FIFA 21 | |
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Developer(s) | EA Vancouver EA Romania |
Publisher(s) | EA Sports |
Series | FIFA |
Engine | Frostbite 3 |
Platform(s) | |
Release |
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Genre(s) | Sports |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
FIFA 21 is an association football simulation video game published by Electronic Arts as part of the FIFA series . [1] It is the 28th installment in the FIFA series, and was released on 9 October 2020 for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Enhanced versions for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and Series S were released on 3 December 2020, in addition to a version for Stadia in March 2021.
Ultimate Team features 100 icon players, including 11 new names: Eric Cantona, Petr Čech, Ashley Cole, Samuel Eto'o, Philipp Lahm, Ferenc Puskás, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Davor Šuker, Fernando Torres, Nemanja Vidić, and Xavi all feature as icons for the first time. [2] [3] Jens Lehmann was not featured as an icon in FUT 21 compared to previous games.
Ultimate Team sees the addition of a co-op gameplay feature in the form of Division Rivals, Squad Battles and Friendlies with a friend online to unlock objectives and rewards. FUT was surrounded by controversy due to it being classified as a loot box and a source of online gambling. In January 2019, EA agreed to stop selling FIFA points in Belgium, following government pressure. [4] Petitions to ban the points elsewhere began in June 2020, with the points' legality being debated in the US and UK, the latter via the UK's Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. [5] Similarly, a Dutch judge decided that EA should be fined €0.5 million per week until the loot boxes were removed. [6] The players can customize their own FUT stadium with tifos, pyrotechnics, trophies, music, statues and stands as their FUT club grows. In-game stats can now be upgraded individually for special cards (the example given is if Trent Alexander-Arnold scored a free-kick for a TOTW in-form item, the free-kick accuracy can be much higher than his other in-form items). Live FUT friendlies combines house rules with squad rules to create different match types that change throughout the year. Redesigned menus allow the access to their squad and stadium directly from anywhere in the main menu. In new FUT events, the players can pick sides and compete against the FUT community to unlock packs, coins, club items or players in Team Event Objectives. The players can work together with the entire community and earn shared rewards by completing objectives as a collective.
The Top 100 has been expanded to Top 200 in FUT Champions. 30 matches in Division Rivals contribute to their weekly rating. They can play more matches for skill points and FUT Champions points but they won't increase own rank. Players can make extra coin rewards when they get promoted to a new division for the first time in Division Rivals. Squad Battles can be used to determine their rivals division at the start of FUT 21.
Fitness and training consumable items have been removed from the game. [7] Players still lose fitness and stamina during a match, but automatically start their next game at full fitness. Healing items have been simplified to just gold common and rare items. [8]
The player's club can be transferred from PlayStation 4 to PlayStation 5, and from Xbox One to Xbox Series X and Series S, but not from PlayStation to Xbox or vice versa.
On 9 September 2020, EA Released the Ultimate Team ratings of the Top 100 Players. Barcelona forward Lionel Messi topped the list with a rating of 93, followed by Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo with a 92 rating, and Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak, Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar, Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, and Bayern Munich forward Robert Lewandowski all with 91's.
Career Mode sees new additions following years of criticism from the community - mainly to the manager mode. [9] [10] New additions include; a revamped interactive match simulation mode, which allows players to instantly jump in and out of matches in addition to changing game plans in real time. A new and improved training system which allows for weekly training schedules and the ability to train players to play in different positions, new stats such as match fitness and growth, an improved youth academy system, more transfer options such as loan to buy deals, and enhanced opposition AI. [9]
Volta Football was introduced in FIFA 20, and returns in FIFA 21. According to producers, Volta 21 has gameplay improvements and introduces new playing modes such as The Debut, the sequel to last year's story mode, featuring Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry, Kaká and Frank Lampard. Volta Football also features Volta Squads, an online mode where people can play with friends, and Feature Battles mode. There are also five new locations (Dubai, Milan, Paris, São Paulo and Sydney) with the addition of the VOLTA Stadium. [11] [12]
The story of Volta 21 is the continuation of the story of Revvy as he continues his career journey as a street footballer, taking part in a tournament in São Paulo hosted by Kaká. After Revvy's team win, Kaká invites Revvy's teammate Kotaro Tokuda to a tournament in Dubai as his team's captain. Revvy and his teammates are jealous, but Beatriz Villanova – Alex Hunter's agent – has set up a series of matches against the teams in the tournament around the World in the hopes that beating them would secure Revvy's team a place in the tournament, at the expense of one of the other teams with the agreement being Revvy will have to pay her back if his team make it to Dubai. After winning their matches in Paris, Sydney, and Milan, Revvy's team are invited to the tournament. Upon arrival, Beatriz informs the team that the teams would be managed by legendary former footballers – those Managers being Zidane, Henry, Kaká, and Lampard. Revvy chooses Henry as his team's Manager. The team go on to win the tournament, defeating Kaká's team in the final. Revvy's team then plays an exhibition match against a team consisting of the legendary players.
The game features more than 30 official leagues, over 700 clubs, and over 17,000 players. [13] In August 2020, EA Sports announced an exclusive multi-year partnership with Milan and Inter Milan. [14]
Juventus, Roma, River Plate, Boca Juniors and Corinthians are not featured in FIFA 21 and instead are known as Piemonte Calcio, Roma FC, Nuñez, Buenos Aires and Oceânico FC respectively. The game retains the players' likenesses (except for Oceânico FC), but the official badge, kits and stadiums are unavailable and instead feature custom designs and generic stadiums produced by EA Sports. Bayern Munich is also featured in the game with licensed players and kits but do not have their stadium licence and play in a generic stadium. [15] The Finland national football team is fully licensed for the first time.
Elland Road, home of Leeds United, was not originally included in the game despite the club achieving promotion to the Premier League. EA stated that this was due to the season being delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which meant there was insufficient time for it to be included at launch. [16] However, in February 2021, the stadium was finally added to the game, thus ensuring all 20 Premier League teams had their respective stadiums. [17]
The Riazor, home of Deportivo de La Coruña, didn’t appear in FIFA 21 due to the club’s relegation to Segunda B. This meant that it was one of two stadiums (along with the Stadio Olimpico), the home ground of AS Roma, to be deleted. [18]
In November 2020, Zlatan Ibrahimović announced he is not pleased with usage of his likeness by EA Sports in its games, especially FIFA 21 and intends to take legal actions against the developer. [19] Claiming that he didn't personally authorize EA Sports to use his likeness he was joined by Gareth Bale and also started to receive support from as many as 300 other players. [20]
FIFA 21 was released worldwide on 9 October 2020 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. [21] [22] [23] As with previous installments, the Switch version is a "Legacy Edition", that contains updated kits, rosters, and minor updates, but does not include the new modes. [23] The game has three official editions: Ultimate, Champions and Standard. The Ultimate and Champions editions were released on 6 October ahead of the release of the standard edition on 9 October. [21] EA Play subscribers were able to get a 10-hour early access trial of FIFA 21 on 1 October. [22] The game was also released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Stadia in December. [21]
FIFA 21 was the first Fifa game not having a free demo. [24]
In July 2020, Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappé was announced as the cover star of the all three editions. [25] [26] Erling Haaland, Trent Alexander-Arnold, João Félix, Sam Kerr, Wu Lei, Javier Hernández, and Carlos Vela were announced as the official ambassadors of the game. [27] [28]
The FIFA Next ambassadors, a curated list featuring the emerging talent who embody the meaning of 'Win as One', are Mason Mount, Georgia Stanway, Phil Foden, Mallory Pugh, Steven Bergwijn, Théo Hernandez, Rodrygo, Sergiño Dest, Giovanni Reyna, Bruno Guimarães, Hwang Hee-chan, and Aaron Connolly. [28] [29] [30]
It is the first game in the series to feature neither Martin Tyler nor Alan Smith as English-language commentators since FIFA 06 . They were replaced by Derek Rae and Lee Dixon.
Aggregator | Score |
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Metacritic | NS: 33/100 [31] PC: 74/100 [32] PS4: 72/100 [33] XONE: 77/100 [34] PS5: 74/100 [35] XSX: 74/100 [36] |
Publication | Score |
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IGN | 7/10 [37] |
Nintendo Life | [38] |
PC Gamer (UK) | 70/100 [39] |
Push Square | 7/10 [40] |
Our Culture Mag | [41] |
TechRadar | [42] |
According to Metacritic, the Xbox One version of the game received "generally positive" reviews from critics while the PC and PS4 versions received "mixed or average" reviews. The Nintendo Switch version received "generally unfavourable" reviews from critics.
IGN gave the Nintendo Switch version of FIFA 21 a 2/10, electing to largely republish the same review it previously gave FIFA 20 since the game was "virtually unchanged" from it (which itself was also largely unchanged from FIFA 19 ), and concluding that "if last year's release was borderline insulting, this year's is just plain disgraceful." [43]
It was nominated for the category of Best Sports/Racing game at The Game Awards 2020, [44] as well as Sports Game of the Year at the 24th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards. [45]
Upon its reveal, critics and fans criticised FIFA 21's box art, calling its composition incoherent and comparing it to the cover of EA Sports UFC 4 , which received similar criticism. [46]
In mid-March 2021, players discovered that at least one EA employee was selling special "Icon Moment" cards from the Ultimate Team portion of the game, otherwise rare cards to be gained through grinding in the game or through microtransaction purchases with a chance to get one in new packs. These sales went for hundreds of U.S. dollars via direct sale through secret channels, rather than through the in-game trading system. This became known as "EAGate" as more players reported such sales. [47] EA launched an investigation, reporting initially that multiple EA accounts were apparently selling these Icon Moments through the game's "content granting" mechanism, which allows EA to normally grant players Ultimate Team items at its discretion outside of normal gameplay, [48] and later that it was indefinitely suspending the "content granting" system until they completed their investigation. [49]
FIFA is a discontinued football video game franchise that was developed by EA Vancouver and EA Romania and published by EA Sports. As of 2011, the FIFA franchise has been localized into 18 languages and available in 51 countries. Listed in Guinness World Records as the best-selling sports video game franchise in the world, the FIFA series has sold over 325 million copies as of 2021. On 10 May 2022, it was announced that EA and FIFA's partnership of 30 years would come to an end upon the termination of their licensing agreement, making FIFA 23 the last entry to the franchise under the FIFA name. As a successor to the FIFA series, EA launched the EA Sports FC franchise, with EA Sports FC 24 being the first installment under the new name.
FIFA has licensed FIFA World Cup video games since 1986, of which only a few were received positively by the critics, but given the popularity of the competition, they all did positively on the market, and the license is one of the most sought-after. Originally in the hands of U.S. Gold, Electronic Arts acquired it in 1997 and is the current holder.
FIFA 09 is a football simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label. It was released in October 2008 for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Xbox 360 and Zeebo. It was later in November 2008 released for the N-Gage 2.0 and mobile phones.
FIFA 10 is a football simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts worldwide under the EA Sports label. It was released on 2 October 2009 in Europe, 1 October in Australasia and 20 October 2009 in North America. It is available for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2 and Wii. Handheld versions of the game were also released for the iOS, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, and Mobile Phones.
FIFA 11, titled FIFA Soccer 11 in North America, is a football simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts worldwide under the EA Sports label. It was released on 28 September 2010 in North America, 30 September 2010 in Australia, and 1 October 2010 in Europe for all platforms, except the Wii and Nintendo DS. The Wii version was released on 1 October 2010 in North America and Europe and the DS version on 8 October 2010. The Windows version of FIFA 11 is the first in the series to use the same game engine as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions. The game received positive reviews and was awarded 'Sports Game of the Year' at the Golden Joystick Awards after a record-breaking 2.05 million votes. This was the last FIFA title to be released for the Nintendo DS.
FIFA 12 is a football simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts worldwide under the EA Sports label. It was released in September 2011 on consoles for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii; on handhelds for PlayStation Portable, Nintendo 3DS, Xperia Play, Android and iOS; and on computers for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. A port of the game entitled FIFA Football was released as a launch title for the PlayStation Vita.
FIFA 13 is a football simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts worldwide under the EA Sports label. The game was released in late September 2012 in most regions with the Japanese release being in October.[a]
FIFA 14 is a football simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts worldwide under the EA Sports label. It was released in September 2013 for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo 3DS and Windows. It was released as a freemium, under the title FIFA 14 Mobile, for iOS and Android on 23 September 2013 and for Windows Phone 8 on 28 February 2014, although much of the game is inaccessible without an in-app payment. It was a launch title for both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in November 2013. The PlayStation 2 version was only released in PAL territories and Spanish-speaking markets, and was the last game released for the system in the Americas. The PlayStation Portable version was only released as a digital download in North America.
FIFA 15 is a football simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label. It was released on 23 September 2014 in North America, 25 September in Europe and Australia and 26 September in the United Kingdom and Ireland for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo 3DS, Wii, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, iOS, Android and Windows Phone. On PC for the first time, FIFA 15 runs on EA's Ignite engine with the same features as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 editions. This is the final game in the FIFA series to be available on the Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Wii and PlayStation Vita, as well as the last game published by Electronic Arts for the former.
FIFA 16 is a football simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Android and iOS.
FIFA 17 is a football simulation video game developed and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label. It was released in September 2016 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. This is the first FIFA game in the series to use the Frostbite game engine. Borussia Dortmund player Marco Reus serves as the cover athlete on the game.
FIFA 18 is a football simulation video game developed and published by Electronic Arts and released worldwide on 29 September 2017 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. It is the 25th installment in the FIFA series. Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, at the time contracted to Real Madrid, appears as the cover athlete of the regular edition, as well as the alternate covers of the Icon and 2018 FIFA World Cup editions of the game.
FIFA 19 is a football simulation video game developed by EA Vancouver and released by Electronic Arts on 28 September 2018 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows. It is the 26th installment in the FIFA series.
FIFA 20 is a football simulation video game published by Electronic Arts as part of the FIFA series. It is the 27th installment in the series and was released on 27 September 2019 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. This is the first game in the main series to not have Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions since FIFA 06 and FIFA 07 respectively.
NHL 21 is an ice hockey simulation video game developed by EA Vancouver and published by EA Sports. It is the 30th installment in the NHL game series and was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles in October 2020. It is the last EA Sports title to run on the Ignite engine.
EA Sports FC 24 is an association football-themed simulation video game developed by EA Vancouver and EA Romania and published by EA Sports. It is the inaugural installment in the EA Sports FC series, succeeding the FIFA video game series after Electronic Arts's partnership with FIFA concluded with FIFA 23. EA Sports FC 24 is the 31st overall installment of EA Sports' football simulation games, and was released on 29 September 2023 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
FIFA 22 is a football simulation video game published by Electronic Arts. It is the 29th installment in the FIFA series, and was released worldwide on 1 October 2021 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Players who pre-ordered the ultimate edition, however, received four days of early access and were able to play the game from 27 September.
FIFA 23 is a football video game published by EA Sports. It is the 30th and final installment in the FIFA series that is developed by EA Sports, and released worldwide on 30 September 2022 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
EA Sports FC is a football video game franchise developed by EA Vancouver and EA Romania and published by EA Sports. It serves as the direct successor to their former FIFA series, which was discontinued following the termination of EA and FIFA's licensing agreement, serving as a continuation of EA Sports' football simulation games.
Ultimate Team, also known as FC Ultimate Team, Football Ultimate Team, and formerly FIFA Ultimate Team – commonly abbreviated as FUT – is an online game mode within the EA Sports association football simulation video game franchises of FIFA and EA Sports FC. It was introduced in the 2008 game FIFA 09 and allows gamers to build an all-star team featuring footballers from different teams in order to compete against other gamers or the game's computer AI. Playing reaps in-game bonuses.
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