What’s the Best Football Video Game to Play in 2021?

The rivalry in gaming industry is something that exists throughout the years and one of the most distinguished rivals are FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer games. Ever since the late 90’s, KONAMI and EA Sports are battling out to find the best football simulation and have over the years developed a very unique fan base, that often does not cross borders and remain loyal to their original game. FIFA somehow always had the upper hand, due to their license advantage and the latest installment in the franchise is no different. FIFA 21 is arguably the best simulation available in the market right now and your way to spend hours playing either exhibition match, career or ultimate team mode.

The improvements in a game of this magnitude always come gradually and every year we witness basically the same game. FIFA 21 has decided to make certain improvements regarding the gameplay, by mostly focusing on the attacking part of the game. While FIFA 20 was a bit more creatively-oriented, you can easily win a game in FIFA 21 focusing on crosses and long-range shots. Headers and long-range shots are more effective and give the player more freedom to adjust the strength and accuracy of the shot. However, the defensive part of the game was therefore neglected and keeper’s intelligence is a real concern as basically three out of four chances end up in the back of the net. We can therefore expect a more complex and focused approach for the defensive part for FIFA 22.

In previous version of the game, we could argue that dribbling parts were not very desirable. Playing with Messi or Mbappe may result in a breakdown of some defensive players, but they could eventually catch you. Now that part has improved significantly, as there are manoeuvres that you can outplay even the top defenders with a single dribble. But as we previously stated, that part is also offensive-related, while defensively we got better sliding tackles, where a player actually attempts to take the ball, instead of just falling behind after the tackle.

Graphics improvements are harder to come by in these games and a random player might rethink whether the TV is showing a game of FIFA 21 or 20. One of the most popular mods in FIFA games is the career mode and the greatest improvement for this part concerns the part where you don’t want to play. After you lead the game or simply don’t have the desire to play a particular match, you can simulate it (Football Manager style), but also decide to join where you feel the game isn’t going your way. Career mode “suffered” the most changes in gameplay. Training players now has a quite important role in match preparation, while you can also alter the position of a particular player. It does not go that far to place Neymar as a central defender, but switching a winger to a fullback or a midfielder to centreback is now very much possible, unlike the previous games where a position was more or less fixed.

Microtransaction are one of the most lucrative parts of FIFA and the FIFA Ultimate Team mode highly depends on it. But now you can also modify your stadium and add certain effects and elements (pay them of course), but also buying players cards and teams. You can find FIFA coins and buy them for your FUT campaign on websites such as Eldorado.

It is clear that FIFA games can’t improve graphics that significantly on PS4, so the next gen release will unleash a new potential of the next gen gaming. FIFA 21 improved offensively and true players will certainly notice the changes, but it still remains to be seen what PS5 version this year will bring to the table.