Farewell FIFA ― You Will Be Missed
Reading Time: 5 minutesFIFA is one of the most popular sports games and an absolute pinnacle within soccer games. It’s already 30 years since the release of FIFA International Soccer, a title that became the start of an unforgettable legacy. A legacy that will be remembered and
End of the Legacy
Having disputes with the international soccer federation about the license cost, the developers from EA Sports decided in 2022 that their flagship will undergo a restart and be renamed EA Sports FC in the coming years.
Thus we have to say farewell to the incredible legacy that FIFA games managed to create over all those years.
FIFA won't be forgotten. Its journey is an impressive one and one worth mentioning and remembering. And that's also what we will do in this article.
Kick Off In the 90s
The 90s are remembered and praised by many, especially in the gaming industry, which got a proper spark back then. It's no different with FIFA, whose first chapter was written at the beginning of the 90s, more precisely on 15 December 1993, when FIFA International Soccer came out.
It was as far as it could be from a proper soccer simulation, but it laid the roots for what would come later. With its isometric field view, the game was not as easy to play as today's FIFA games, in which you can change and adjust camera views.
FIFA International Soccer was all about playing with various countries, something that changed in the next game, named FIFA 95. However, there was a significant deficit in both FIFA International Soccer and FIFA 95.
There were no real player names. Something that would change first with FIFA 96, which obtained the license for real player names and the much improved 3D graphics on stadiums.
FIFA 97 was no game-changer except for some slight graphic changes and a not-so-popular mode for indoor soccer. So let's move to 1998, a year during which FIFA as a series made the most noticeable step since its first launch back in 1993.
World Cup and EURO Spinoffs
Something that was always very noticeable about the FIFA series was the authenticity it wanted to provide for its player base. Thus, early on, there was a massive effort in doing spinoffs between the different games that followed the World Cup and EURO tournaments.
The first-ever spinoff came in 1998 to celebrate the World Cup held in France, and it was also the year during which FIFA took a huge step forward. Two games were released that year.
The first was FIFA: Road to World Cup 98, and the second was the ‘actual’ officially licensed World Cup game. Having a license to these popular events, FIFA made sure that players could experience the iconic atmosphere of the biggest world stage in soccer.
00s and 10s Improved What Could Be Improved
During the 00s, FIFA improved almost regularly, with some years having more significant changes than others, as is usually the fact in the sports game world.
If we want to talk about the most noticeable shift from the 90s FIFA games, we first and foremost need to mention FIFA 2003. This game came with new graphics and significantly visually improved all stadiums and players.
The next step arrived with FIFA 06. This time the developers managed to do a complete rework and added a new game engine to the series.
The renovation brought completely new handling and control of the game as well as the improvement of the visual appearance of the game. FIFA 06 also provided a new team chemistry feature.
The next big game was FIFA 09, which introduced a new collision system. Developers also started to play with the possibility of syncing virtual soccer with the real one with the help of a Live Season feature that brought updated real-life statistics to the game.
10s Started Strong
Both FIFA 11 and 12 were strong titles, with the latter featuring a new engine. While the so-called Impact Engine was, without a doubt, a step forward – it still had a lot of unpolished areas to be improved, thus delivering a significant amount of bugs.
FIFA 12 also offered more precise, controllable dribbling and tactical defense that required more precision regarding the positioning of the players, et cetera.
With new consoles entering the market, FIFA 14 became the first FIFA game released on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The graphic improvement was well noticeable.
Not only were visuals sharper than ever before, but most importantly, even the game mechanics, such as the ball and players' movement, was bettered rapidly.
The following years focused most on FIFA Ultimate Team and multiplayer modes, but with FIFA 17, a new single-player game mode entered the soccer scene – the story mode.
Story mode The Journey was quite well received but again awakened the never-ending debate of whether story modes fit in sports games. The most remarkable change in FIFA 17 was thus the implementation of the new Frostbite engine.
The next significant feature arrived in FIFA 19, which implemented the overly popular Champions League license and enabled players to play a fully licensed Champions League tournament. This was also the last game with a story mode, which disappeared after FIFA 19, and didn't return in the following installments.
Popular Game Modes
Be a Pro
Be a Pro mode made its first-ever entrance in FIFA 08 and has been in FIFA since then. This mode allows you to create the player of your choice and take on the challenge to become one of the greatest of all time.
It sounds like a cliché, and for the most part, it is. However, the journey from zero to hero can look very different from player to player, depending on which difficulty one chooses.
Implementing the ability to control only one player on the team changed the game dynamics completely. Suddenly, you had to learn how to play a concrete position on the field and all the specific tasks it requires from you.
While it's a mode requiring a lot of patience and time, many players enjoy creating their journey in the virtual world and living their soccer career fantasies.
While, at first, Be a Pro mode only made it possible to play as a player, in FIFA 11, you even could play as a goalie for the first time.
Career Mode
Career mode arrived much earlier than the Be a Pro mode. The possibility of managing a team became a part of the FIFA series since the release of FIFA 2004 but was back then called manager mode. The proper career mode was introduced in FIFA 11.
FIFA Ultimate Team
The most playable and popular game mode in FIFA series is, without a doubt, the Ultimate Team. If you have no idea what I am talking about, the Ultimate Team in FIFA is about collecting different players in the form of fancy-looking cards and then combining them within your team to create the best line-up possible.
This is also the mode where microtransactions are a huge factor for success since you can buy card packs and thus unlock the top and legendary cards that will help you perform better.
Summary
While not always on top of it, EA Sports still deserves credit for creating and nourishing its FIFA series, which made virtual soccer one of the mainstream activities within the gaming world.
FIFA will forever be known for its ability to depict and translate soccer to our consoles and computers. Many people who weren't soccer fans became interested in soccer mainly because of the FIFA games, something that cannot be taken away from EA.
This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.
© 2023 Jan Stepan
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