To be fair - I feel like I've spent the whole year flipping in and out of this game...completely unsure whether I actually enjoy it or not
On the one hand - it's the first Fifa I've played since 19 (after playing PES for 2 years

) and what it does do right in terms of presentation and atmosphere is absolutely superb. And sometimes this really does translate onto the pitch.
Eg. I replayed Sunday's Chelsea Spurs game last night and it was honestly fantastic. Playing in broadcast, with my slider set, it was undeniably a football game; a proper high octane battle with every inch of the field fiercely contested and accentuated by the atmosphere in the stands. Kante motored about wining the ball in midfield, Jorginho was the cooler calming presence and Kane and Son were a menace I needed to be constantly wary of. Ended in a 1-1 draw, too
Then, on the other hand - the very same night no less, I played the weekend's Milan Udinese game and everything just felt......wrong
It wasn't a case of it just being a different football match in a different league; The speed all of a sudden felt off, the goals felt cheap and all the players relationships with the ball had gone sour. Sometimes they danced around/with it like they were performing a sacred voodoo dance, while at others they were attracted to it like a horny magnet, desperately disco shuffling across the ground to connect with it in the process.
This of course, leads me to think that it's a slider issue and proceed to spend the remainder of what should be fun downtime, flicking back and fourth between a couple of settings before turning off in frustration.
...........Then it's off to PES 21 and initially getting sucked into the placebo that that game is..... before really feeling it's emptiness and pining for all the things it lacks (presentation, atmosphere, licences) and getting frustrated that, in comparison, the players feel like handing lawnmowers with too much junk in the trunk.
Aaaaand then......it's back to Fifa 22 to repeat the cycle above. I've done this all year.....It's like some kind of enjoyment curse that I fear can only be broken by something that's better than either of them. Like a couple of people have mentioned here, I'm very much in the category of someone that needs a football game and I don't have the luxury of leaning on PC mods to look backwards to older titles.
I am trying to have hope, though.