Most Iconic Fifa Games That Revolutionised Football Gaming

Fifa has been a cornerstone of gaming for decades now and it has been a generation's biggest game. Similarly to Call of Duty, Fifa (EAFC now) feels like it is stepping away from what made it so popular but is attracting more players every year. This is an issue that fans are very vocal about and is probably the main reason why when you ask a FIFA fan their favourite FIFA game they will almost always say a game that is nearly a decade old. So let's say I got asked this question, what are my three favourite FIFA games? Here's how I would answer. 

Fifa 11

Around this era, FIFa was at its peak in my eyes. They were adding features that improved gameplay and made the game more fun for everyone instead of only for a select few, as they do now. They added a new passing and dribbling system to make the game look and feel more realistic as well as updated the career mode system by adding more realism to the saves and made using the career modes for in-play football betting with live odds a little hack for better betting results and adding a player career mode which was massive at the time. All these updates are necessary and made the gameplay a lot better.

However, sometimes the focus on realism hindered the gameplay a little bit which made playing the game a little harder but it also made people feel rewarded for being good at the game in the long run. 

Fifa 12

This is my all-time favourite FIFA and one of my favourite video games of all time. Rushing home from school and playing this with my friends is a memory I constantly think about and will cherish. Not only is this a massive factor, but it also added Fifa’s most iconic gameplay feature, Ultimate Team and this was the start of FIFA being the only really popular football game, quickly beating out PES.

As well as the insanely popular Ultimate Team, FIFA introduced the Impact Engine which was massive for the game and improved everything about its gameplay. The collusions of players changed, utilising the speed, balance, size and angle of the collision to make it look more realistic. The Impact Engine completely changed everything about the game, improved on all of the previous instalments as well as added the biggest feature in the game's history, which also would be seen as the downfall of the game. 

Fifa 15

Finally, FIFA 15 is battling FIFA 12 as my favourite FIFA of all time. The graphics, game, play quality, card design, the trailers that became iconic, everything was perfect. The main improvement of FIFA 15 was the realism they focused on, they wanted everything in the game to feel real. They added features such as ‘emotional intelligence’ which allowed every player on the pitch to make 600 reactions depending on what was happening in the game, which made it feel like a real football match.

They added more realistic game physics, the aforementioned emotional intelligence, and better visuals and graphics, with every stadium given atmosphere and chants that were right for the club you were playing as and an improved the ultimate team. Everything a player could want was improved. They also added new commentators, using the iconic Martin Tyler and Alan Smith to make the game feel exactly like you are watching a real game, which was the motto of this year. 

Looking back at the old FIFA’s reminds me of how much the game has, unfortunately, downgraded with the gameplay getting worse, the ultimate team being very heavy on putting in real cash and exploits making the game feel uneven. It is upsetting and hopefully, we get back to the golden days of football games soon.