessed: The new women’s power was the first boom from my article title, the second is much more literal. Because the combination of two shoulder buttons and a shot button provides the new “power shot” in FIFA 23. It has it all: It takes a lot more time to charge and, because of the manual aiming, likes to rush many meters past the box. It doesn’t matter if Terodde is on the trigger or a noble technician like Neymar Jr. But hey, even with the new power shot, the PSG star can’t shoot as far wide of the target as his recent TikTok advertising message for the far-right Brazilian President Bolsonaro was wrong…

Speaking of which: The upcoming desert World Cup (Franz-Beckenbauer-approved!) in Qatar, which is guaranteed to be realized without slave labor, is of course also part of the all-round happy package of FIFA 23 – but not at this point in time, the virtually playable finals of the men will be given later. EA has significantly expanded cross-play: This does not apply to the popular Pro Clubs mode, for example, but to so many other places that I would like to quote EA’s official information: “The FIFA 23 versions on PS5, Xbox Series X |S and PC are cross-play compatible. The FIFA 23 versions on PS4 and Xbox One are also compatible with each other. Cross-play is coming to FUT Division Rivals (excluding co-op), FUT Champions, FUT Ultimate Online Draft, FUT Online Friendlies (excluding co-op), FUT Matches-a-Friend, Online Friendlies, Online Seasons (excluding Co-op Seasons) and the Virtual Bundesliga competitive mode.”