FIFA 23 — out now worldwide — is the last football game from EA Sports to bear the FIFA moniker. With the global footballing body demanding a pretty penny for renewing the licence, Electronic Arts has decided to tear up the contract altogether. But as it was going to expire in late 2022, around the time of the Qatar World Cup and in the middle of FIFA 23’s run, EA and FIFA have had the common sense to extend it for several more months. This ensures that the new (and last) FIFA game won’t be rebranded midway through the season to the awkwardly and laughable choice of “EA Sports FC”. That’s still set to happen next year, starting with FIFA 24 — I mean, EA Sports FC 24 — so be prepared for the memes to follow. For now, there’s calm and consistency.
FIFA 23 review: graphics
New-gen is also pulling away from previous-gen when it comes to visuals. While the graphics are basically the same as , FIFA 23 brings Jason Sudeikis’ moustachioed coach and his players — from Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster) to Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein), and from Sam Obisanya (Toheeb Jimoh) to Dani Rojas (Cristo Fernández). You can take AFC Richmond and push them into any league in Career mode, or have Ted Lasso as the manager of your favourite club. It’s bonkers, and I welcome it.
If non-existent managers and footballers can play in real-life men’s leagues in FIFA 23, why can’t actual women’s teams go up against them? EA, there are no excuses.
FIFA 23 review: Career, FUT, Volta, and Pro Clubs
Speaking of Ted Lasso in Career mode, the biggest introduction to Manager and Player Career on FIFA 23 is also bonkers. In a bid to give you another tool to progress through seasons quicker — it’s fun to play every game early on, but that lustre fades as you push deeper in — EA has concocted Playable Highlights. This turns the 90-minute match into bite-sized moments, like a solo run, counter-attack, defending a corner, or taking a long-range free kick.
EA claims these are calculated based on the strengths and weaknesses of the two teams in question. But in my time on FIFA 23, be it with Premier League winners Manchester City or the middling Eredivisie club RKC Waalwijk, I saw the same situations occur over and over. No matter what team you face or what team you’re playing with, there’s always one solo run, one counter-attack, one corner, and one free kick. That makes no sense — who’s going to factor in the varying tactics of the teams involved?
Playable Highlights might make big matches easier, especially if you’re playing with a small team. But there’s no football left in it anymore. As much as I hate the broken Quick Sim — it doesn’t take team form, or their respective strengths and weaknesses into play — I’ll take my chances with it. Because Playable Highlights is the biggest joke I’ve seen in FIFA for years.
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A Playable Highlight example in FIFA 23 Manager Career
Photo Credit: EA. Screenshot by Akhil Arora/Gadgets 360
FIFA 23 bugs
I ran into two bugs while playing FUT Moments on FIFA 23. On one occasion, the pre-match flag displays and pitch coverings were still visible after kick-off until I scored a goal. In another case, a FUT Moment asked for a flair goal, but refused to recognise goals scored with rabonas, bicycle kicks, or outside of the boot shots. Is EA okay?
Speaking of FIFA 23 bugs, after finishing a match in Pro Clubs, I couldn’t get back to the lobby and had to force quit the game.
Hilarious bite-sized action is coming to Ultimate Team too in FIFA 23. Dubbed FUT Moments, the new single-player experience offers a variety of scenarios and challenges. That could be doing a trick, pulling off a cross, or scoring with a flair shot. Some are time-limited “journeys”, taking you through the careers of cover star Kylian Mbappé, or Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp. It’s a bit like the real-life-inspired scenarios in 2006 FIFA World Cup the game.
But there are three problems here. One, most of the FUT Moments take longer to set up than complete. Every time you complete one, you’re thrown back out to the FUT Moments menu. EA would have done better to just throw us into the next one. Two, unlike the 2006 game where you were handed a squad to play with, FUT Moments makes use of your FUT squad. Some FUT Moments need specific formations or players, which means you’ll need to spend coins to play them.
FIFA 23 FUT currencies
Ultimate Team in FIFA 23 carries over two in-game currencies. “Coins” can be earned by playing, and can be spent to buy packs, or players from the transfer market. “FUT Points” can be bought with real-life money — going from Rs. 89 all the way up to Rs. 5,999 — and can be used to buy packs from the in-game store. “Stars” is now a third FUT currency, which can be earned by playing FUT Moments.
And three, FUT Moments introduces a new currency, Stars, that can help unlock rewards and packs. From an early glance, the demands are high. You need a lot of Stars to unlock some measly packs that are undefined lootboxes. FUT Moments feels like a lot of grind for very little reward, which is essentially the definition of FUT.
FIFA 23 review: verdict
Of course, the biggest problem is that EA Sports doesn’t really care about any game mode except the moneymaking FUT. Volta has been slowly trimmed over the years — the story mode first dropped off, then the real-world players, and now even Volta Battles is gone on FIFA 23. With Volta left with just one game mode now, its progression is being merged with Pro Clubs now. On surface, that seems like a good thing, as FIFA 23 players won’t need to invest double the time. But it’s also a sign of EA’s neglect.
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Manchester City’s Jack Grealish in FIFA 23
Photo Credit: EA
Cross-play could have the best thing in ages to happen to the 11v11 Pro Clubs — I’ve already been in situations where I can’t play FIFA 23 with my PC and PlayStation friends at the same time — but sadly, we’re stuck with a game and a developer that refuses to pour resources where they are needed. Instead, everything is funnelled into FUT. EA’s ignorance of all other modes also results in a lack of players in both Volta and Pro Clubs — at least in the early-access days — with players ending up where attention is being paid.
But the thing is, EA doesn’t have to care because there’s no competition. eFootball remains in a terrible state despite a yearly update. Other pretenders have no concrete timeline for release, and no track record either. And though it’s getting its brand name back, FIFA the footballing body is years away from producing a console-quality football game — it hasn’t even made a commitment so far.
EA Sports barely has to try in this kind of environment. In a monopoly, you are the default choice. That’s great for FIFA 23, but football fans are paying the price.
Pros:
- Better, more equipped AI (new-gen only)
- Cross-platform play
- PC on par with new-gen
- Volta, Pro Clubs progression merged
- Allows five substitutions
Cons:
- Impossible long shots, curlers
- Cross-play is frustratingly limited
- Women’s teams can’t play men’s
- No women players in FUT
- FUT pay-to-win behaviour ignored
- Power Shot feels arcade-y
- New corners, penalties unintuitive
- FUT Moments brings third FUT currency
- Playable Highlights are a joke
- Five substitutions not allowed in Online Friendlies
Rating (out of 10): 6
FIFA 23 released Friday, September 30 on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X.
Pricing starts at Rs. 3,499 on Steam, EA Store, and Epic Games Store for PC, Rs. 3,999 on PS4 and Xbox One, and Rs. 4,499 on PS5 and Series S/X.
EA Play members get 10 percent off the sticker price. You can also get FIFA 23 on PC with the EA Play Pro subscription that costs Rs. 999 a month or Rs. 6,499 a year.
