UFL: The first test of EA FC’s competitor was well received by many fans and experts

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This weekend you can try out the new football simulation for the second time with the UFL open beta. After receiving mostly positive feedback from the community, the developer studio “Strikerz” has announced that it will improve some of the criticisms from the first test run.

What kind of game is this? UFL is from the small development studio “Strikerz”, who are tackling their first major project in the gaming industry. The game was announced at Gamescom 2021.

Since then, the developers have been working on their own football simulation. After the first version of the open beta was released on the weekend of June 7th to 9th, you can test an improved version with numerous updates for free this weekend (August 2nd to 4th).

Which consoles is the open beta intended for? The open beta is playable on PC and the next-gen consoles, i.e. PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. All other consoles cannot try out the test version for the time being.

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Fans give a lot of positive feedback after the first test

What was well received by the fans? Fans are happy about a breath of fresh air when it comes to football simulations. This is particularly evident in a post on the subreddit “UFLTheGame”:

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User Beautiful_Life_1788, the sender of the post, is particularly celebrating the fact that the gameplay is different from what he has become accustomed to from FIFA or EA FC over the past decades. Many fans agree with him in the comments.

The UI in particular, i.e. everything that has to do with the user interface outside of gameplay, is very well received by the community on Reddit (via reddit.com).

FIFA expert also sees UFL as a potential EA FC competitor

FIFA expert and former coach of the German eNational team Matthias “Stylo” Hietsch played more than 100 games in the first version of UFL. He then gave his well-founded opinion on the new competitor.

We have summarized his analysis for you at MeinMMO: FIFA expert tests open beta of a new competitor from EA FC – names 3 things that UFL does better

In his analysis, Stylo highlighted three positive aspects in particular.

This was well received by the expert:

  • The different skins for the players are a very good approach that still has a lot of potential for further improvement.
  • the communication between the developers and the community was very good during the first test
  • the special moves are very realistic and will result in players with better skills being rewarded

    • However, the game would still need a lot of time to become a serious competitor for EA FC.

    Because in addition to the good approaches, Stylo, like the fans on Reddit, found many aspects that could be improved. Especially when it comes to gameplay. With his analysis of the game’s weaknesses, he summarized many of the community’s criticisms.

    Update should bring requested improvements to gameplay

    These were Stylo’s biggest criticisms in the first test:

  • Sprinting is not balanced: poor ball control, too slow in top speed
  • Passes were still very inconsistent
  • The pass receivers’ ball processing was very slow
  • Shots taken by good players would almost always have resulted in a goal
  • Defenders would need too long to control captured balls

    • A few days before the launch of the second beta version, UFL on X announced that the “team has worked hard to make sure UFL has a special place in the hearts” of fans. Additionally, the new patch notes for the update were attached to the post:

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    In the patch notes you will find a whole series of new adaptations for the second open beta. We have focused on the most important changes.

    What should be improved in the new version? Some of the biggest criticisms that Stylo addressed in his analysis are said to have been directly improved in the new version. These include:

  • the OP shots with R1 (effect shots), which were way too strong, were nerfed
  • Players generally no longer feel so sluggish and can be moved better
  • Passes should now be executed more accurately
  • The pass receiver positions himself better for receiving the ball, receptions become more fluid
  • the sprint speed has been increased

    • Other important gameplay improvements

  • Goalkeepers have been improved: new animations, better running out, fewer rebounds
  • Defending has been strengthened: faster changes of direction, new animations for tackles and slide tackles
  • AI for defense has been improved: players recognize dangerous situations more quickly in defense and position themselves accordingly to cover dangerous spaces
  • AI for the offense expanded: more intelligent and efficient running routes to create and exploit scoring opportunities

    • The new Open Beta also has the following changes to offer:

  • the skins for players now partially include upgrades for some stats
  • the reputation system for buying players has been revised
  • Players have fixed perks at the start, and can unlock additional perks by leveling up
  • new game faces of over 200 players have been added

    • How the announced changes will affect the game remains to be seen. The servers for the second test run are scheduled to start in Germany on August 2nd at 2:00 p.m. Then you can see for yourself the promised improvements. Many things are also set to improve in the new EA FC. You can find the most important information here on MeinMMO: EA FC 25: All information on release, price and new features

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