eSport was at the EA SPORTS headquarters in Vancouver and was able to play FIFA 23. Is it “the best FIFA ever”? Our preview of the football simulation:
Bright sunshine and 26 degrees welcomed eSports to Vancouver, Canada. Unusual weather for this city – also confirmed by the developers present. What was needed was a light mackintosh. On this day, it could safely stay in the bag.
EA SPORTS had invited a handful of media representatives to the FIFA 23 showcase at the headquarters. Through spacious halls, along an avenue of FIFA covers we went to the actual presentation area for the last part of the series.
Ten hours of flying, one hour of FIFA
Ten hours of flying and nine hours of time difference don’t seem like the best companions to play a first, slim FIFA 23 version. Nevertheless, we picked up the PS5 controller and chose a team.
Neither different modes nor the content advertised in the FIFA 23 announcement were available. Only a few women’s and men’s teams could we select for a friendly encounter. Chelsea, Arsenal, Atletico and Dortmund – still with Haaland – for the men, for example, and the USA, France, Australia and Germany for the women.
One hour of FIFA football, without much fuss.
FIFA 23 test run successful
In the first demo,
FIFA 23 plays more fluidly and with more variation than its predecessor. In the forward play, the fast passing game was particularly enjoyable. A good eye for running routes and spaces seems to be given more attention again.
Success via skill moves is no longer absolutely necessary. FIFA 23 gains a bit of football authenticity by seemingly rewarding good combination football.
In the defence the problem of the ninja defenders seems to be fixed. Sudden hara-kiri actions were absent, at least in our hour of play. In defence, both playable and AI behave moderately according to their radius. Changes that already found a test run in FIFA 22 with the late Title Update 14. Technical bugs that seem to have been fixed in the latest version.
The overpowering goalkeepers were also a problem in the predecessor. Obviously, the problem could not be completely eliminated, especially in the scrum after corner kicks. In the first test version of FIFA 23, the last man – or woman – now seems to act more calmly.
Standard situations get a revised system: Via the frontal view of a ball the trajectory can be determined when shooting.
Well done, athlete
Optically, athletes dribble more smoothly across the turf. The latter offers more depth and shading – for the first time even the dirt flies off the turf when straddling and actually stays there.
The stadium atmosphere also appears more individual than before. Again and again, small scenes with spectator reactions are played during standards.
Of course, you can’t get much out of one hour of FIFA 23. The first impression oscillates between corrected errors from the predecessor and some nice innovations. As usual it should be “the best FIFA ever” according to EA, the developers said on site and anyway to the announcement of EA SPORTS FC.
We will post more details from our day at EA SPORTS in Vancouver at a later date. In any case, we took the positive gaming experience and the anticipation of an actually improved, more extensive last part of the series back with us on the plane.