FIFA 20

For fun and realistic gameplay, FIFA 20 can't be beat, though the specter of card packs looms large over the game's Ultimate Team mode.

Right on the heels of eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer 2020 firing a solid shot across the bow of EA’s battle-tested workhorse, it was high time that FIFA 20 had the chance to return volley. Taking aim at Konami’s bare-bones product, the world’s best-selling footie simulator has brought along a bevy of new ways to experience the pitch. Can FIFA’s formulaic gameplay overcome the sheer quality of Pro Evo’s mechanics or is this another case where less is very much more?

Volta is a brilliant addition to FIFA and the gameplay is better than ever, but a few own goals hold FIFA 20 back from greatness.

FIFA 20 makes marginal improvements to an already successful formula in its core modes and offers something exciting in Volta.

Without much cosmetic polish to fall back on, FIFA 20 needed to bring something new to the table. Although the core gameplay isn’t mind-blowingly different, it’s still the best football game, and the addition of VOLTA is a whole new way to play.

Obviously, the game is playable. Some people are going to like it more. I've said this and I want to make it clear. However, the gameplay in FIFA does not feel like a simulation of actual soccer. It feels like some weird mix of magically perfect passes and shots and players with zero soccer IQ. For me, that makes FIFA 20 just a step below PES this season. Hopefully, in the future, we get some kind of Frankenstein monster of PES' gameplay and Master League and FIFA's everything else. Now that would be a beautiful game.

Beneath the fireworks and confetti, FIFA 20’s lacking match fitness.

“FIFA 20's Volta mode is a stellar new addition, but other tweaks are less impressive.”

If you've enjoyed FIFA in the past, you'll still enjoy it now, but if its brand of football doesn't appeal to you, FIFA 20 isn't going to change your mind.

FIFA 20 once again proves that when it comes to playing with friends, nobody's got anything on this series. Unfortunately, things aren't so great with everything the game offers.

Looking back at the frustrating last few years, FIFA 20 is undeniably the biggest step forward the series has taken for a while, particularly in terms of new content.

FIFA 20 has Volta at the center of its marketing and successfully introduces a mode that has real potential, but it’s not the experience that reinvents the franchise. Some players will fall in love with it from the minute they first play it, while others will feel the novelty quickly wear off. If the player heads into the mode with the expectation that this is the spiritual successor to FIFA Street, they will feel disappointed after going hands-on with the mode. Irrespective of Volta, FIFA 20 does little to inject the series with gripping features to help improve the stagnating single-player e...