EA Sports released the newest edition of their FIFA series on Sept. 24 but aside from new game modes, FIFA 20’s gameplay feels like a step down from last year’s edition.

The FIFA series has been around for about 25 years and each year, EA has tried to introduce new and innovative ways to improve how the game plays, looks and feels.

In previous years, EA has given gamers the opportunity to play as women’s teams, story and online modes and even Champions and Europa League modes, which happen to be real professional football tournaments.

This year, one of the major highlights of FIFA 20 has to be the reintroduction of street football in a game mode called Volta.

Street football isn’t anything new for avid FIFA gamers but Volta does spark a sense of excitement since the last street football game was released in 2012.

The idea of bringing back street football to FIFA is a great one but those who have played the street games in the past will notice the game mode is not an accurate reflection of the old games.

This mode’s gameplay is very similar to the regular FIFA style in its simplicity but EA did do a good job in capturing what real street football scenes are like in South America and Europe.

Volta allows gamers to personalize their player with fun outfits while they embark on a journey to different cities to play against their best football teams.

Aside from Volta, the entire game is not anything special and it does not help that FIFA has always been repetitive even though EA is constantly claiming to making significant changes every year.

The graphics are high quality but they look identical to the last couple of years which were already good enough.

The gameplay is played at a slow pace and the mechanics make it hard to play for beginner and experienced gamers.

As a loyal FIFA aficionado that has been playing these games since 2001, I will say FIFA 20 has hit a brick wall and this year’s release is not what I imagined or hoped for.

EA can’t change the entire game but a positive thing is the company’s efforts to keep the FIFA community engaged by releasing frequent updates meant to create a better experience.

Rating: 3.5/5