FIFA 19

The Champions League expands FIFA’s exhaustive selection of licences – but thanks to lessons learned last year there’s plenty to love out on the pitch, too.

I’ve been playing football games for almost half my life now. In that time I haven’t seen such a drastic update to the series as I have seen from FIFA 18 to FIFA 19. The most publicized addition to the game is the recent acquisition of the Champions League license from UEFA, but the significant changes come in the form of the gameplay tweaks. Considering how FIFA 18 was widely regarded as a decent...

EA still has some tricks up their sleeve on the gameplay front that can continue to make FIFA an enjoyable, albeit complex, sports sim.

In an annualized franchise, many gamers question if a yearly iteration is 'skippable' or not. There is little room for doubt this year: FIFA 19 is a must-have for fans of the beautiful game. EA Sports has injected plenty of new life into the franchise with its fun take on the new kickoff mode and the long-awaited re-acquisition of Champions League and Europa rights, and has greased the wheels of a...

With a plethora of new modes and some significant gameplay tweaks that make ball control more convincing, FIFA 19 is a distinct improvement upon last year's effort. Not all of these additions hit the mark, however, such as the Gears of War-style shooting mechanic and a handful of the new Kick-Off modes. When coupled with an underbaked The Journey single-player campaign, those slow down its momentu...

Despite the lack of career mode improvements, FIFA 19 is a faithful representation of the sport we know and love, complete with unparalleled bells and whistles. But it falls a bit short of the mark of being the definitive experience we had hoped for this year.

Zidane’s Real Madrid might have won three Champions League titles in a row, but did they change the way people think about how football should be played? No.

Well, it’s still not enough. EA has been working with this title for many years now and the amounts of improvements are simply not enough to brag about a game that any gamer will play for many months. Especially when the rival series PES is making significant improvements in all aspects. And, letting the PC gamers down with an unfinished product has raised the question of whether EA is capable to ...

Despite the updates to some areas of FIFA 19, there’s undoubtedly going to be a large section of the FIFA community unhappy with the lack of changes in Career Mode and Pro Clubs. I’m disappointed that Career Mode hasn’t seen any significant improvements, but the on pitch changes make for more exciting matches with attacking and defending feeling more cohesive. I’ll no doubt be sinking many hours i...

Is the gameplay fun? Sure, but it's largely the same as last year. Career mode gets Champions League branding but nothing else noteworthy. Pro Clubs and Seasons get ignored. The Journey is fun, but cannot make up for the rest of the largely ignored modes. If you love FUT, you'll love this game. Otherwise, it just isn't worth banging your head against the wall for another year of much of the same. ...

Missing something.

Another year and another round of annual sports games is upon us. When its comes to the world of football (and I’m not talking Aussie Rules here folks) one big name springs to mind and that’s FIFA. There’s definitely no denying that EA are the kings of sports gaming and FIFA is the flagship that sailed them there. While EA may be leading the competition when its comes to digital sports, that doesn...