I much preferred the larger pitches like Rio de Janeiro’s favela or the Berlin gymnasium rather than the claustrophobic cages of Tokyo’s sky-high rooftops.Matches on these smaller pitches often descend into chaos, with balls bouncing between knees, concrete and chain fences, and very little football actually taking place. Street football is a welcome and … The lack of walls to bounce the ball off provide an extra challenge and prevent matches descending into something akin to pinball.

While I spent time tailoring my player’s look at the beginning of the story mode, I soon settled on a style I liked and little attention to it afterwards. If successful, at the very least you’ll get fouled, giving you the chance to try out the new way set-pieces are taken. It’s the kind of silliness I want from FIFA and continues the trend of last year’s fun additions.Ultimate Team also benefits from House Rules modes this year, with a couple exclusive to FUT. Much like a battle pass system, it sets challenges which rewards items only exclusive to this mode. On the rare occasion a player blocked the ball, it would more often than not ping back to the attacker, who would then score anyway. This can be frustrating, especially if it consists of the less appealing three or four aside rush ruleset.Naturally, there’s a wealth of customisation available.

In FIFA 20 it makes its return as VOLTA, which also takes the place of the single-player campaign mode. For a long time, FIFA career mode players felt that EA has been ignoring them and instead chose to concentrate on FIFA ultimate team instead. That said, if you overplay flair you’ll be punished, because Volta is much more rooted in classic FIFA than the old Street games. Lofted through balls are no longer anywhere near as effective as they once were, as defenders are better at reading the game and provide more of a challenge than I’m used to when playing FIFA.As a result I’ve found myself playing more on the counter-attack, which in turn has led to my biggest frustration with this year’s outing: it feels completely two paced.

It’s a quality-of-life improvement for those who don’t want to worry about player fitness or contracts running down.For those going online, there are new Season Objectives. The players have returned to being lightning-quick, but that feels completely at odds with the speed at which the ball wants to move. A common FIFA 19 frustration was how easily slow defenders would often be able to catch up with much faster attackers; I’m happy to report that’s no longer the case here, and the sight of an aging Mats Hummels quickly closing in on a spritely Raheem Sterling is no longer a regular occurrence.Add another new addition, the set-up touch, and a devastating combo is possible.

A common FIFA 19 frustration was how easily slow defenders would often be able to catch up with much faster attackers; I’m happy to report that’s no longer the case here, and the sight of an aging Mats Hummels quickly closing in on a spritely Raheem Sterling is no longer a regular occurrence.Add another new addition, the set-up touch, and a devastating combo is possible. These are all positive changes that add a bit of personalisation to the FUT experience, which is much needed when a lot of squads are filled with the same handful of players, causing the whole thing to become a little homogenised.One thing that hasn’t changed are the microtransactions. Defensive AI is far more intelligent and they’ll intercept passes and block shots much more often.

Review. Progress is only halted if you lose a match, meaning you have to start the whole tournament again, which can mean replaying up to three or four matches. There are no bonus points for skills moves, they’re just another way to help win the match. Some are vanity items that express more of that welcome silliness in FIFA, introducing such things as a retro 16-bit ball and a dabbing unicorn tifo for your stadium.

Volta, a brand-new way to play FIFA that offers a breath of fresh air to the series - albeit not without its own faults - is here, but does it come at the expense of the game as a whole?This is due in part to a new weapon attackers now have in their arsenal in the form of strafe dribbling. It’s initially difficult to get to grips with but I found myself enjoying it greatly, especially in comparison the simplistic ways they’ve worked in previous games.Get past your man without being chopped down, however, and you’re in luck, as you’ll likely have the pace to ward them off and bear down on goal.