For FIFA 22, realism appears to be everything. The soccer simulation has received criticism over the years for its annual releases not pushing the envelope enough, but after spending just a few minutes watching gameplay from the newest iteration in the franchise, that concern is unfounded for its upcoming launch. FIFA 22 harnesses some impressive motion capture technology in the form of Hypermotion, which lends itself well to creating the most organic FIFA presentation ever.
A July gameplay trailer for FIFA 22 already touched on Hypermotion, which was implemented by collecting some of the world's best soccer players and getting them to play an 11-on-11 match wearing Xsens suits. These suits enable motion capture in an actual in-game, on-pitch environment for the first time in the series, which in turn means player movement and behavior is much more realistic thanks to it being recorded in a more natural setting for those involved.
In a private preview presentation, Screen Rant was given access to a lengthy example of FIFA 22 gameplay, which demonstrated some of the major advancements that Hypermotion allows for. Most notably for fans of the sport and its biggest personalities, player mannerisms are far more believable than they've been in the past, even as recently as FIFA 21. Gone are the days of four players robotically moving in unison to mark their opponents on a break - even in these situations, stars make the small, subtle movements that are recognizable during a real-life broadcast. An example was given during the preview of players now taking short steps on their way to delivering a strike to ensure they keep their momentum and time their shot correctly; previously, their avatar would awkwardly stop a long stride mid-run to make sure the animation showed them connecting with their strike.
FIFA 22 is also using Hypermotion to improve its AI behavior. The gameplay presentation touched on how the recorded movements of players were fed into a machine learning algorithm to then simulate staggering amounts of situations to implement that behavior in. Without getting into too much technical detail, the end result is an AI that is better able to correctly mimic players on the pitch, right down to collapsing backlines or competitions for headers.
Of course, Hypermotion has also dramatically improved aesthetic, which is timed quite well to pair with the advancements afforded to the game's developers with current-gen consoles. Player facial expressions have been changed for the better, with an example in the presentation highlighting just how much more realistic cover star Kylian Mbappe looks while yelling in FIFA 22. For a series that's already done quite well with graphics in its annual releases, this big a leap in quality feels like a game-changer.
Other subtle improvements were demonstrated that may go unnoticed by some, but greatly appreciated by others. One that stood out during the presentation was the way that the actual ball itself behaves in FIFA 22. A preview showed how a long cross now bounced the ball almost identically to the way it would during a game. Conveying these small but recognizable elements of a sport that's selling point is its fluidity is a massive get for FIFA, and should be exactly what long-time soccer simulation players are looking for in current-gen offerings.
After a lengthy glance, FIFA 22 gameplay at least aesthetically appears to be the best the series has ever had. Hypermotion looks as good as advertised, and if the various other improvements coming to the game with its FUT, Career Mode, and other elements are commensurate to the ones made to its in-game mechanics, FIFA 22 could be world-class.
FIFA 22 releases on October 1, 2021 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Google Stadia. Screen Rant was invited to attend a preview presentation for the purpose of this article.
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