Product test
"Fifa 18" tested: I'll tell you what it can do!
by Luca Fontana
"Fifa 19" tested: Unfortunately still without FC Winterthur
27.9.2018
Translation: machine translated
Every year, simulated football rolls through the gamer's living room. EA also returns with "Fifa 19" and doesn't reinvent anything. But that wasn't necessary - "Fifa" was already good before. I'll tell you what improvements you can still look forward to in the tested game.
Champions League final. At the Wanda Metropolitano, the home stadium of Spanish first division club Atlético Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo of all people puts the ball too far forward. The crowd of almost 70,000 roared with delight as Thun defender Facchinetti skilfully grabbed the ball and launched a counter-attack. The ball then ends up with Hunziker of all people, the personalised chance killer. He has already missed five hundred per cent chances - five! This time, the shot just has to go in...
Moment - Thun? Hunziker? Champions League!
You read that right, because just like clockwork, EA Sports is back this September with its new instalment in the successful "Fifa" series. New year, new "Fifa", and after playing through all the modes over the last five days, I can say: everything has got a little better, nothing has been revolutionised. I'm a little tempted to copy my "Fifa 18" review from last year and replace the eighteen with nineteen everywhere.
But I'm not. Instead, I'll tell you which five things are really new and why you shouldn't miss out on "Fifa 19" despite its lack of innovation.
1. the Champions League and Europa League as a licence
It's finally here: the Champions League. Gone are the days when "Fifa" gamers wistfully turned to Konami's competition Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) because the rights were held by the Japanese for years - much to the chagrin of PES fans, who now have to make do without the licence.
EA Sports has not let itself be outdone and has popped the corks in terms of presentation: The familiar anthem ("the chaaaaaampioooooons!") booms out of the speakers, the TV graphics have been adopted one-to-one and the stadium is adorned with huge banners of former club icons. Before every game, the commentators talk about the particularly great atmosphere and explain why the Champions League final with these two teams is the most important football match of the year. Unfortunately awesome.
Small bonus: Along with the Champions League, there's also the complete Europa League package. So if you like it particularly authentic, the final between AC Milan and FC Zurich will not be played in Madrid, but in Baku, Azerbaijan.
2. timed finishing
Finishes are given more tactical depth. They are called "Timed Finishing", and the aim of the perfectly timed finishes is to deliver a particularly precise shot by double-tapping the shooting button, which has a higher chance of landing in the goal.
EA itself describes it as a risk versus reward system. To achieve this, you use the shoot button to charge the shot in the same way as you always do. If you now tap the shoot button a second time, the timed finishing system is activated, otherwise the old shooting mechanic comes into play. For optimum timing, you have to tap the second time exactly when the player's foot touches the ball when the shot is taken.
This is not as easy as it sounds. The players are never always facing the ball in the same way. The time between charging the ball and taking the shot is therefore never the same, and you have to watch your player closely in order to hit the exact moment of the shot with the second tap. During my weekly "Fifa" session with my mates, our failed shots have already caused a lot of malice and even more red heads.
But beware: successful timed finishes are no guarantee of a goal. And, conversely, shots that are not on target can sometimes end up in the net in a strange way. For example, I drilled the ball into the top right-hand corner with the outside of my foot - even though I was actually aiming for the bottom left-hand corner.
All in all, the new shooting system, together with numerous new animations, provides even more variety in the shots. Very good!
3. active touch system
The Active Touch system changes the entire mechanics of receiving and stopping the ball. The game is now much more orientated towards the actual strengths and weaknesses of the players on the "first touch".
The system works mostly automatically. Smart ball receptions, combined with a trick or dribble, happen much more often and all by themselves. Nevertheless, it doesn't feel as if the game completely takes the dribbling out of my hands, as the automatic animations are mostly cosmetic in nature and rarely really relevant to gameplay.
You can exert even more influence by briefly tapping the right joystick (also known as "flicking"). This allows players to lift the ball in the desired direction as soon as they receive it and can make the onrushing opponent look old by quickly changing direction.
The Active Touch System also influences the way the ball itself behaves between the players' feet. I'll explain that in the next chapter.
4. 50:50 duels
What doesn't really sound spectacular is actually the change that I think will have the biggest impact on gameplay: 50:50 duels. This is because winning the ball and pressing feels much more robust and less planned or scripted.
The previously mentioned Active Touch system not only allows players to receive the ball more stylishly or trickily: It makes the ball feel much more like an independent entity that doesn't belong to the player with the ball. Ball receptions are missed much more often and the opponent's AI, which realises this immediately, rushes forward straight away. Numerous new animations ensure that this struggle for the ball has many different outcomes that are almost impossible to predict.
One brawny player will try to shield the ball, others will rush into the fray and just manage to get the ball to their team-mate at the last second. Duels feel tough, colliding players give you a pained face just from watching. But the system is used practically everywhere - not just in tackles. This makes the entire build-up to the game feel like it's on a knife-edge, because you can never be sure that your perfect laser passes won't be lost as soon as you receive the ball.
This contributes immensely to the realistic gameplay. In comparison, "Fifa 18" simply felt far too much like it was on rails after numerous patches. Let's hope that EA doesn't make things worse again over the course of the season.
5. new kick-off modes: house rules are fun
"Kick-off" is my mode of choice when I'm playing a game against friends offline. Nothing has really changed for years - we choose a team, make changes to the line-up, agree on a stadium and off we go.
This year everything will be different.
EA has introduced the so-called "house rules". These are games in which very special rules apply that completely change the course and dynamics of the game. One mode, for example, would be that only goals from outside the penalty area count, or that volley goals and headers count double. The "No Rules" mode is murderous: there are no fouls, cards or offsides. Everything is allowed and sheer chaos reigns. Am I a bad person if it feels damn satisfying to straddle opponents from behind in your own penalty area without being whistled for a foul?
Surprisingly, the most fun mode is "Survival": The team that scores a goal has a random player sent off - goalkeepers excluded. This even opens up tactical depth: should I score a goal just before the end to save the lead with one man less? My mate and I used tactics and scored goals until there were only thirteen players left on the pitch, including the goalkeeper. Six against six, so to speak, and a real celebration.
Conclusion
It's the same as every year: the graphics are a little better, especially the facial animations and lighting conditions, the physics feel more realistic - thanks to Active Touch and 50:50 battles - the players are a little heavier, and the popular story mode centred around Alex Hunter is entering its final round.
For fans of Spanish football, the entire "La Liga" licence package is now available with many new, authentic game faces and 19 stadiums - only FC Barcelona's Camp Nou is still missing, as Konami's "PES" has the rights. For fans of Italian football, the Serie A licence package was announced with great fanfare - but so far I can only see that the official Serie A logo is finally in the game, but no TV graphics and certainly not all the stadiums. Instead, there's the Champions League, a huge plus in terms of atmosphere.
So nothing really revolutionary is new. However, there was nothing that was broken in "Fifa 18" that needed to be fixed. In any case, as long as the sport itself doesn't fundamentally change - the ball doesn't get rounder and the pitch doesn't get more angular - we shouldn't expect any ground-breaking innovations in the game in the future either.
So "Fifa 19" remains the best football simulation for me thanks to its presentation - this includes graphics, soundscape and menu design - and the scope of the licence.
Luca Fontana
Senior Editor
Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.chI'm an outdoorsy guy and enjoy sports that push me to the limit – now that’s what I call comfort zone! But I'm also about curling up in an armchair with books about ugly intrigue and sinister kingkillers. Being an avid cinema-goer, I’ve been known to rave about film scores for hours on end. I’ve always wanted to say: «I am Groot.»
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