LifeisXbox’s FIFA 23 review | Last May, EA Sports dropped a huge bomb by declaring that after many, many years a big game in their portfolio was about to change and would continue under a different name. But luckily for the fans there was still one last final official FIFA game on its way and it is here: FIFA 23! With a couple of new features and improvements it should be the best FIFA game there is. I’m talking about HyperMotion2-technology, female club football, cross-play (although there are restrictions) and a lot more! Let’s check it out.
Most Memorable Moment
Of course, my most memorable moment has to be when I won my first online match! As PSV in their own Philips Stadium (which is newly added so I’m very happy) I defeated FC Nantes with 5-1. It always feels good to win with big numbers especially when you know there is someone on the other side getting frustrated (which is normally me).
ℹ️ Reviewed on Xbox Series X | Review code provided by PR/publisher, this review is the personal opinion of the writer.
What we Liked!
- New features | Like every FIFA game this one also has a couple of new features that are really interesting. First off, they added women club football to the game. They have added the Barclays WSL and the D1 Arkema (English and French competitions) to the game. And in a feature update it is said that the women World Cup is also coming to FIFA 23.
Following tests in FIFA 22 they now have extended the use of cross-play even more so it is widely available. There are a few restrictions here. Xbox Series X|S can only play with PS5, PC and Stadia. And Xbox One can only play with PS4. If you are looking at FUT they divided the transfer market up a bit differently Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4 and Stadia share a transfer markt and the ones for PC and Nintendo Switch are separated.
Other new features include HyperMotion 2 technology which is only available on the X|S, PS5, PC & Stadia version. And some gameplay enhancements. If you own a Xbox One or PS4 and play that version of the game you might not be able to experience the game to the fullest. Yet, they really made a good step forward especially with the addition of 2 women competitions.
- Play what you want | As with every FIFA game the game offers a lot of different game modes to play and this year’s edition is no exception to that. However, they have cut the Alex Hunter story mode from the game, and didn’t replace it with a new one. Luckily, as mentioned before, they improved the massively played FUT even more with the cross-play availability, and they didn’t cut any of the other game modes. Personally I really enjoy VOLTA and player career mode.
- FUT | FIFA Ultimate Team is by far the most populair game mode in the franchise. And I already mentioned a bit about the new cross-play features above. But it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this is also where the most improvements happend. EA Sports has added a new mode called FUT Moments. In FUT Moments you can play certain scenarios like you are 1-3 behind in the Madrid derby and it’s your job to turn it around. With challenges like score 2 goals with a Dutch player and Score at least 3 goals. It is a fun challenging addition where I already made some happy memories about the game.
Mixed Feelings
- Player design | Where EA Sports keep increasing the graphics of the game it saddens me to see that they completely slaughter the looks of players sometimes. Where the most popular ones look on point, a lot of them don’t even have a 1% simularity between how they look in real life and in-game (for example Xavi Simons from PSV). By now you would have expected that they have the technology to improve this but apparently, they don’t. I put this in the mixed feeling section of the review since at times, it looks very good and it isn’t totally bad.
What we Disliked
- Defending | A small thing that I disliked about FIFA 23 is that defending still doesn’t feel stable. I already encountered my weird moments where I have no idea what my goalkeepers was doing. It has been a problem for a long time now with FIFA games and although there is improvement it still isn’t completely stable.
How long to beat the story | There is no story in FIFA 23
How long to achieve 1000G | 25+ hours
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