FIFA 22 and HyperMotion Technology: let's find out what awaits us
FIFA 22 and HyperMotion Technology
Among the many habits changed by the pandemic over the last year and a half, there are also those we had about football games. In one way or another, at this point of the summer we had already managed to touch the new titles coming out first hand, giving us an idea of what would be the final versions seen between September and October. As for FIFA 22, on the other hand, until a few days ago the information available was practically close to zero, forcing fans of the EA Sports product to keep their ears stretched out to pick up any incoming details.In the midst of the Euro 2020 and Copa America finals, the development team has finally decided to start spilling the beans on the next edition of FIFA, particularly awaited as it will be the real debut of the series on next-gen, after the chapter transition last year.
The release is set for October 1st and the details for now are still few, but enough to make a summary and try to understand in this preview of FIFA 22 what to expect on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X | S and Stadia.
What is HyperMotion Technology
Anyone who follows the football simulation scene is accustomed every year to reading the high-sounding names that the marketing departments attach to the important innovations present in the new editions. For FIFA 22 the main one is that of HyperMotion Technology, to which EA Sports has dedicated the reveal trailer of the game that you can see above. From the video and the few notes made available to us, we can understand that it is a system closely linked to the Xsens suits, produced by the company of the same name and used since FIFA 16 to capture the movements of Leo Messi. . For FIFA 22 the number of players involved has obviously grown, recording the behavior on the pitch of stars such as Kylian Mbappé, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Christian Pulisic, David Alaba, Eden Hazard, Marquinhos, Marcelo, Heung-min Son, Vinicius Junior , Phil Foden and others.EA Sports has thus succeeded in collecting the data of twenty-two professional players engaged in the middle of the field at the same time, equipped with the special suit to capture data regarding real game actions. The amount of data generated should then translate into the gameplay phase in the possibility of generating more realistic animations generated in real time, thus giving life to a new series of movements in the middle of the field. We talk in detail about over four thousand animations, which according to the developers should be able to improve all the various aspects that make up both the set of movements that belong to individual players and to the team as a whole.
As for every player on the pitch, the animations will in fact be linked to aspects such as the touch and control of the ball, then going to influence the overall movement, more organic and coherent, at the team level. with what happens in a real playing rectangle. An important aspect concerning the algorithm baptized with the name ML-Flow is that which should allow each player to be able to modify their stride and the cadence of the race as they approach contact with the ball, in order to obtain the best impact. possible with it without losing sight of the realism of the movement performed.
The other news
Although the bulk of the first FIFA 22 presentation was dedicated to HyperMotion Technology, browsing the official website of the game you can see what will be the next in-depth details from EA Sports. As usual, the first hint concerns the work done on the goalkeepers, for what is presented as a completely renewed management system for the goalkeeper. In the notes dedicated to this aspect, the attempt to replicate the positioning style of the strongest goalkeepers present in reality stands out, thus allowing us to recognize the way in which they behave between the posts. Attention also to the physics of the ball, revised according to the notes in various aspects such as speed and its behavior in contact with the air and the ground.One-on-one situations should find new solutions thanks to what for now is called "explosive sprint". The player will have more control over the acceleration of the football player to deceive the opponent when dribbling or defending.
Finally, we note the debut of new tactics for the attack phase, which, paired with the organic dynamics offered by HyperMotion Technology, should allow those who have the gamepad in hand to have greater control over the construction of the action. In the coming weeks it will be up to the Career, Volta, FUT and Pro Club modes to present their news in FIFA 22, but for the moment the list of details offered by EA Sports ends here.
What awaits us in FIFA 22?
Summarizing the features of FIFA 22 revealed by Electronic Arts, let's see now what we can expect from this new chapter. In the last few hours, the absence of next-gen features on the PC version of the game has been particularly discussed, which will then join those for the latest generation consoles without seeing how much HyperMotion Technology will have to offer. A lack of relief, considering that for FIFA 22 it will be the technology presented in the trailer that will define the level of detachment from the previous chapters. The wait for the first real next-gen edition of the football simulation is as already mentioned very high for all the fans of the series, and EA Sports knows very well that taking a false step now could represent a big problem with a gap to be filled over the years. to come. In fact, let's not forget the competition from Konami, which after a "sabbatical" year will be renewed with the arrival of PES 2022 also on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X | S.According to what EA Sports showed, the main impact of HyperMotion Technology will be measured in the way the players are on the pitch, for what we hope will be a real organic movement especially in the defensive phase . Several times in the past we have in fact witnessed a CPU that is a little too sleepy, forcing the gamer to superhuman efforts to maintain a realistic defensive line in order not to create sensational holes that would benefit the attack.
On a single level, everything will be played on the level of realism proposed by FIFA 22. Despite the enormous degree of detail now achieved by football simulations in representing the faces of the players, some movements related to particular game situations as tackles and corners have never been comparable to those we see in the real world. Considering that, among other things, the developers have put the emphasis on the behavior of the two teams at the corner, we also expect steps forward in this sense from FIFA 22.
We dedicate one last note to what EA Sports calls "player humanization". Also in this case, despite the work done in recent editions, we are still far from what we see during the matches on television. The capture system of the Xsens suits applied to all twenty-two players on the field should have allowed the developers to collect at three hundred and sixty degrees the movement without the ball and in stationary game situations, thus guaranteeing FIFA 22 the possibility of adding additional environmental behaviors with the which ones to reach a greater level of realism and involvement.
What was said in the last paragraph will be the starting point for what we are going to check first, as soon as we have the opportunity to touch FIFA 22 first hand. We hope to be able to do so soon, in order to start telling you what the real debut of the soccer simulation will be on next-gen.
