FIFA 21, EA Sport’s all-new football game, is set to release on October 9, but if you pre-order the Champion’s edition or Ultimate edition, you’ll be able to start playing on October 6. However, the EA Play early trials have already begun on October 1. EA has renamed EA Access to EA Play. 

With an EA Play subscription, you can get a 10-hour trial for the game ahead of the launch, followed by a 10-hour trial for the full game after the game is released. With EA Play Pro, you can get the full game from the earliest date. 

FIFA 21: Different Editions and Prices

The game is coming out in three different editions – Standard edition, Champion’s edition, and Ultimate edition. FIFA 21 was made available for pre-order on June 18, along with the official announcement. 

The Standard edition costs $59.99, and by pre-ordering it, you can avail the following:

• Up to 3 Rare Gold Packs, 1 per week for 3 weeks
• Kylian Mbappé Loan Item, for 5 FUT matches
• FUT Ambassador Player Pick, choose 1 of 3 player items for 3 FUT matches
• Special Edition FUT Kits and Stadium items

The Champion’s edition pre-order for $79.99 gets you:

• 3 Days Early Access
• Up to 12 Rare Gold Packs, 1 per week for 12 weeks
• Kylian Mbappé Loan Item, for 5 FUT matches
• Career Mode Homegrown Talent, local youth prospect with world-class potential
• FUT Ambassador Player Pick, choose 1 of 3 player items for 3 FUT matches
• Special Edition FUT Kits and Stadium Items

Pre-ordering the Ultimate edition that costs $99.99 gets you:

• 3 Days Early Access
• Up to 24 Rare Gold Packs, 2 per week for 12 weeks
• Kylian Mbappé Loan Item, for 5 FUT matches
• Career Mode Homegrown Talent, local youth prospect with world-class potential
• FUT Ambassador Player Pick, choose 1 of 3 player items for 3 FUT matches
• Special Edition FUT Kits and Stadium Items

FIFA 21: New Features

FIFA 20 was not the most fan-favorite version of the EA’s game, with a lot of the game’s aspects being criticized after the release. This left EA with no option but to bring in Improvements. 

The humanization of players was a highly demanded feature for a long time; now, you’ll see improvements like players trying to stay in line to avoid offside, setting their shinpads towards the end of the game, etc. Heading in FIFA 20 was as bad as it gets, and it has been improved as well. 

For the next-gen consoles, the only thing we know yet is that with the new DualSense controller on PS5, users will give you rich and responsive haptic feedback and deepen your experience. You’ll be better able to feel the impact of shots, passes, etc.

Ultimate Team

For Ultimate Team, EA has allowed you to carry forward your rewards to FIFA 21, from FIFA 20. For example, by playing FIFA 20 in August, you could have won the following Items:

• 2 Coin boosts (5 games x 500 coins)
• FUT 20 Icon Home Kit
• FUT 20 Future Stars Kit
• Anchor Chemistry Style
• Engine Chemistry Style

You could then get these rewards in FIFA 21. These items will be granted on or before October 16, in case you don’t have the game by then, you should claim them before November 23.

Career Mode

Career mode has finally seen enhancements in this year’s FIFA. For the matches you sim through, you can jump in them to handle critical moments yourself, for example, taking a freekick, saving a penalty, defending a corner, etc.

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You can also assign players to different positions if they have suitable attributes; for example, Gareth Bale used to play as a left-back in his early Tottenham days but moved to left-wing and right-wing positions later in his career.

VOLTA

FIFA’s version of Futsal or street football was introduced in FIFA 20 by the name VOLTA. Since it was the first of its kind, it wasn’t perfect, but the idea was appreciated with improvements demanded. This year Volta has received detailed improvements; it now supports online play with up to three friends and has introduced new venues. The new venues include Dubai, Milan, Paris, Sao Paulo, and Sydney.

FIFA 21: Featuring Consoles and Dual Entitlement

On October 9, FIFA 21 will release for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch. With next-gen consoles, PS5 and Xbox series X coming out in holiday season, users were left all confused if they should get the game for their current devices. 

FIFA has come up with a solution with its dual entitlement program. You only need to buy the game once, and you will be able to upgrade when you get the new console, with your Volta and Ultimate Team data carrying forward. 

However, if you get the game digitally for your current console, you will only be able to carry it to the next console digitally, and the same goes for the disk. The game will release for Google Stadia at a later date.

FIFA 21: Cover Star

FIFA 21’s cover is the 2018 FIFA world cup winner, Kylian Mbappe. The 21-year-old prospect who’s considered as the best of the future generation said: “BEING ON THE COVER OF FIFA is a dream come true. From my time at Bondy to Clairefontaine to the World Cup, this marks another big milestone. I’ve been playing this game since I was a kid, and I am honored to represent a whole new generation of footballers and be in the same group as many other amazing footballers who I now share this honor with.” FIFA 21 has three different official covers featuring the Frenchman.

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FIFA vs. PES

The battle between FIFA and PES for the better football game has lasted for as long as we can remember, with FIFA usually coming out on top. However, PES has a huge fanbase as well, which cannot be ignored. 

FIFA has more than 700 licensed teams, whereas PES has around 300, much fewer comparatively. This forces PES to use unreal team names for their game. FIFA even has a license for UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, so it is clearly ahead of PES in this area.

PES Master League is similar to FIFA career mode. However, people who prefer playing this mode prefer playing PES because it is way more updated, whereas it has never been the priority of FIFA features.

For online gaming, FUT is ahead of PES My Club and has been a fan favorite for a long time. FIFA also has added options like VOLTA.

For 2021, PES has announced its game will only be a season update and have already started working on PES 22 for which they will be shifting from the Fox engine to the Unreal engine. So you cannot expect any graphical improvements for PES 21

On the other hand, FIFA has ensured graphical and many other improvements in FIFA 21, so your choice of game for 2021 becomes quite apparent. But since FIFA is a new game, it will cost you more, whereas PES has a starting price set at $29.99.

FIFA is one of the most played sports games globally, whether major updates or not, fans look forward to it every year. 

Featured image: EA Sports