History YMMV / FIFASoccer

*** Averted as of the Nintendo Switch version of ''EA Sports FC'', which finally caught up to the PS4 / Xbox One versions.

** Neymar and Yassine Chikhaoui, being the only 2 players with [[TheAce both 5 star skills and a 5 star weak foot.]]
** "[[FanNickname Beast/sweaty]]" players have above-average speed and/or strength. Relatively cheap (at least when compared to Ronaldo and Messi) examples include Anthony Martial (Fast, Strong, a Good Shooter, links well to Premier League and French players), Gabriel Jesus (same with Martial, only Brazilian), Eric Bailly (Fast, Strong, A good Tackler, High Work-Rates), Tiemoue Bakayoko ([[RuleOfThree Fast, Strong]], a cheap substitute for Paul Pogba), and Kalidou Koulibaly (Same reasons as Bailly).

** The opening themes in particular ("[[Music/{{Blur}} Song 2]]"[[note]]From ''FIFA 98''[[/note]], "[[Music/{{Chumbawamba}} Tubthumping]]"[[note]]''World Cup 98''[[/note]], "[[Music/FatboySlim The Rockafella Skank]]"[[note]]''99''[[/note]], "[[Music/{{Moby}} Bodyrock]]"[[note]]''2001''[[/note]], "[[Music/{{Gorillaz}} 19-2000" (Soulchild Remix)]]"[[note]]''2002''[[/note]]...).

* AudienceAlienatingEra: A mild one from ''2004'' to ''07'' due to a lack of gameplay innovation (although the Career Mode in ''07'' is given a fair shake due to its focus on general team management rather than just the transfer market).

** ''FIFA'' is pretty much this every year, thanks to its large and eclectic worldwide soundtrack.

** Women's football for ''FIFA 16''. Is it a cool new game mode [[SlidingScaleOfGenderInequality increasing the representation of women in sports games?]] Or is it a [[DancingBear redundant mode that hardly anyone will use?]]
*** The second criticism isn't helped by the fact that it is impossible to play intergender matches (as it is in real life), and that FUT, the most popular mode, will be [[AlwaysMale completely male]] [[https://www.easports.com/fifa/news/2015/fifa-16-womens-national-teams-faq because male players vastly outnumber the females.]]

** Gold (players with rating over 75) Team of the Season cards, and especially [[PurposelyOverpowered Team of The Year cards.]]

** Most in-form versions of [[TheAce Ronaldo and Messi]].
** {{Lightning Bruiser}}s Emmanuel Emenike, Romelu Lukaku, and Team of the Season Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
*** On that note, "[[FanNickname beast/sweaty]]" players in general, who have above-average speed and/or strength. Relatively cheap (at least when compared to Ronaldo and Messi) examples include Anthony Martial (Fast, Strong, a Good Shooter, links well to Premier League and French players), Gabriel Jesus (same with Martial, only Brazilian), Eric Bailly (Fast, Strong, A good Tackler, High Work-Rates), Tiemoue Bakayoko ([[RuleOfThree Fast, Strong]], a cheap substitute for Paul Pogba), and Kalidou Koulibaly (Same reasons as Bailly).

* HilariousInHindsight: During [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KNQnLJqyDg a video]] made by LetsPlay/{{Sips}} about ''FIFA 15'', he [[StylisticSuck went out of his way to get everything wrong as part of his character]], going as far as to claim that ''15'' was a game entirely about assembling female football/soccer teams. Later that year, ''FIFA 16'' was actually announced to have women teams for the first time.

* MemeticBadass: [[TheAce Zlatan Ibrahimovic]], [[AwesomeEgo "Lord" Nicklas Bendtner]], [[WorldsStrongestMan Adebayo Akinfenwa]], and [[LightningBruiser Emmanuel Emenike]].
* MemeticMutation: Mostly found in the comments of players' cards and squads on sites such as [[http://www.futhead.com/ Futhead]].

* SongAssociation: Most of the soundtracks.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: TOTY David Luiz in ''15''. He had a less-than stellar 2014, capped off with the infamous 7-1 loss against Germany during UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup. This caused him to be the least liked player on reference site Futhead, with over 8000 downvotes. Despite this, he is still used and quite a good player.

* NeverLiveItDown: The local 2-Players Mode in next-gen ''FIFA 14'' is locked behind paid DLC. It has since made available in later games.

* DorkAge: There are two generally agreed on by fans; a mild one from ''2004'' to ''07'' due to a lack of gameplay innovation (although the Career Mode in ''07'' is given a fair shake due to its focus on general team management rather than just the transfer market), and then a more severe one starting around ''18'' due to the games becoming increasingly buggy, poorly-balanced, and reliant on micro-transactions. Not to mention the infamous "scripting" (gameplay manipulation by the computer that unfairly affects the result of a match), which EA denies it even exists.

* FandomRivalry: With ''Pro Evolution Soccer'' players, to DC/Marvel levels as far as sports games are concerned.

** Though each of the early games improved on the last, it's generally felt that ''Road to the World Cup '98'' is when the series really got good.

** The opening themes in particular ("[[Music/{{Blur}} Song 2]]"[[note]]From ''FIFA 98''[[/note]], "[[Music/{{Chumbawamba}} Tubthumping]]"[[note]]''World Cup 98''[[/note]], "[[Music/FatboySlim The Rockafella Skank]]"[[note]]''99''[[/note]], "[[Music/{{Moby}} Bodyrock]]"[[note]]''2001''[[/note]]...).

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: Combined with SmallReferencePools, players picking the most famous/successful UsefulNotes/EuroFooty teams (Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Milan, Juventus, Bayern Munich) are really common.
* DorkAge: There are two generally agreed on by fans; a mild one from ''2004'' to ''07'' due to a lack of gameplay innovation (although the Career Mode in ''07'' is given a fair shake due to its focus on general team management rather than just the transfer market), and then a more severe one starting around ''18'' due to the games becoming increasingly buggy, poorly-balanced, and reliant on micro-transactions.

* NintendoHard: "Treble Mode" in ''UEFA Champions League 07''. Having to recover a 2-goal deficit late in the second half is a common scenario.

* RubberBandAI: The games (especially ''12'' onwards) were very cruel with the rubberband. You can lose the game after leading 3-0 in the first half when suddenly all opposition players got turbo on their legs in Legendary against computer, and some 10-year-old can own you via two 35-yard goals in the last quarter. They tried to fix it in ''FIFA 14'', and succeeded in the normal gameplay (if you can ignore the fact that the upped ability [[OhCrap happens all the time]] now instead of scripted events). However, the Ultimate Team mode got EVEN MORE elastic rubber bands, and Career mode still suffered from it. The referee also became very picky to you, capable of throwing cards for tame, simply mistimed tackles. YMMV because this rarely got talked with casual players, but was mentioned a lot in forums.

* SugarWiki/AndTheFandomRejoiced: Even amidst all the flak ''20'' got before and during its release, the VOLTA Football mode was met with praise both from fans of the ''FIFA Street'' spin-offs and from longtime fans who yearned for the return of the Indoor football mode (previously only present in ''97'' and ''98'').

* DorkAge: There are two generally agreed on by fans; a mild one from ''2004'' to ''07'' due to a lack of gameplay innovation, and then a more severe one starting around ''18'' due to the games becoming increasingly buggy, poorly-balanced, and reliant on micro-transactions.

* AndTheFandomRejoiced: Even amidst all the flak ''20'' got before and during its release, the VOLTA Football mode was met with praise both from fans of the ''FIFA Street'' spin-offs and from longtime fans who yearned for the return of the Indoor football mode (previously only present in ''97'' and ''98'').

* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: Fans were vocal about EA extending the life of their Wii presence by simply releasing ''FIFA 13'' basically unaltered from ''FIFA 12'' aside from transactions and updated kits. This trope reared itself again with ''FIFA 20 Legacy Edition'' and beyond for Nintendo Switch (a ''FIFA 19'' update in effect), as EA implicitly gave up on the system regarding ''FIFA'' for various tech- and sales-related reasons. By the time of ''FIFA 21'' critics were increasingly beginning to call this on the franchise as a whole, questioning its business model of charging full price for annual updates when new features were becoming increasingly thin on the ground, problems with the game's mechanics and glitches weren't being addressed, and microtransactions were becoming more and more pervasive.

* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: Fans were vocal about EA extending the life of their Wii presence by simply releasing ''FIFA 13'' basically unaltered from ''FIFA 12'' aside from transactions and updated kits. This trope reared itself again with ''FIFA 20 Legacy Edition'' and beyond for Nintendo Switch (a ''FIFA 19'' update in effect), as EA implicitly gave up on the system regarding ''FIFA'' for various tech- and sales-related reasons.

* OlderThanTheyThink: EA made some negative waves when they announced ''FIFA 20'' for the Switch would be a ''Legacy Edition'', a term used for EA sports games on previous-gen consoles when a yearly title is unaltered from the prior season aside from transactions and [=uniforms/kits=], especially when new features and engine changes would be incompatible with underpowered hardware. However, this practice dates back to even the 16-bit era, as EA and Sega released 'legacy' versions of MLB and NFL games in the twilight years of the Sega Genesis (through 1997), EA and Sony similarly did so with NFL, NBA, and MLB games for the [=PS1=] through 2004, and so forth. While some fans and detractors cry foul over this tactic, it's a low-cost venture for publishers with established sports franchises; sports games sell just well enough with previous-gen gamers who have yet to make the next jump but crave current titles, but not well enough to divert resources and manpower from the [=next/current=] generation of titles that require more attention. While this flew under the radar in the 90's and 00's, it's easier to bring this to light in the modern era of gaming, with the advent of social media amplifying instantaneous fan reactions, on top of poorly-received business decisions from EA across their portfolio.

* OlderThanTheyThink: EA made some negative waves when they announced ''FIFA 20'' for the Switch would be a ''Legacy Edition'', a term used for EA sports games on previous-gen consoles when a yearly title is unaltered from the prior season aside from transactions and [=uniforms/kits=], especially when new features and engine changes would be incompatible with underpowered hardware. However, this practice dates back to even the 16-bit era, as EA and Sega released 'legacy' versions of MLB and NFL games in the twilight years of the Sega Genesis (through 1997), EA and Sony similarly did so with NFL, NBA, and MLB games for the [=PS1=] through 2004, and so forth. While some fans and detractors cry foul over this tactic, it's a low-cost venture for publishers with established sports franchises; sports games sell just well enough for previous-gen gamers who have yet to make the next jump but crave current titles, but not well enough to divert resources and manpower from the [=next/current=] generation of titles that require more attention. While this flew under the radar in the 90's and 00's, it's easier to bring this to light in the modern era of gaming, with the advent of social media amplifying instantaneous fan reactions, on top of poorly-received business decisions from EA across their portfolio.

* OlderThanTheyThink: EA made some negative waves when they announced ''FIFA 20'' for the Switch would be a ''Legacy Edition'', a term used for EA sports games on previous-gen consoles when a yearly title is unaltered from the prior season aside from transactions and [=uniforms/kits=], especially when new features and engine changes would be incompatible with underpowered hardware. However, this practice dates back to even the 16-bit era, as EA and Sega released 'legacy' versions MLB and NFL games in the twilight years of the Sega Genesis (through 1997), EA and Sony similarly did so with NFL, NBA, and MLB games for the [=PS1=] through 2004, and so forth. While some fans and detractors cry foul over this tactic, it's a low-cost venture for publishers with established sports franchises; sports games sell just well enough for previous-gen games who have yet to make the next jump but crave current titles, but not well enough to divert resources and manpower from the [=next/current=] generation of titles that require more attention in order to bring the old games up to speed with new modes (some of which would be incompatible, tech-wise). While this flew under the radar in the 90s and 00s, it's easier to bring this to attention in the modern era of gaming, with the advent of social media amplifying instantaneous fan reactions, on top of poorly-received business decisions from EA across their portfolio.

* OlderThanTheyThink: EA made some negative waves when they announced ''FIFA 20'' for the Switch would be a ''Legacy Edition'', a term used for sports games on previous-gen consoles when a yearly title is unaltered from the prior season aside from transactions and [=uniforms/kits=]. However, this practice dates back to even the 16-bit era, as EA and Sega released 'legacy' versions MLB and NFL games in the twilight years of the Sega Genesis (through 1997), EA and Sony similarly did so with NFL, NBA, and MLB games for the PS1 through 2004, and so forth. While some fans and detractors cry foul over this tactic, it's a low-cost venture for publishers with established sports franchises; sports games sell just well enough for previous-gen games who have yet to make the next jump but crave current titles, but not well enough to divert resources and manpower from the [=next/current=] generation of titles that require more attention in order to bring the old games up to speed with new modes (some of which would be incompatible, tech-wise). While this flew under the radar in the 90s and 00s, it's easier to bring this to attention in the modern era of gaming, with the advent of social media amplifying instantaneous fan reactions, on top of poorly-received business decisions from EA across their portfolio.

* ItsTheSameNowItSucks:
** EA took this to [[UpToEleven new heights]] with the Wii version of ''FIFA 13'', which was essentially ''FIFA 12'' with the name swapped out. ''This is not an exaggeration''. It's the same game in almost every aspect but with new players and team kits. They were quite justifiably slammed by players and critics for this.
** ''FIFA 20 Legacy Edition'' for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch is likewise ''FIFA 19'' with the serial code filed off and reprinted, with all the features from mainline ''FIFA 20'' nowhere in sight. Predictably, the game was cluster-bombed on Metacritic. And despite that, EA did it '''again''' with ''FIFA 21 Legacy Edition'', which is ''FIFA 20 Legacy Edition'' with updated teams, kits, and logos.

* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: EA took this to [[UpToEleven new heights]] with the Wii version of ''FIFA 13'', which was essentially ''FIFA 12'' with the name swapped out. ''This is not an exaggeration''. It's the same game in almost every aspect but with new players and team kits. They were quite justifiably slammed by players and critics for this. ''FIFA 20 Legacy Edition'' is likewise ''FIFA 19'' with the serial code filed off and reprinted, with all the features from mainline ''FIFA 20'' nowhere in sight. Predictably, the game was cluster-bombed on Metacritic.