Matchmaking does seem to FIFA 23 Coins have been improved, though. When playing as clubs from outside of the European elite you don’t seem to get drawn against your PSGs or your Real Madrids as often, although the occasional Ronaldo perve does still pop up as Manchester United. Perhaps that says more about the Red Devils’ fall from grace than anything else, though.
Ultimate Team – FIFA’s playable fantasy football mode and the virtual equivalent of the European Super League – now makes it easier to build a team of superstars thanks to a more forgiving approach to the way its team chemistry system works. Players from the same league or country no longer need to be adjacent to each other in your chosen formation to boost your chemistry score, plus they don’t suddenly forget how to play football just because they don’t have anything in common with their teammates.
Some will welcome the extra freedom this gives when shopping in the transfer market, but it feels a bit like a major part of what made building a squad interesting and challenging has been removed. Either way, FUT is still largely a pay-to-win racket that reflects all the worst parts of modern football. Oh, and the interface is about as welcoming as a Rangers pub to somebody wearing a Celtic scarf.
Career mode has had a visual makeover to bring it in line with the rest of the game, but it plays largely the same as before. When taking control of a player there are now RPG-style points to be earned depending on how you behave on and off the pitch, plus you can choose to inhabit the body of real-life players and coaches rather than creating your own from scratch.
What makes less sense is career mode’s continued attempts to have you play less football. EA had already added a load of training elements that just felt like admin, but now you also have the option to only play the highlights of FUT 23 Coins for sale games rather than the full 90 mins. For a football game, it’s slightly baffling.
