FIFA 19 has completely revamped Kick-Off for the new season of football, offering not only an improved interface but a variety of extra game modes and features to make for a better experience.
In past editions, this was the quickest way to start a match in FIFA: selecting Kick-Off, choosing two teams and jumping straight into the action. This is still the default option in FIFA 19, as a 'Classic Match', but now there's a host of other drop-in games so you can battle with your mates without spending ages configuring options and settings.
It also allows easy access to FIFA 19's biggest and best new addition, the UEFA Champions League, where you can take your club all the way to the final of the tournament and follow Real Madrid into the history books.
The new House Rules will probably be extremely popular with gamers, giving a variety of mini-games we all know and love including Headers & Volleys and a No Rules match which allows fouls and roughhousing with no punishment whatsoever.
Goal explains all the new features and game modes in FIFA 19 Kick-Off:
Game modes in FIFA 19 Kick-Off
The Classic Match that has been in FIFA since its launch way back in 1993 with FIFA International Soccer on SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis and a variety of other early gaming systems. It's still around in the Playstation 4/Xbox One era and is the simplest way to play FIFA, starting a game with default settings and any two teams from around the globe.
As well as this, there are now other quick-play options including Home & Away, which is a two-legged competition with the winner emerging from the aggregate score of both games with extra time and penalties determining a winner if needed. The Best of Series is like this, but is a three or five-game series with the overall winner needing to win two or three games to be crowned champion.
The Champions League allows you to take part in the officially licensed competition, all the way from the group stage to the final, using either the real-life groupings or custom ones, where you can play as any eligible team and see how they perform in Europe's elite club tournament.
Cup Final mode is where you can play in any final including the Champions League, Europa League, Super Cup or any domestic cup trophy in a one-off game to decide the winner.
House Rules is not just one new mode, but a variety of games, including Headers & Volleys where you can only score if the ball is off the ground, Long Range where all goals have to be scored from outside the box, No Rules where fouls and offsides are turned off, First To... which is where you set a requirement like first to score or first to score three goals, and Survival Mode where both teams start with 11 players and then lose one each time they score.
Stat Tracking in FIFA 19 Kick-Off
With analytics becoming more and more widespread in sports after the success of Moneyball, you can no longer watch a football match without hearing percentages or xG scores. Some fans absolutely love the nitty-gritty of the numbers, paying close attention to number of total passes, dribbles, tackles and much more.
FIFA 19 has taken this on board and now keeps track of your career statistics from all your Kick-Off games. This can allow to see how you are outperforming your opponents or perhaps where you're falling short and why you are repeatedly being outclassed by people who can pass the ball around better and retain possession.
These include basic numerical stats but also heatmaps for goals scored and even keep track of historical records including fastest goal scored or biggest winning margin. Most importantly is keeping track of your win-draw-loss record - allowing you to brag to your mates that you're a better manager than Jose Mourinho!
Account Linking on FIFA 19
EA Sports know that you won't always be playing FIFA 19 in your own house, so has created a new way of keeping track of your stats - ensuring your win-draw-loss record remains just as impressive when you defeat your friends at their houses.
You can now create a Kick-Off Name which tracks your stats even when you play as a visiting team elsewhere, meaning you can add those hard-fought away wins to your history regardless of what console you're playing on.
To make things easier, you can link your FIFA Kick-Off Name to your Playstation Online ID or Xbox Gamertag for quicker logging in when needed.