There was definitely a bunch of new animations that I saw here that I don’t remember seeing in past FIFA titles. In one game while using PSG FUT 23 Coins , I played a corner into the box to Marquinhos, who managed to get the one-up on Manchester City’s João Cancelo and looked to literally almost climb his shoulders to get the header off. I missed wide of the net, but it was pretty cool seeing Marquinhos jump up for a header, using the defender to boost himself as Cancelo kind of folded forward after being dominated.

The jostling and fighting in the box to get position on crosses was also a welcomed sight. Instead of the usual leaning and slight tugging we’re used to seeing, you could actually see players trying to out muscle each other to get the advantage in position to make a play. I still did see a few battles where one of the players would almost tumble over like he ran into the other player trying to win the air battle, but I think this was actually more due to being out of position and not having as good header and strength attributes than the opponent.

Powered by the animation refresh, controlling the ball in FIFA 23 is more natural and fluid than ever before. Longer two-touch animations enable better control of aerial balls, more agility when trapping ground balls, and more strength while shielding give players new ways to move up the pitch in attack.

I think that this feature will definitely tie into a given player’s ability/attributes, but was it sweet seeing players like Neymar kill aerial balls in space and smoothly transition into a second-touch move from the initial trap. I make heavy use player shielding, and there’s definitely more strength when your player looks to protect the ball. In saying that, if you do shield off a player but he has a teammate near buying FIFA 23 Coins , the teammate will close down your space. In other words, you have to be decisive in what you’re doing with the ball.