FIFA streamers GamerBrother and Tisi Schubech have already been allowed to play EA Sports FC 24. In addition to many positive impressions, there were also some shortcomings in the new football simulation to complain about. The main focus of the criticism is an innovation in the gameplay.
Why is? In FC 24, an EA Sports makes a modification in the game mechanics and introduces the PlayStyles. These are comparable to the properties/traits from past FIFA years and are intended to make players even more individual.
The content creators criticized one of these characteristics on their YouTube channels and related their dissatisfaction to the experiences of the past few years. You can read here which PlayStyle it is and what changes this innovation could bring.
Will the auto block return as a PlayStyle in EA Sports FC 24?
The term “Autoblock” probably makes the hairs on the back of the neck of many FIFA fans stand up. For several years, this game mechanic has been driving gamers to despair with all regularity.
What is the car block? Autoblock is an action performed by the AI and cannot be consciously controlled by the player. It is used in defensive actions. It is enough to place the player in the path of a goal, and the AI then takes care of the rest. And it does it with extremely high efficiency.
Here you can see a good example of how the auto block from FIFA 23 works. Only on the third try does the ball finally go past the defender.
Why is the car block under criticism? Many gamers see autoblock as a feature that doesn’t require any skill and works far too well for that. The effectiveness of this game mechanic tempts many players to put as many people as possible in front of their goal and let the AI do the rest.
A subreddit from Hspracks from FIFA 21 summarizes the problem ironically: “There is nothing more exciting than running towards the goal alone, then a Varane comes sprinting after you from 16 meters and blocks your shot as if it were nothing.” (via reddit.com)
What are streamers’ fears? According to GamerBrother (via YouTube) and Tisi Schubech (via YouTube), EA Sports FC 24 will now have a property for defensive players that is reminiscent of how autoblocks work.
In various game situations, it was clearly recognizable that some players were able to prevent shots much better and even showed different animations when defending against shots on goal.
The streamers were clearly reminded of the auto blocks from previous FIFA years.
Are these blocks a new PlayStyle? For the FIFA streamers, the new PlayStyle “Block” seems to be responsible for these additional defense animations.
From EA’s PlayStyles pitch notes, all that is clear is that the “Block” trait appears to be an ability that must be intentionally performed by the player. For defending players, Block increases the range and success rate of their blocks. Whether the right timing plays a role is not clear from the pitch notes.
What consequences could this innovation have? At first glance, this innovation does not seem to be very popular, because it could introduce a new form of blocks, which is at least based on auto blocks. Here is another extreme example of auto blocks.
However, it remains to be seen whether only the “Block” PlayStyle enables such defensive actions, the AI is weakened with it, and above all how many players will ultimately have this PlayStyle at their disposal.
If Block turns out to be a shot blocking trait, EA could counteract this by only giving the trait metered to the best defenders in EA Sports FC 24. Then the fears of our FIFA streamers could turn out to be unjustified. In that case, the defensive players who have this PlayStyle are likely to be in great demand and become difference players in Ultimate Team.
You can find out for yourself whether our top ten of the best players in EA Sports FC 24 also includes a defender with a potential blocking ability.