So I'm not the biggest sports or football fan. Not like I used to be. As a kid I watched French dubbed soccer anime and played soccer for a few years, in a team. Also loved playing soccer outside on parking lots and such, with the kids living in the neighborhood.

The pandemic made me tap into this nostalgia and after playing PES for a few years, Xbox Gamepass made me experiment with FIFA 21.

It felt terrible at first. Controls were floaty, the game is as arcadey as it gets and dribbling, movement, is ridiculously strong. Almost circus- or acrobat-like. Players seem to "skate" across the field.

Either way, I got into FIFA 21, bought FIFA 22 when it came out and I've got about 100+ hours of playtime with it. Time to move on.

Pros

• Feels super rewarding to perform passes, crosses, tricks, basically "plays" that you have in your head and try to execute correctly. When it all goes according to plan, that dopamine hit is INTENSE.
• Online play is addictive as fuck (seasons mode).
• Career Mode (manager) is quite fun too.
• Game looks decent.
• Game plays great.
• Keepers are overpowered.

Cons

• Some players are ridiculously overpowered.
• Game feels too floaty and arcadey.
• Certain skills are overpowered, finesse shots too.
• Sprinting speed boost is a mixed bag.
• FIFA Ultimate Team is a scam, a terribly predatory experience. It preys on addiction and people's wallets through implementing gambling mechanics. It's built to abuse our psychology, how we are wired, so that we get hooked and spend money on virtual cards/virtual nonsense. Kinda like what Fortnite or tons of mobile games do.
• EA has the money and influence and resources to turn this franchise into something magical. But it doesn't. It's lazy, it's low effort, year after year.
• PC players get the PS4 version, no next gen mechanics/animations. But pay the same price.
• Gameplay loop is waaaaay too addictive.
• Online servers are often terrible.
• AI is quite terrible.

All in all, I've had a lot of fun with this, but felt like sharing my gripes and thoughts on the franchise. Maybe to kind of part ways with it, I've spent more than enough time on this game and while it has been fun. I wanna use that time for different games, different ventures, hobbies. It has been an interesting ride. PES will always be superior to me, in many ways. But FIFA has those licenses and once that arcadey feel gets its hooks into you, it becomes very, very satisfying to make those "plays".

9/10 for gameplay. 4/10 for effort. 2/10 for Ultimate Team. 7/10 for graphics. 7/10 for content. 7/10 for polish.