This year, EA Sports has chosen a different strategy in terms of a new FIFA announcement. In fact, they’ve put all their chips on the table by showing us all the gameplay changes we can expect in FIFA 20. And that’s what this article is all about – FIFA 20 gameplay changes. Fixes that could stop the surge of bad publicity and help make FIFA great again!

There’s been a whole lot of negative reviews for recent FIFA games. Their problematics are buried deep in the game’s code. Amongst some of the most basic mechanics such as defensive AI, shot balance (especially timed shots) and many more.

Numerous fans already gave up on FIFA after years and years of demanding changes and not seeing a single step in the right direction. Well, some good news is finally coming our way with the FIFA 20 gameplay changes promising great things.

FIFA 20 Gameplay Changes

A rather long list of gameplay changes has been released on EA’s official blog. While there were no words regarding new game modes and improvement of the currently featured ones, there was a whole bunch of info on various FIFA 20 gameplay changes.

Here are the crucial ones that ought to drastically alter the core gameplay of FIFA 20.

Shot Balancing

While imbalanced, shooting and attacking player positioning in shooting opportunities are issues that date a while back, timed shot mechanics added in FIFA 19 further messed up an already flawed system. Often overpowered, timed shots (alongside chaining skill moves) became the burning plague of the FIFA community. The problem was brought to the spotlight many times but was never properly addressed by EA.

Finally, this FIFA 20 gameplay changes blog post indicates a revamp of shooting mechanics. First of all, they’ll reduce the green timing window from two to four frames (based on shot variations) to two frames for all shots. This will make perfectly timed (green) shots more difficult to accomplish on a consistent basis.

Furthermore, the overall accuracy bonus of perfectly timed shots will also be slightly reduced. Green timed shots will still be more accurate than standard shots, but the difference won’t be as big anymore. And lastly, 180-turn-shots with timed mechanics will be next to impossible. Even if you manage to time them correctly, they’ll be a lot less powerful than standard shots.

Apart from timed shot nerfing, EA is also bringing balance changes to 1v1 shooting. More precisely, they’ll work on creating a more realistic approach to 1v1 situations. These 1v1 situations will now be much easier to score goals from. Not only will the goalkeepers be scaled down a pinch (no superhero reactions anymore) but the players’ 1v1 shooting accuracy will be improved.

With all that said, I reckon 1v1 situations will be slightly overpowered in FIFA 20. Unless they’re accompanied by superb Defensive AI that can help you stop line-piercing runs resulting in 1v1 scenarios.

Defensive AI Alterations

Finally, EA realized what a mess their defensive AI system really is. It only took them five years to notice, how about that? Luckily, they are coming in with guns blazing on all fronts. Several new mechanical additions, Planned Tackling, Revamped Defending System, and Jockey improvements, aim to tackle some of the biggest defensive problems in recent FIFA iterations. The former will enhance AI positioning, tracking, and movement planning, resulting in much more fluid defensive gameplay. No more silly goals due to defenders’ AI mistakes.

Lastly, the effectiveness of manual goalkeeper movement is also getting much-needed balancing. The speed will be significantly reduced. Additionally, players won’t be able to change direction mid-run. They’ll have to time their runs and choose the perfect direction, resulting in much riskier defensive options.

New Passing Mechanics

Alongside defensive alterations, EA is also adding two new passing mechanics. Dinked passes will be slight alterations of the standard ground and through passes. They will feature a slight elevation that’ll allow the ball to avoid hitting a defender’s leg. Driven Pass-and-Go is the second one. It’s set to provide more mobility and improve positioning in an active attack. Furthermore, Driven Pass-and-Go will be replacing the manual pass mechanic. Yep, this means the latter won’t be available in FIFA 20.

But that’s not all! EA is also promising increased passing accuracy. Even though this change will only be reflected on non-pressured passes, it’s still a welcome change. For pressured, 180, and first-time passes, the speed, and their overall effectiveness will be slightly reduced.

Chain Skill Moves Balancing

Chaining skill moves together with weird animation blending was surely the main cause of many controllers getting smashed against the nearest wall. It was a highly annoying playstyle that many people used in the first few divisions. It was difficult to combat it and it was way too consistent. Yeah, I know, many of you are thinking of writing “just git gud” in the comment section right about now.

Luckily for me (and for a big portion of FIFA player base), chain skill moves are finally getting hit with the nerf hammer. Now, once a player chains more than two skill moves, each subsequent move will experience exponentially increasing error probability. Additionally, advanced skill moves such as flick-ups will have increased error probability both in and out of chaining.

Obviously, this nerf is amongst the most exciting of all the FIFA 20 gameplay changes!

FIFA 20 Gameplay Changes | Summary

Even though they haven’t covered all the major issues with the newest FIFA iterations, the folks over at EA are on the right track! These alterations ought to bring forth a significantly more pleasing and less stressful FIFA gameplay.

There’s still a long way to go until FIFA 20 release date. Many of these new systems and alterations will be further polished through beta phases. Hopefully we’ll see several new modes (cough, cough, house rules online multiplayer), and significant changes to already existing ones (cough, cough, manager mode and pro clubs).

Now that EA has started listening to their players’ feedback, perhaps we’ll finally get the FIFA game we deserve!