FIFA 21 is coming to an end. Once again, Ultimate Team was by far the most popular mode. But how convincing were gameplay, features, rewards, modes and more in FUT? We rate it for you.

First of all, I have to say that there will never be a FIFA without trigger points. The game is simply built on that. Nevertheless, every year there is content that clearly needs to be revised. To sum up, we see positives in FIFA 21 in all areas, but also negatives. So let’s start with the gameplay!

Gameplay in FUT – First top, then flop
Let’s start from the beginning. In the first four weeks the gameplay was excellent. Headers were stronger than in FIFA 20 (it’s hard to get worse), the game was more physical and the weak foot was mended. It was really fun, the game wasn’t too slow or too blatantly paced either. EA found the happy medium here. As I said, for a good four weeks. Because then came the first patch. Why actually? You tell me, for me there was no reason.

Headers, corners, crosses, all that was suddenly for the garbage can again. I found that extremely unfortunate. Also, pretty much everything was then geared towards 5-star skills, the bridge or chip bug wasn’t fixed (still isn’t, by the way). Abfuck.

Since the patch I had more and more the feeling, I play FIFA 20, only with skills instead of weakfoot as meta. More and more everything was then focused on La Croqueta and Scoop Turn. This is where EA lost me a bit.

I found the gameplay, unless you played Friday Weekend League, but still much better than in FIFA 20. Faster, more enjoyable meta and the physical touch stayed at least somewhat in the game. I mean, CR7 was finally playable like that again.

Weekend League in FIFA 21
Phew. Where do I start with this? With the good or the bad? The bad, okay. Not much has changed about the Weekend League (consider it bad). I think the matchmaking is sick and annoying. Wait, don’t change the article now, I can explain it to you. I start Weekend League on Fridays, stand well for me (12-1). Actually elite is possible (at least I think so, I know, totally naive). Time jump to Saturday morning: I stand 12-7. Shortly went through half the Esport scene.

I’m sick of it, I always feel like I’m being pushed into a tier. Still, the Weekend League has its appeal. The biggest mode in FIFA, everyone plays their best team. And you hope for nice rewards to be one step ahead of the opponents with a better team. The rewards…. good point.

Rewards in the Weekend League.
They were extremely sharply criticized by many YouTubers. Completely justified, by the way. Anyone who watched Elias N 97’s rewards stream on Thursday morning knows that elite rank doesn’t pay off.

There’s no guarantee of strong picks, the sweating didn’t pay off for the good players. At the same time, Gold 2 players get strong picks. I’d feel screwed there too.

By the way, I personally can’t contribute much here. Gold 1 was somehow always the golden mean. It was okay, no more, but also no less. However, the TOTWs were also a cheek in parts. So there is really potential for improvement here. As already described in our FIFA 22 article, we now get the rewards directly after the WL – so if the TOTW is bad, you don’t need to sweat.

FUT Rivals and Squad Battles
What do you think of FUT Rivals? I found it unspectacular. The mode was okay for challenges, especially to earn coins quickly. But the limit of 30 matches? I don’t know what to think about that. And somehow I miss the league system from before. Don’t get me wrong, Rivals was really okay. And in FIFA 22 the mode changes!

Squad Battles was also ok in between to get down. Challenges like Icon Swaps were also very relaxing to complete. Of course, it’s not the grinder mode par excellence, but for relaxed gaming and chatting with a buddy in the group, Squad Battles was quite chilling.

The rewards, however, could be improved. For the high time investment and the monotonous playing against the computer, it’s really too little what EA gives you in the end.

A round of FUT Draft is always good
FUT Draft is always fun. Little changes here, you can sometimes earn good coins and it’s just mega fun. Build the team, play different maps and hope for good packs. Keep it up, EA! Think. EA doesn’t get off that easy.

Keyword rewards. Again, they are too weak. The number of times I’ve had four wins and ended up with two 5k packs and two bad 25k packs is really bottomless (and yes, that should also be a flex on how often I win drafts). And even more blatant, have you ever lost the draft finals? My advice: don’t lose it. Or get kicked out beforehand. For years, the final rewards have been sooo bad. Two wins are better than three, that can’t be! EA absolutely has to work on that again, so that the victories are worthwhile.

Events, special cards, transfer market
Some of the events were really cool, like the current FUTTIES event. What bothers me? The many special cards. There used to be very few special cards. Now thousands of different cards come into play through SBCs, events and packs. The transfer market is completely overloaded. Everyone has some colorful OP team. Yes, everything was better in the past… but really – the special cards need to be reduced. So do the events, just a few less.

FIFA Points, Pack Preview – Gamble?
Did you buy FIFA Points in FIFA 21? I guess at least half of you are nodding right now. Me too. But I never really thought about the fact that the whole thing with the packs etc. brings a touch of gambling with it. But it does. That’s why the pack preview came then and will probably stay in FIFA 22.

Fortunately. It’s really bitter when you put a lot of money in but the packs just don’t bring in any coins. That’s why I think it’s important and right that the preview provides more transparency. But I’m also curious to what extent the packs will be worse and how much EA has to accept revenue losses.

EA and money… insert here GIF of Woody Harrelson from Zombieland, how he wipes his tears with bills…

SBCs in FIFA 21
They were already a perennial favorite. And still are. The latest Messi SBC alone was another banger. As I just said, there are too many Special Cards in here for me, which means there should be fewer player SBCs coming in FIFA 22. If it’s up to me. But otherwise there were really cool cards, apart from that also nice Pack-SBCs. Here I have little to complain about.

FIFA 23 RELEASE – WHAT IS KNOWN SO FAR

FIFA 22 is still in full operation, but in the background the game makers of EA Sports are already working on the next part – FIFA 23 will be released in autumn 2022.
But under which name will the classic game be continued in autumn 2022? As things stand, it is not at all certain that the game will continue to bear the name of the world association FIFA. We have the most important information about FIFA 23 for you, why the game series will get a new name and on which consoles the next part of the soccer simulation will be available.

WHEN WILL FIFA 23 BE RELEASED?

We can’t give you an official launch date for the next part of the FIFA game series yet. EA hasn’t communicated much in this regard yet, so so far we can only assume that FIFA 23 will be released in the period between mid-September and early October 2022, just like its predecessors. In the past years, the latest launch date of a FIFA game was October 06.