Every year, I take a big sip of Kool-Aid in late September, early October, and buy FIFA. It releases early enough in the season that my dreams are still alive with the possibilities that Newcastle might go on a cup run, but late enough that I’ve forgotten the empty summer or England’s failures. This year, of course, Newcastle are doomed to mediocrity under Bruce Ball, but England offered the most exciting summer in years, so it’s all backwards. Long story short, while I don’t shell out for FIFA Ultimate Team, I’m a fully paid-up member of the FIFA Suckers Club. It’s worth taking that into account then when you hear me say that FIFA 22 could be the best FIFA in a generation - today’s news that Create A Club is coming to Manager Mode only adds to that.
FIFA 22 was already shaping up to be worth paying more attention to. ‘FIFA is the same game every year’ is a lazy criticism, but not entirely inaccurate. The latest installments have added The Journey’s various chapters, as well as Volta, but they always felt like extra garnish. Most people played the game for Ultimate Team, and those who played other modes used Online and Career almost exclusively. Transfer negotiations have improved aesthetically for Career Mode, but that’s about it. Even then, you see some inconceivable deals like Jaime Vardy signing for Bayern Munich, or Jurgen Klopp personally flying out to meet you when you’re the manager of FC St. Pauli and you want to sign Sepp van den Berg on loan.
This year though, there is set to be a major overhaul. HyperMotion sounds like a typical FIFA buzzword, but appears to be the real deal. Using the added power of the new generation of consoles, all 22 players on the pitch have been motion captured in a variety of scenarios, which should lead to more unique movements and increased realism. Play is also set to be more kinetic in the air, while dribbling will have better fluidity. This could all just be meaningless waffle, but even though I buy FIFA each year, I always expect that it will be largely the same experience. This year, it feels different. It’s a disgrace that HyperMotion isn’t available on PC at all, but for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and Stadia players, this could be the biggest improvement to on the pitch play FIFA has ever seen between entries.
The big news today, however, is the Create A Club addition. I’ve previously written about this feature when it was a rumour, but now that it’s confirmed - and all the details have been revealed - I’m more convinced than ever that it will deliver. FIFA has included the ability to create a club before, but not for close to a decade, and never with this much depth. You can make your own crest, kits, stadium, then select what league you’re playing in and even set your club philosophy. Will the philosophy influence the gameplay very much? Probably not, but at least it gives you a little more input into your own team. You can also, if you want, use it to sneak a team not in the game into the game - the SPL is there, but the Scottish Championship is not. Killies fans, this is your moment.
Naturally, that means I’ll be leading TheGamer FC in the Premier League come October. The only question is, are we TheGamer United or TheGamer City? Maybe we’re TheGamer Rovers. I wouldn’t say no to Real TheGamer. Career mode has had some attention to it paid in recent seasons, but only in fairly ineffective ways. You could create your manager, but all that happened is a different avatar appeared on the touchline. Then you could make them wear a hat. They could do pre-match interviews, for no real reason. Then post-match came later, animated but still largely unimportant. I’ve already mentioned transfers, which look pretty but make no sense.
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Career Mode was due a tune-up, but this is a major one. Most careers are identical across FIFA 21, because only a handful of clubs typically get used, and the unitutive AI makes the same decisions across all the games - a few months back, we spoke to somebody trying to fix this AI with mods, but even with those installed, it was clear FIFA’s Career Mode wasn’t living up to its potential. Create a club is the biggest step in years to help it get there.