FIFA this is one of the worlds best selling video games of all time. Named after the international football organization that puts on the World Cup every four years and features players and teams from practically every professional league around the world from MLS to the English Premier League. FIFA 23 also features womens leagues! Another constant stand out of the FIFA franchise aside from its amazing sales record is the amazing soundtrack which features some of the greatest music from around the world.
What also makes this particular addition to FIFA special is that it comes during a World Cup year. This year‘s World Cup is being held in Qatar, to some controversy and protest due to its strict Muslim laws. For the first time, no alcoholic beverages are going to be sold in the football stadiums. The FIFA organization has come under fire for even holding the World Cup in a nation that has been marred by its anti homosexual practices and poor humanitarian record. Despite all of the political and social hubbub, EA sports puts out a good game and those of us who are on a limited travel budget now can take part in various aspects of the World Cup from the safety and comfort of home. For players that are completely new to FIFA soccer I highly recommend running through all of the tutorials and playing all of the skill games that are available to familiarize yourself with the controls. For players who already had an EA account and have played previous versions of FIFA the EA servers will recognize your sign in and recommend the appropriate skill set level, control level, and previous selected favorite team. Players can make these adjustments themselves in the settings menu.
selecting the game difficulty is very important. I recommend that players play one class above their skill set. I have found that this makes learning the game a little slower however the skills that the player earns develop faster. FIFA is a very complex and complicated game so for younger and more inexperienced players they might want to select the alternative or two button controller options for ease-of-use.
FIFA Online multiplayer play is one of the most diverse and competitive of any of the games I have personally played. I highly recommend patience when playing online. A lot of players have been playing for decades and do nothing but play FIFA. Don’t get frustrated if the majority of your play time online is spent losing. Eventually the goals will start to land. FIFA online does a pretty good job of placing players of equal skill set amongst one another. Don’t feel bad if you’re stuck in division 10 for a long time eventually you will make it to the upper divisions, it might not even be this year, but eventually. Keep at it!
Qatar World Cup
There are several different options for those players who want to take part in the FIFA World Cup 2022.
The first is FIFA World Cup live. FIFA World Cup live connects players with the FIFA World Cup and lets them follow all the excitement of each match day as it happens. Players can play the upcoming matches each day or any past match with authentic lineups, group standings, and results or rewrite the outcome of any match to change the destiny of the World Cup trophy. Results and lineups are updated at the end of each real life match day, with new matches unlocking each day as the Qatar World Cup tournament progresses.
The next mode is FIFA World Cup where players can enter into the group stage of the FIFA World Cup. Players can pick any of the teams in the group stages and play their way through the tournament in hopes of winning the World Cup trophy for their country. This mode creates a new save file for the player
The next mode is FIFA World Cup kick off where players can choose to play against the AI in any of the five rounds of the FIFA World Cup from the group stage, the round of 16, quarterfinals, the semifinal, and the final. This is perfect for the players who want to experience the excitement of a World Cup final without having to deal with the pressure of making their way through the tournament.
The last mode available for the World Cup section of FIFA 23 is the online tournament. Players can enter into an online round of 16 tournament against other players from around the world. This is a true test of skill for any FIFA footballer. If the player loses a match in the round of 16 onward they are eliminated from the tournament and will have to start over again.
If International World Cup play doesn’t peak your interest; there are many modes of play available in FIFA 23.
The first is the classic career mode. In career mode, players can create their own avatar to play on the field or their own manager to take control of the behind the scenes of a professional football club.
Player Mode
Gamers who want to live the glory of their own football career from the Rookie year, through tournaments, and trade negotiations, until retirement and hopefully remembrance in the Hall of Fame want to choose this mode.
The first thing a new player is going to do is to create their footballer. They can choose one of the preselected body styles to start from or they can import a likeness of an already existing player.
The players height and weight will affect other attributes like speed and reaction time. Players can adjust this in real time and see how it changes their stats which also depend on their playing style. If a Player is going to create a striker, for instance, they’re going to want somebody a little on the shorter and lighter side whereas a good defender has a little bit more height and weight to them.
Central player hub
The central hub under the player menu is where the player can check the standings, training, activities, news, and advance the schedule.
Underneath the training tab Players are given the option of three different skill games. Each one of these games adds points to different attributes: maverick, virtuoso, and heartbeat aspects of the players personality.
New to FIFA 23 is the personality tier of the players growth. The personality tier fluctuates depending on the decisions that the player makes throughout the game or during gameplay. If the player does exceptionally well in a derby game for instance and they are granted a media interview they can choose to advance one of three categories depending on their answer. Having a higher maverick percentage can give a + 1, +3, or +5 to the more aggressive attributes like ball control, finishing, and sprint speed. It’s up to the players personal preference as to how to distribute these percentages across the three different attributes
Players earn personality points by completing in game targets as well. For instance, good passes, scoring goals, defensive tackles, and interceptions all have different attribute factors assigned to them. Players can see how their playing style affects their personality growth in the post game menu at the end of every match.
There are three overall levels I, II, III in the personality timeline.
The player can choose to invest and spend their income on exercise equipment, dance classes, trampolines, new suits, and a variety of other experiences and life improvements. Some of these items give bonuses to training or boost to attributes like jumping. The description of these bonuses can be seen in the item detail window.
Players can choose to invest their money in business opportunities like an esports gaming team, or a new phone app, or sporting equipment, all have different risks and returns for the player to make their money work for them.
Players can track their footballers growth under the “My Pro” tab. This is where the player can allocate attribute points earned by leveling their avatar. The attributes all factor together to give the player an overall score rating. Depending on the players height weight and position, the physical attributes differ.
Players can assign different attribute points to the physical, defending, dribbling, passing, shooting, and pace of their created footballer. If player assigns specific skill points to an individual attribute tree, they can unlock “archetype nodes” which offer significant improvements to specific attributes which help create the players individual playing style, these come at a higher cost of points. For instance, the “Bull” archetype allows a player to be more physical on the pitch and win ball battles.
The distribution of the attribute points can be reset depending on the players preference. this allows players to truly create a unique avatar in the career mode.
As players level they can also unlock a max of 3 Perks. Perks are significant boosts to performance which are triggered automatically during matches when the player reaches the level set.
Game Day
Players can choose to control their avatar or they can control the entire team during the game. They can simulate the game if they choose, to expedite the season process, however, players have no control over the outcome and the individual player avatar doesn’t gain in game experience for feats that could’ve been achieved while playing the game.
Gamers should be aware that their avatar could become injured during gameplay. If this happens the player is going to have to sit out the amount of time needed to recuperate from the injury.
Because the career mode is meant to be a players individual dream journey through a real football career, nobody wants to remember it being full of defeat and terrible records. So if the player is having a bad game and far behind in the score they can choose to restart the game from the beginning and go again. I recommend this tactic for players who are trying to have the best experience possible while gaining the most experience possible. The same goes for if the players avatar becomes injured. There’s no point in missing out on all of those potential games recuperating because of a random act or accident. Restart the game from the beginning and go at it again, chances are the player will not get injured again.
Under the player Calendar tab a player can take a look at past wins and losses as well as jump to a specific game dates and look at upcoming matches. This is also where players can view their individual stats across the league or their own team stats.
Manager mode – Yes, you can select Ted Lasso
Gamers can choose to create their own manager or pick one from the many available from around the world, Including Ted Lasso. players can stick with the coach and the team they coach or they can mix it up. I picked Lasso and went with Arsenal myself.
In the manager career settings players can pick the match difficulty, half length, currency, competitions, negotiation strictness, job offers, and whether or not they’re club can be financially taken over. You might want to turn that one “off”.
CENTRAL
The manager central is the main hub for the career activities. Players can check standings, the weekly schedule, objectives, and news as well as training and advancing the schedule.
When the career gets started players have to take part in training Day.
Training day sessions are important because they improve player sharpness but at a cost of their fitness. Players you don’t train regain fitness but will cost them a little bit of the sharpness. A player lacking sharpness will not play to their full potential during matches. During training day, if the player plays training drills rather than simulate them players will improve skills faster. Doing well will also improve the level at which the team performs when players do Sim training sessions. Once the player achieves the A grade level, sim is the way to go in my opinion.
Under the objectives tab the player can see their objectives for their season and also see the board confidence. The higher the board confidence the more desirable the player is on the job market.
SQUAD
Under the squad tab, the manager has access to team management, which is where the manager can make changes to the active squad and their formation. The manager can also see the fitness, sharpness, and morale of the squad.
team sheets allows the manager to keep flexible variations of game day squad lineups.
The squad hub is an overall look at how many forwards, midfielders, defenders, and goalkeepers assigned to your team as well as the total wages and upcoming contracts that might be expiring.
Players can also develop players. All players are set on a development plan. The plan gets a player to focus on improving particular skills in order to help develop his overall ability, as players get older his skills start to decline. Managers can choose a plan that slows down the decline of the particular skill zones which makes the player effective during games. Managers can put a player on a plan to change his preferred position. For a veteran player, managers can slow down the decline of any particular skills which can help them transition successfully.
No professional football club can be successful without a youth program. And the youth Academy is where managers can look at how many up-and-coming stars they have to make the first team. Players can also choose to develop individual players in the youth Academy.
TRANSFERS
Another key to success is keeping your squad fresh with new blood. Transfers is a big part of managing your team. Under the transfer tab players can access the scout report, skills, search players, transfer hub, youth staff, and or transfer history.
When scouting players managers have to keep in mind that each scout has specific skills. An experienced scout can find more players. A scout with better judgment can find players of higher quality. Overtime, scouts will be able to offer more detailed information about the players they’re looking at. When a player has been fully scouted, the scout will report on their skills and abilities, the players market value, price range within which a manager might be able to negotiate a transfer will be made available.
A manager can have a scouting Netwerk of up to six scouts. Their task with finding players in different parts of the world. The manager has to give instructions to find players based on position, age, skills, or contract details. The manager has to decide what different countries to send scouts to, the wider the network, the better chances of finding players the team needs.
Managers can improve the scanning network by hiring up to three youth scouts who can help by finding young players with potential each youth scout has skills just like the pro level scouts.
OFFICE
Every manager needs a good front office. This is where a manager can look at the finances and budget overview of their team. They can also look at a teams calendar, the track record of their career, browse any manager offers, take an in-depth look at player stats, and check out the latest tables from around different leagues.
The budget overview is broken down into the current budget, weekly budget, total amount spent for the season, and the weekly spent. This is where any transactions can be seen as long as well as a monthly breakdown of any prize money, ticket sales, cuts, and sold players. Players can reference positive income with the green and expenses with red.
As the season progresses Manager will get offers from other teams expressing interest in loaning or buying out some of their players. If a manager lists a player for a transfer or loan, interest in them will increase and the manager will get more offers for them. block offers for players that you aren’t willing to sell at any price. some clubs will offer deals including a player that they’re willing to exchange. Managers can ask to take a different player or they can refuse an exchange and insist on a new transfer fee. Managers can choose to delay or negotiate the contract for better terms. If they decide to delay or negotiate a contract they can negotiate the length of the contract as well as any additional release clauses.In the weeks and days leading up to your opening day be prepared for a lot of training and decisions to be made, gamers are now managing an entire club not just an individual player. Managers can change the schedule rules for their training and must pay close attention to the rest and recovery days before and after matches. Club managers can change the weekly plan to “intermittent rest”,” intermittent training”, “all rest”, or “all training”. These directly affect the morale sharpness and fitness of the players.
On actual game day managers play a single player match and receive personalized notes from the team trainer after the game. In the first game, for instance, players are encouraged to develop the basic skills and moves by using ground passes, shooting the ball with good aim, and using the standing tackle. At the end of the game players are given an overall manager rating as well as individual player ratings.
If you think you have what it takes to successfully manage your career as a manager then the manager mode is the one for you!
Seasons
Seasons is where a FIFA Player can take their favorite squad online in order to compete with other FIFA players from around the world. Players are placed into Divisions and have to earn their way up to the higher divisions by winning matches. Each season has a set amount of games as well as targets for the players to reach in order to stay in that divisions, advance to a higher divisions, win the season title or if things don’t go to well, face relegation to a lower divison to have to earn their way back up the ranks.
If you’re more of a team player and want to engage in online club play there are two different options for players to take part in. The first option is the Volta football, the other option are pro clubs. In these modes the player will have to create a new avatar footballer the same way they do in career mode. This avatar is shared across both modes.
Pro clubs
Pro clubs have players create a Pro and play a single position on a team with drop-in matches with other online players up to 11 v 11. As players level up their online pro they earn seasonal unlocks and character avatar customization.
If players want to play online with a group of friends or make friends online they can create a pro club which is based off of one of the many teams available in FIFA 23. Players can play through seasons and rank up through the divisions. Players who create a pro club can choose the logo, as well as the stadium settings for their club.
If a player doesn’t have any online friends or friends that play FIFA they can choose to join one of the teams that are taking open recruitment. Players should know that they might not be able to play the position that they originally requested if a team already has that position filled.
Players do not have to create a pro club to take part in online pro club matches. They can choose to drop in and play a pick up game of sorts with other random players online.
At the end of the pro club match players earn experience points as well as Volta coins which can be spent in the Volta pro store.
Volta Football
Volta football is the street side of FIFA football. This is where players can express their individual style with the customization of the avatar and take part in fast paced games and challenges.
Volta objectives: players have weekly objectives to earn season points (SP). Objectives include scoring a goal with their avatar, scoring a finesse shot, or playing a Volta squad match. Players also have milestones they can reach like customizing your avatar or playing five battle matches to earn additional SP.
There are three game modes in FIFA 23 Volta play.
Volta squads: Join up to three other players in an online match against another squad. This is a fast paced street ball type game with smaller goals, there are no out of bounds, and players use the walls to their advantage.
In arcade mode players join up to three players for a competitive series of multiplayer party games like target gallery, where players have to move and shoot targets to earn points or put a ball through a hoop to earn double points. In dodgeball players have to kick balls to strike the opposing team. The first team to 15 points wins.
Volta battles are where gamers can play alone or couch co-op against AI opponents to earn battle points and prizes like Volta coins, seasonal items and more.
Like I mentioned earlier, no FIFA game is complete without mentioning the soundtrack. For music lovers and those who appreciate good music I highly recommend not only is this soundtrack but all other FIFA soundtracks in the past. The FIFA 23 soundtrack is a well curated list of some of the world’s finest artists, some of which we would never get to hear on mainstream American radio.
This years FIFA 23 soundtrack:
- Alewya – Jagna
- Ark Woods – First Flight To Mars
- Bad Bunny, Bomba Estéreo – Ojitos Lindos
- Badshah, J Balvin, Tainy – Voodoo
- Bakermat – Madan (King)
- Bianca Costa – Ounana
- Biig Piig – FUN
- blackwave. ft. Abhi The Nomad – a-okay
- Bru-C – Playground
- Chappaqua Wrestling – Full Round Table
- Crooked Colours – Feel It
- Cryalot – Hurt Me
- Danger Mouse & Black Thought (feat. Michael Kiwanuka) – Aquamarine
- Daniela Lalita – Tenía Razón
- FKA twigs ft. Shygirl – Papi Bones
- Flume ft. Caroline Polachek Sirens Australia, US
- George FitzGerald Passed Tense (feat. Panda Bear) UK
- Gorillaz – New Song
- Greentea Peng – Stuck In The Middle
- Haich Ber Na – So Sick Of Me
- Hak Baker – Bricks in the Wall
- Harry Stone – Daydreaming
- Hayden James & Cassian ft. Elderbrook – On Your Own
- James BKS ft. The Big Hash – High Level
- Ibeyi ft. Pa Salieu – Made of Gold
- Labrinth – Lift Off
- Lane 8 ft. Arctic Lake – All I Want
- Loyle Carner – New Song
- M.I.A. – Beep
- MILKBLOOD – Disco Closure
- moa moa – Drive
- Muddy Monk – Smthng
- Nathan Day – Hello Alien
- Nia Archives – Forbidden Feelingz
- Niko B – Rips in Jeans
- ODESZA – Behind The Sun
- Phantoms ft. Big Wild – Firepit
- Pheelz ft. BNXN – Finesse
- Phoenix – Tonight feat. Ezra Koenig
- PONGO – Kuzola
- ROSALÍA – SAOKO
- Rose Gray – Prettier Than You
- Sampa The Great ft. Angélique Kidjo – Let Me Be Great
- San Holo – All The Highs
- Sea Girls – Falling Apart
- SOFY – Big Talk
- SOHN -MIA
- Stromae – Fils de joie
- The Knocks ft. Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – Walking On Water
- Trueno, Victor Heredia – TIERRA ZANTA
- Tseba ft. Electric Fields – Must Be Love
- Venice – Can’t Sleep
- Willow Kayne – White City
- Wings of Desire – Choose A Life
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs ft. Perfume Genius – Spitting Off the Edge of the World
- Young Fathers – Rice
- Bad Boy Timz ft. Olamide – Skelele
- Bonobo ft. O’Flynn – Otomo
- Central Cee – Obsessed With You
- Chase & Status ft. Takura – Don’t Be Scared
- Curtis Richa – Work It Out
- Dapz On The Map – Give Thanks
- Denzel Curry ft. Slowthai – Zatoichi
- Disclosure, RAYE – Waterfall
- Doss – Look
- Edd – Mama Used to Say
- Effy – Not Yours
- Eunique – Man nennt mich
- Gardna ft. MC Spyda & Selecta J-Man – Disturb Them
- Gorgon City, DRAMA – You’ve Done Enough
- Graham Lake ft. Avelino – Run em Down
- IDK & Kaytranada ft. Denzel Curry – Dog Food
- Jack Harlow – Nail Tech
- James BKS ft. The Big Hash – High Level
- Joy Club & TIEKS – Lifted
- Koffee – Pull Up
- Kojey Radical ft. Knucks -Payback
- Kungs with The Knocks – People
- LODATO & Janice Robinson – Dreamer
- Lous and The Yakuza – Kisé
- Luude ft. Dear Sunday – Wanna Stay
- LYAM ft. Wiki – THE REAPERS
- Mall Grab ft. Novelist, D Double E – Times Change
- Manga Saint Hilare, Jelani Blackman – Maybe Not
- Michael Calfan & Leo Stannard – Better
- Moksi, Diede – T.T.Y.N.
- Monty & Visages ft. PAV4N & Strategy – Hardware
- Nas – 40-16 Building
- Nightmares on Wax ft. OSHUN – Breathe In
- P Money x Whiney – Sorry I’m Not Sorry
- Piers James – Showbiz
- Quevedo, Linton – Ahora y Siempre
- Regents – Heritage
- Remi Wolf – Quiet On Set
- Ruckspin X Eliza Legzdina – Leader of the Pack
- sadeyes, Lil Xtra, nothing,nowhere. – i’m not okay
- seeyousoon – Fix Your Face
- Seun Kuti & Black Thought – Ku Ku Kee Mee (Remix) ft. Akala
- Shenseea – RUN RUN
- Silvana Imam ft. Jaqe – Hela Vägen Upp
- Smoke DZA, Girl Talk – Season
- Tassia Zappia – I’m Gon’ Get You
- Watch The Ride x Emz – READY4DEM
- Wh0 -Sunshine
- Young Franco ft. Jay Prince, Scrufizzer, Close Counters – Rollout
- yunè pinku – DC Rot
Soccer is the worlds game for good reason, it’s a beautiful and exciting sport. FIFA has long been one of my most favorite sports games and continues to be so. The controls for this years game seem to be improved over last years with a simpler penalty kick and corner mechanics. Overall FIFA 23 is a must have for all sports gaming fans!
