17 October,2021 10:27 AM IST | Mumbai | Jaison Lewis
FIFA 22
It's no secret that EA pushes small updates year on year and presents it as the next installment in the FIFA franchise. While this keeps EA's bottom-line healthy, it has been a little annoying, especially for fans of the franchise who buy the game every year. This time, EA promised significant upgrades especially in its animation of players and its graphics. I played the game on an Xbox Series S and felt while they have delivered on some there are a few issues that remain.
I started with the Career mode. After the opening sequence, the game features a few well-known players including David Beckham having breakfast in Paris. You are treated to a very nice tutorial that teaches you the basics of the game while playing on the streets of Paris. It's a nice way to introduce the keys and controller layout to first time players of the game. Though, I doubt there are too many first time players around.
The Career mode is pretty lacklustre. It follows the format of the previous games in the series. While it isn't bad in any way, it is pretty much the same thing. You still have a choice to play as a player or as a manager. What's new here is the ability to create a club, crest, kit and stadium in Manager mode. In the Player mode, you have RPG elements that help improve your player over time. I am guessing the popularity of Ted Lasso might have increased the takers for the Manager Mode this time around. That being said, Manager mode is not as light-hearted as the TV series. Though honestly, that would have been a welcomed change.
I found creating your player a lot more satisfying. The smoother animations and improved gameplay made it very easy to propel my player to the top of the league. The RPG elements motivated me to gather points and upgrade my player. There are a total of seven categories in the skill attributes, each with its own little skill tree. The points improve things like passing, dribbling, shooting and more. In the game, you can either play as the team or play as the individual player where you only control your character.
Volta also has some changes. There is now an option to choose one of three abilities your squad will have. It adds more of an arcade feel to Volta, which is not bad in my opinion. For the uninitiated, Volta is a sort of street version of football in a tiny closed arena with three players on each team. The time between goals is short, making it a lot of fun to play with friends.
The staple Kick-Off is, of course, still available. Your weekend gaming parties can still go unhindered with the new version. Online playing is also as good as it has ever been. Xbox Series S, despite being the weaker console delivers stunning visuals and lag-free gameplay on a mid-tier internet connection. EA's bread and butter mode Ultimate Team is still around. The pay-to-win mode is still plenty enjoyable even if you don't want to pay for premium players. However, if you want to be anywhere near the top without spending, you are looking at an entire day of grinding, probably for months.
FIFA usually churns out version after version every year with very few tweaks and improvements. This time around, the changes has been significant, especially where gameplay is concerned. This in turn, has made the game a lot more fun to play. It is possibly the best version in a very long-time making FIFA 22 an easy recommendation for fans of the beautiful game, regardless if they are a gamer or not.
Apple has announced an event for October 18. The company is expected to announce new MacBooks, a higher-end Mac Mini and maybe Airpods. The new computer may feature Apple's new arm-based processor called M1X. The newer chipset is rumoured to have 10 CPU cores and graphic processors with 16 or 32 cores. The current Apple chipset has eight CPU and GPU cores.
Rockstar will release remastered versions of GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas for PC, consoles and even iOS and Android. The company has not shared what specific upgrades will be made yet. They said that the games will get graphical and gameplay enhancements, but will preserve the classic look and feel.
Twitter is testing a new privacy tool that will enable users to remove a follower without blocking them. The new feature will give users greater control over their followers. Once a user is removed, their tweets will no longer appear in their timeline and the removed follower will not be notified of this change.
