As FIFA 19 is just one week away for some players, FIFA 19 content has started to drop on social media platforms. As mentioned in a previous article, the top FIFA content creators from around the globe were invited to a Capture Event in Germany. This allowed those people to create videos about the new FIFA title, acting as promotion for the early stages of the release.
The embargo lifted on Wednesday for FIFA 19 content, and every FIFA fan’s YouTube subscription boxes are full of fresh content. I will be briefly analyzing different parts of this new content, most of which will consist of Ultimate Team. This was the main part of the Capture Event for most content creators. There are a few different sections that can be analyzed, however Ultimate Team is split into two parts – the menu system and activities outside of the gameplay, and the gameplay itself.
Gameplay
The gameplay for FIFA 19 has been seen online previously. Some content creators played the new Kick-Off modes at a FIFA esports event during August. However, since the outrage during the beta stages of FIFA 19, we were all expecting a different style of gameplay at launch. After seeing multiple videos that include gameplay in FIFA 19, there are a few points that need to be brought up. Bear in mind that EA often performs an early patch on the game to smooth out some cracks. However, this is not expected to happen this year as the early patch is known to cause issues. On the other hand, this is not yet confirmed by an official source.
Pace
Pacing is key when addressing gameplay in FIFA titles. Often, the reason that FIFA is popular is due to its pace. After watching some videos, it looks like FIFA 19 is slower-paced, with players moving lethargically and animations looking slow. This also makes the game look like PES, which is not what most FIFA players want.
Slow gameplay could be an issue with competitive players and competitive gameplay. The pace of professional FIFA games is often fast, which puts pressure on players to make spontaneous movements and reactions. If someone is able to dictate the pace of the game at a slow speed, then competitive play will become very boring and repetitive. As players learn the pacing, it will give them even more time to react.
Animations
With the new implementations to gameplay in FIFA 19, things such as first touch systems, new shooting types, and skill moves call for new animations. Some of the new skill moves, such as the open-up fake shot, look extremely similar to the PES version of the original fake shot. Another example of this is the shot types in FIFA 19. Some of the animations for shooting with the inside of the player’s foot are similar to PES. I personally do not enjoy the slow gameplay mixed with the animations of PES, and this is the overall feeling from the majority of the FIFA community.
Shooting
The shooting is the most drastic change to FIFA 19 in terms of the gameplay. The new shooting system was majorly advertised by EA, meaning they feel the new system is an improvement to the game. Most content creators are complaining about the new system, or at least saying that they are not used to the system yet and that it takes a while to grasp the new feature.
Another argument that can be brought up to give this new system a positive side is the skill gap it creates. As players practice the game, they will learn the new shooting styles at their own pace. However, for the players who deliberately learn this first, they will be at a huge advantage early on. This is the skill gap that will separate the casual players from the great players.
Controls in Shooting
Along with the shooting animations, as previously mentioned, come the types of shooting and how they are performed in the game. One shot that will be less utilized in this FIFA title is the low-driven shot. The shot allowed you to shoot low and fast, meaning that the goalkeeper cannot get down fast enough to save it, and the shot is also too fast for a defender to catch up with it. This shot now has a difficult button combination which means that it may still be a good shot, but it’s harder to perform than usual. You have to press both bumpers whilst pressing the shoot button.
It also seems that players don’t have control over some animations when shooting. Whilst watching a video from TwoSync, they mentioned how their player ‘side-footed’ the ball when they were trying to perform power shots. This needs to be resolved, or there needs to be a feature which allows players to learn this new feature easily.
Menu and Cosmetics
Aside from gameplay, there have been a few cosmetic changes since the beta stage of FIFA 19. The game looked unfinished in terms of graphics, which has been somewhat improved. Most of these changes have come in designs for things such as items and broadcast packages in Ultimate Team.
Item Designs
The items looked pretty bad to start with in the FIFA 19 beta. The designs looked very dull, and with no shine to the rare cards, they looked like their non-rare counterparts. This has thankfully been changed in the final game, however, I feel that they still need to be tweaked slightly.
Pack Opening Animation
The pack opening animation was shown on the original trailer for FIFA 19 Ultimate Team. Many people in the FIFA community were not happy with how it looked. This was mainly to do with the “FIFA Ultimate Team” text that spreads along the screen. It has been removed, and with the addition of some fireworks, we now have a final animation.
Many more changes will become evident to us in the next few days regarding Ultimate Team. We will be covering these changes in our FIFA articles here. I will be giving a day one review when FIFA 19 releases at the end of the month. Until then, you can check out some details about the FIFA 19 demo here.
