It’s time for another Fifa title but I have to admit that this one doesn’t really have anything super new and exciting. It’s basically the same as Fifa 19 although I suppose you could say that for pretty much any sport game with its sequels. They just don’t innovate much so you either love what they have in store for you or you don’t. I’d still like to see a more dynamic level of gameplay like Mario strikers but a lot of people do like these games so they’re doing something right.

There are a ton of modes here as expected from training to minigames and of course the actual thing. I went right into the main game mode to try my luck and at least I did force a pretty solid 0-0 loss in sudden death, a 3-1 win, and then a 1-5 loss. So the results varied quite a bit, it’s hard for me to recreate any of my goals. I would say I haven’t yet mastered the patterns so I would need some serious training in Blue Lock to actually get to that point. Still, I gotta say that scoring feels pretty good so that’s better than in some of the previous games where I couldn’t score at all.

One thing I definitely do like a lot about the game is how during the loading screens you can practice your shooting and running. It gives you something to do while the actual match is being prepared and absolutely destroys having a traditional loading screen. This is really the way to go without a doubt. Even in the drills I found it hard to score though. I’d say my main issue with the game is it’s very much simulation style but for that reason you can’t turn and move the ball as you would want too. I’d like to be able to turn on a dime and really control where I’ve got the ball.

The older games all feel a lot smoother on this even if perhaps they were less realistic. This one just takes things too far into the other direction. Ah well, there is a lot of depth to the gameplay with the controls so you can absolutely get better and better if you put the time in. Train hard enough and learn all of the moves and you should be in a really good spot. It’s just no walk in the park so you will definitely need to apply yourself if you want to pull this off.

The graphics are naturally very solid. You can tell right away that this is a very modern game with top of the line visuals. There isn’t much of a memorable soundtrack at all but that’s fine for a sports title. You will be totally focused on the match itself anyway. So I would say that EA did not hold back on the technical elements and to their credit, they never really do. They always go all out with the sport titles and in exchange they get tons of sales so it is truly a win/win for all parties involved. That’s the best way to go.

We’ll see if Fifa 21 shakes things up. I’m definitely a few years behind on this franchise but I always like waiting a few years on these compared to Madden which I like to get a lot sooner. There’s just less of a rush and it’s a huge incentive to be able to get a game for around 5-10 bucks instead of 60 right? I suppose in a way I’m supporting these games in churning out more by doing this but ultimately it’s super negligible since I’m really just picking up a used copy which someone else already got. If they ever make a true Mario strikers that plays like the original? Then that would definitely be a different story!

Overall, Fifa 20 may not change anything up but it’s still a fairly high effort soccer game. There’s enough of a foundation here where it probably doesn’t have to add anything for 20 years and it will still be getting tons of sales and recognition. That’s just how big Fifa is as a brand and how effective it is. Nothing is stopping EA at this point. It’s still not super fun for me against computers but I think playing some live games would be entertaining enough even if I would probably get smoked. I like to think I would absorb some good techniques from playing a real opponent as there’s only so much you can learn from a CPU. The game is really cheap so you may as well check it out.

Overall 6/10