With the new game set for release later this year, Goal takes a look at what changes we can expect
EA Sports have confirmed that FIFA 20 will be released at the end of September.
With each new release, the pressure is on the series’ game developers to improve the product and they take a wide range of views into consideration when figuring out which areas need focus.
Feedback from professional Esports gamers, casual players, the online community and in-house experts are all heeded as changes are implemented and new features are rolled out.
This means EA’s developers are well equipped to give customers what they want while also pursuing their own creative visions for their flagship football game.
Ahead of the release of FIFA 20, Goal takes a look at the gameplay changes and new features we can expect.
Small-sided street football is back in FIFA 20 with the introduction of a new game mode called Volta (which means ‘return’ in Portuguese).
Apparently one of the most requested additions from users, the new feature will be much different to the famous FIFA Street series in terms of its authenticity, opting for greater realism.
Players will be able to play three-a-side, four-a-side and five-a-side matches using their own individualised character or household names such as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Volta will be playable online – with leagues and so forth – and there will also be a story mode, which will seemingly replace The Journey.
The May edition of EA Sports’ ‘Pitch Notes’ revealed that the next iteration of FIFA will incorporate a number of changes to A.I. defending and movement.
‘ Planned tackling ‘ will be a new feature that favours manual defending and defending systems overall are being renewed to reward manual defending.
Auto tackles and auto blocks will become less likely in FIFA 20 thanks to the planned reduction in ‘contain’ and ‘secondary contain’ effectiveness.
As well as that, those who choose to manually defend in a given scenario will benefit from an improved jockey system , which is designed to enhance agility and precision.
Furthermore, when defending set-pieces, computer intelligence will be improved in order to make marking match-ups more realistic. So, taller players will try to keep tabs on opponents of a similar height.
EA Sports are naturally striving for greater realism in FIFA 20 and things are getting harder, so it should be no surprise to learn that, as with other aspects of gameplay, passing is going to be harder.
The pressure of scenario a player finds themselves in will correlate with how difficult it is to complete a pass effectively. So, 180 degree, first-time and awkward position passes will become more prone to interception .
Corollary to that though, passes will be easier and there will be less chance of a mistake when a player is under little pressure or has their body positioned well on the pitch when receiving or playing the ball.
There will also be a new option to ‘dink’ a through pass on the ground or in the air, while a driven pass-and-go mechanism will be enabled as well.
The ‘Timed Finishing’ mechanism that was introduced in FIFA 19 is set to be further fine-tuned in FIFA 20 and it looks like it will become harder to score.
The green timing window for timed shots will be reduced in FIFA 20 from two-to-four frames to just two frames for every shot, which means players will need more skill in order to hit the back of the net.
As well as that alteration, difficult 180 degree shots will now be less powerful than they were in FIFA 19, while timed shot accuracy will now result in lower precision.
Staying on the theme of scoring, volley shots will also be less accurate and result in more volatile outcomes. It will also become more difficult to score headers in a crowded box.
While shooting is being tweaked to make it more difficult, gamers will be relieved to learn that one-on-one finishing situations will be easier in FIFA 20.
Shooting accuracy will improve in an ‘easy’ scenario – say, an open net – and goalkeepers’ reactions will no longer be ‘superhuman’.
FIFA players who enjoy the rush of breezing past multiple opponents using skill moves will have to be prepared to up their game in FIFA 20.
Using skill moves is set to get harder in the next edition, with EA Sports indicating that chances of error increase “exponentially” when chaining more than two skill moves together.
As mentioned, goalkeepers that were seemingly superhuman in FIFA 19 will now be reduced to mere mortals in FIFA 20, with reactions in one-on-one situations altered to reflect reality.
When users opt to manually control goalkeepers, they will also notice that the effectiveness of their movement will be reduced from the last game, so that means no more messing around with the ‘sweeper keeper’.
FIFA 20 will incorporate a new Ball Physics System that is intended to make the game more realistic in terms of how the ball moves through the air.
The trajectories of shots will be different as a result, with how the ball spins and bounces fluctuating depending on connection and so on.
So expect more ‘knuckleball’ shots in FIFA 20.