FIFA 21 is great. The small refinements make the biggest impressions this year, and I’m excited to see how the next-gen versions pan out. It’s finally good to be a Career Mode player again, and I just hope that over the coming years we see a bigger focus on Volta and less on pushing players into paying for FUT coins.

The online games feel fresh. But the gameplay changes are only in the details, since years the FIFA series is based on the same formulas. FIFA 21 clearly lacks innovation.

While FIFA 21 plays a lot smoother than its predecessor and offers even more content for the fans of career and VOLTA mode, it once again feels like an evolution not a revolution. EA Sports really need to breathe new life into their football simulation. But maybe that will only happen, as soon as the franchise arrives on next gen consoles.

Quotation forthcoming.

FIFA 21 fixes some on-pitch issues, though it stops short of giving the series the meaningful overhaul it needs.

Without losing all of its qualities, FIFA is once again struggling to correct its gameplay flaws and will have to wait at least for a substantial update, or more likely a new opus to hope to convince us on this point.

The few positives do not outweigh the negatives. EA Sports continues to phone it in with the FIFA series while single-player gamers cry out for better options.