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FIFA 22 is finally official and we know that PSG star and France international Kylian Mbappe will once again take centre stage on the game’s cover.

We’re still early on in the cycle of the game though, and EA has yet to really delve into what’s going to set this version apart from the one that came before (and the one that came before that).

Here’s everything we know so far about FIFA 22, including release date, features and a few things we’d love to see added.

FIFA 22 release date

FIFA 22 will be released on October 1 and it’s available to pre-order now both in physical and digital forms.

FIFA 22 on consoles

As you’d expect, they’ll be wide compatibility for loads of consoles for FIFA 22.

Current-gen consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X will get extra benefits though, so they’ll be the best places to play.

There are versions for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Stadia. You’ll also be able to get a Switch version, however this will be a simple Legacy edition – so just expect updated kits and players rather than any new features.

FIFA 22 on PC

FIFA 22 will also be available on PC, however it looks like this will be the same version as you’ll find on PS4 and Xbox One, rather than the PS5/Series X|S versions. This means it’ll miss out on some of the new features.

FIFA 22 cover star

PSG forward Kylian Mbappe once again stars on the cover of FIFA. While Mbappe hasn’t had the best season as PSG slumped to second in their domestic league and France exited Euro 2020 early, he’s still one of the finest young players in world football.

Personally, we’d have switched things up and gone for someone like Marcus Rashford, Erling Haaland or Jadon Sancho. Or maybe even Jamie Vardy.

Features and gameplay

The initial trailer for FIFA 22 didn’t reveal too much, aside from the game’s use of a new tech called HyperMotion.

This feature, exclusive to PS5, Series X|S and Stadia, uses motion capture from real players to get accurate movement.

EA states that “A cutting-edge proprietary machine learning algorithm learns from over 8.7 million frames of advanced match capture, then writes new animations in real time to create organic football realism across a variety of interactions on the pitch.”

Basically, this should seriously improve realism and hopefully reduce the number of times you see the same animations – a real issue many had with previous FIFA versions.

You can check out the FIFA 22 trailer below for a better look at HyperMotion.

Other features coming in FIFA 22 (we assume to all versions aside from Switch) include improved goalkeepers, faster sprints, new attacking tactics and improved ball physics.

EA has also confirmed the return of Volta football, Pro Clubs, Ultimate Team and updates to Career Mode.

FIFA 22 features we want

These are just a few of the smaller features we’d love to see implemented in FIFA 22.

1. Classic players in more modes

Classic players have been a part of Ultimate Team for years now, so why not bring them into more areas of the game, like career mode?

We’d love to sign up a prime Zidane or Beckham for our current-day teams.

2. A better, more realistic career mode

FIFA 21 was meant to be a reset for Career Mode and it was hyped up heavily ahead of launch. However, in truth, the mode is still bare-bones and incredibly frustrating.

Many of the features added, like training regimes, were so dull we ended up skipping them entirely and the transfer market is still broken.

The focus on extra cutscenes in the next-gen versions helped, but there’s still a distinct lack of atmosphere in matches too.

3. Much improved animations

It seems like this point will be addressed with the introduction of HyperMotion, but it has to be said that FIFA gets stale after hours of play due to the constant repetition of the same animations.

This is even more noticeable when you’re not controlling some of the star players. Playing with lower-league teams or lesser-known players becomes dull very quickly.

4. Dynamic weather

This is a small one, but we’ve always found it odd how weather doesn’t change during the course of a match. It’s either raining for 90 minutes or not all.

Having the drizzle slowly descend into a torrential downpour would add some extra bite to matches and surely could be easily achieved on current-gen hardware.

The post FIFA 22: The big features we want in this year’s version appeared first on Trusted Reviews.