So my very early impressions at the moment are a little bit mixed. I think there are some definite positives which are great and can make a big difference. However, I fear some old issues might spoil it..again.
I want to be constructive so I'm not hating on the game. I actually think it could turn out to be quite good if some adjustments are made. I just want to explain it and provide some examples and pray it can be fixed.
I should say, I'm not so much a 'mechanics' guy, I can overlook certain flaws of the game if it makes me have to think when I play it - so that's mainly the focus for now. I also look at the way the game comes as a base. I have attempted to fix any issues I'm talking about below also. If I've noticed it, I've tried sliders, settings etc to try and fix it before writing about it. If right or wrong, I've moved beyond the idea that it will come perfectly out of the box and we can just play. For me, it will be a result of getting the right combination of settings, sliders and possibly mods down the track.
Positives:
+ The AI feels deeper. There's much more variety in their play which results in more organic, unpredictable moments. They hold the ball a little longer and 'think', they don't just pass, pass, pass. This shouldn't be understated - it is a big deal. It feels less 'soulless' than FIFA 20.
+ The 'skating' feeling has definitely improved. Is it perfect? No, but it's an improvement in my opinion, players do feel a little more grounded compared to what they have previously.
+ The shooting ball physics feel really good, it's not as 'floaty' as last year. There's more punch and gravity to shots.
+ The game in general feels smoother which isn't all that descriptive, but it does feel different and better to FIFA 20.
+/- Midfield/positioning - this is where things get a little bit frustrating. I need to have a midfield in a football game. There's actually nothing I hate more than just constant end to end. I do think there's a midfield in this game - but I think it could be much better with the elimination of 1v1. I think the midfield resistance has improved compared to FIFA 20 (so in that regard it is a positive), but it's still not at the level I feel it should be - especially on Legendary. So for me this is both a positive and a negative and I'll explain a little more about why in the negatives.
+/- 1v1 - It's a positive in the sense it's not quite as bad as before. Teams do defend a little more as a team, but it's a massive negative that it exists at all. We have a on/off setting for so many things, why can't we just SWITCH 1v1 OFF!
Negatives:
- The 1v1. This is the biggest problem with the game in my opinion. It just creates many positional problems throughout a match which really pull you from the immersion and ruins so many of the positives. To be fair, it's less of an issue than last year and the defensive line is more active, but the midfielders really do switch off and it leads to many problems.
The fact that it exists means the overriding instruction for the AI is to have it's own target. This just doesn't hold up to basic football logic and creates many times where a player is being marked in order to satisfy the '1v1' and they will ignore danger and ignore marking 'dangerous, logical space' as a result.
I've provided a couple of examples below of what it can lead to.
For the sake of comparison I want to show how it should look - so I've used FIFA 16 as an example.
In the 21 clip you'll see Xhaka and Ceballos just completely uninterested in what is happening in front of them. They just stroll along and stand watching.
In the FIFA 16 examples, you will see how the central midfielders are active and engaged, moving to cover dangerous areas. You'll see Ceballos tracking a run deep into the box and you'll see both of them condensing space on the wings, adjusting their position based on the position of the ball. All of this results in far less 'isolation play'
....which brings me to the other negative of 21...the collision system.
- The collision system There's not a proper battling for the ball and it's just far too easy to get beyond a player. Defenders often put their hands out and do a whole lot of nothing at all, and you can just keep running away. The 1v1 problem makes this collision issue far worse, because often once you're beyond that player you generally don't have other players around you to have to beat. The 1v1 means if you've beaten someone, the AI by philosophy won't mark you or react quickly enough (which you'll see in the next video). It leads to so much space and it results in too many long vertical runs through space with a defender or two chasing you.
Again, I've provided a video example, showing you how this can happen and have compared it FIFA 16. There's just a small example of 16, but it shows how you have to consider physicality and you can't just twist your way out of danger with most players like on 21.
So these are just my very early impressions, I hope with more play and more tinkering it can be fixed or reduced (or in an ideal world EA fix it). I think overall it's not all doom and gloom, but this 1v1 feature is really holding the series back.
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