MattHDGamer reveals big change to shooting in FIFA 21 beta

YouTuber Matthew ‘MattHDGamer’ Craig has finally been given the green light to post FIFA 21 beta gameplay clips, explaining that there are some really noticeable changes to shooting already. 

The beta is a reflection of an early build of EA SPORTS’ next flagship sports game, meaning things are subject to change., as happens every year. Those who didn’t receive a beta code to get their hands on Ultimate Team, Career Mode, Volta, or Pro Clubs early will have been delighted on September 4.

A flurry of YouTube videos from top creators were posted, having finally been granted access to broadcast the first playable version in the title’s development cycle. With the embargo lifted, MattHDGamer was one of the first creators to post clips and revealed he had spotted many similarities between this version and FIFA 17.

There was one change above all else that caught the eye, though, and that was related to shooting, which has been revamped.

FIFA 21 beta gameplay reveals big shooting change

Developers had previously confirmed that shooting improvements were on the way in the gameplay pitch notes. That doesn’t always necessarily mean things will change dramatically in-game, though the YouTuber was impressed.

Included in his upload was Ultimate Team footage of his first game, as well as a breakdown of other features.

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He said: “One feature has been improved that you guys may be surprised about, might not have known about, but finesse shots definitely felt a lot more realistic and also, in general, quite powerful. Some of the finesse shots I was scoring guys, especially 20-25 yards out, even with players like the base Martial card.

Segment starts at 5:22 in the video below.

“The finesse shots were really good. They’ve definitely improved this FIFA and I think that’s a good thing to be fair,” he added before noting that the pitch notes changes of Player Personality and rebalance of finesse animations were evident.

Anything else changed?

Another feature MattHDGamer said was really prominent was improvements to animations, explaining that unlike previous games where you could easily predict opponent animations to skip by their back line, that’s more difficult this time.

Player Personality and an overhaul to animations, allowing the cancellation of movements, makes defending look more unpredictable – he says.

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In previous pitch notes, EA stated: “Multiple attributes are used to differentiate the effectiveness of players when performing a tackle. For example, when performing a standing tackle we will now use a combination of the Standing Tackle, Defensive Awareness and Aggression attributes.”

That blend appears to be making a difference even with this early build, and there’s definitely enough encouraging content in this video alone to suggest it could be a big year for FIFA. MattHDGamer will be releasing more FIFA 21 gameplay on his channel shortly, so stay tuned for more intel.