TIM: As sort of a
more casual soccer fan,
I think there's something really
appealing about this because it
seems like it's easier for
me to get my head around it.
LAURA: It's less
intimidating for sure.
TIM: Yeah, for sure.
[INTRO MUSIC PLAYING]
TIM: Hey, everybody,
welcome to another episode of
PlayStation Underground.
You got Tim here.
And I'm joined by Laura.
Hello, Laura.
LAURA: Hi, Tim.
Thank you for having me.
Representing Latin America today
in PlayStation Underground.
TIM: It's so good to
have you on the show.
Laura is from the PlayStation
social team here with me.
We're also joined by Jeff Antwi,
the Volta producer for FIFA 20.
We're checking
out FIFA 20 today.
Hello, Jeff.
JEFF: How are you guys doing?
TIM: Doing great. Excited to
check out some of FIFA 20.
You're gonna guide us through a
little bit of the FIFA 20 demo
if you want to jump into Volta.
You're specifically
the producer on Volta,
that mode for this game.
So how does this fit into
the FIFA 20 package here?
JEFF: Absolutely, yes.
I am one of the Volta producers.
This is a landmark year for
us on the FIFA franchise.
We're delivering something
that's been requested
by the community for many years.
I'm really excited
to be able to show you
what we've been working
on behind the scenes.
Volta football brings street
football back to the franchise
for the first time in
a really long time.
And we're focusing on not only
the street football portion of
it, but obviously over the years
we've really honed our gameplay
and our experience on the
stadium side of things.
So even just
looking at this video,
you'll be able to see how we're
looking to blend the stadium
side of things with the --
TIM: Transition there.
JEFF: -- street culture as well.
TIM: That's cool.
Full transparency, I have played
soccer/football video games in
my life growing up,
and I've enjoyed them,
but don't follow the
sport religiously.
But I'm a fan of a
good video game,
and Volta mode is specifically
appealing to me because it's
just -- it's, you know,
I love the lights and
the crowd of the stadium,
but there's something really
accessible and exciting
about this mode.
And, Laura, you've actually
got a chance to check it out
a little bit too, right?
LAURA: I have.
And one of the things --
Jeff, if you want
to talk about --
we hear a lot about FIFA Street,
callbacks to FIFA Street,
but this is street football,
not FIFA Street, right?
JEFF: Exactly.
We built this on the foundation
of the Frostbite engine and the
great gameplay engine that we
have established over the years.
And it's really important to
note that this is more of an
authentic and really
culturally relevant experience
as opposed to it
being the arcadey nature
that past FIFA Streets
may have been.
This is -- as you can see
here, it's extremely authentic.
Everything from the clothing
that the people are wearing,
players are wearing, to some of
the kind of gameplay experiences
and things that you can do.
You know, being able to use the
wall and have the wall behave
in an intelligent way.
All of the different skills and
kinds of tricks that you can do
are all really
authentic to street football.
TIM: That's cool.
JEFF: We're really excited to be
able to focus on that element.
TIM: That's awesome.
And Jeff's at the controls here
too as he's doing double duty
and giving us a tour of
what FIFA 20 is all about
and also
playing at the same time.
So this is exciting.
So, obviously, compared to the
11v11 matches of like a proper
stadium match, there's a
way more intimate feel,
which I think for me as sort
of a more casual soccer fan,
I think there's something really
appealing about this because
it's seems like it's easier
for me to get my head around it.
LAURA: It's less
intimidating for sure.
TIM: For sure. Absolutely.
I like the cell phone
celebration cam.
For someone like me
who appreciates a fun,
competitive game,
is Volta a really good
place to start for FIFA 20?
JEFF: Yeah, absolutely.
Volta, it's for everyone.
For one, it's extremely fast.
It's fun to pick up and play.
It's easy to kind
of use the controls
and kind of
understand what's going on.
And there aren't a
lot of rules around it.
You know, there's no offsides.
You saw a foul
there off the top,
but we really want to limit the
amount of fouls that are being
assessed and called.
TIM: Do I see players being
checked into the walls too?
JEFF: Yeah.
So there is a
physicality to the game as well.
And it's great that you
mentioned the walls because we
have environments --
we have up to 17
environments right now --
and with each environment you
can turn the walls on or off.
So when there are walls, the
games can be really physical.
You can defend
players against the wall.
You can use the
wall to your advantage
offensively or defensively.
There's a lot of depth --
I'm trying to play here.
TIM: You're defending your
turf pretty well here actually.
JEFF: The funny thing is the
AI is completely revamped to be
able to work with a
small-sided game experience.
And we've got
different sized pitches as well
as well as
different match types.
So you can play 3v3, 4v4, 5v5.
Obviously this is 3v3.
So the AI is really fitted to
the different experiences.
LAURA: And it comes
with its own set of rules,
right, every environment
that you play and all of that?
JEFF: So we have,
basically, two kinds of modes.
We have Street mode which
is what you're seeing here.
The guys are being
very aggressive here.
They must think I'm quite good.
And then we have Futsal.
So Futsal is the more
professional-style experience.
And obviously Futsal is
something that is very popular
around the world.
And so Futsal
doesn't have walls.
There are referees.
There obviously are
kick-ins and corner kicks.
We don't have
substitutions necessarily,
but we do have
a ton of the rules
that come with
a Futsal experience.
TIM: And, actually, Laura and I
were talking recently and I was
learning for the first time
what Futsal is all about.
There's actually a different
ball that you play with too,
so it handles differently and
feels a little bit different?
JEFF: Yeah. Absolutely.
The ball is a
smaller-sized ball.
It's a little bit
heavier as well.
And we've actually modeled
that in the game experience.
So the physics of the
ball behave accordingly.
It behaves as if it
were a Futsal ball.
And not only that, the
AI kind of understands,
you know, the different
behaviors that they would need
to be able to play Futsal.
It's a very fast-paced game.
There's a lot of quick passing,
very specific movements that
happen within Futsal
that we've modeled as well.
So there's a lot of
detail that goes into
the gameplay experience.
LAURA: This is very
accessible of course.
We talked about that.
But what about
the FIFA veterans?
They will find some
challenges in here,
right, new things to
learn and to master?
JEFF: Absolutely.
There is a ton of depth in
terms of the gameplay mechanics.
So we have all of the same skill
moves that you would want to use
in regular 11/11, but we also
have a bunch of street-specific
skill moves as well.
So we have a simplified
kind of flex system
which you kind of saw there.
That's basically me just
pressing the R3 stick
and being able to lift
the ball into the air.
And depending on
the type of player,
whether it's a one-star player
all the way up to a five-star
player, they'll be able to
execute different moves.
TIM: Okay.
And then for someone who's way
more novice like me
and I was going to jump into
Volta mode right away,
what would you say besides that
technique would be something
I should really focus on in
addition to the key fundamentals
of passing and shooting?
What should I try to
focus on as a newcomer?
JEFF: Really it's
about having fun.
Again, there's a lot
of depth in there,
and there's a lot of
things you'll be able to learn,
gonna want to learn:
So fundamentally passing,
quick passing,
being able to use the walls,
being able to use skill
moves at a very simple level.
So we have a simplified skill
move system which is basically
holding both triggers down.
And by doing that and depending
on your left stick direction,
you'll be able to execute
a simplified skill move.
So, for example,
there's one there.
TIM: Okay.
JEFF: Little drag back there.
TIM: All right.
JEFF: That's just me holding,
you know, both L2 and R2.
TIM: It allows you to change
trajectory on a dime rather --
just allows you to pivot
a little bit more freely?
JEFF: Yeah. It allows you to be
skillful with the ball without
having to worry about
the right-stick gestures.
It's basically you holding both
triggers and then being able to
get something
satisfying very simply.
TIM: So, Jeff, what can you tell
me about the general package of
FIFA 20 beyond Volta mode?
JEFF: So like I
mentioned, FIFA 20,
it's a landmark year for us,
and obviously we're delivering a
brand-new experience
with Volta football,
but also we've been focused on
making sure the rest of the game
is also, you know,
extremely polished.
So the first thing
obviously is gameplay.
And with FIFA 20, some of the
high-level features that we've
been working on include
football intelligence,
player instinct.
We got a set piece
rewrite that we're working on,
all new ball physics,
obviously Career mode is a
thing we're always focused on,
and as well as
a new season of FUT.
So there is a lot that
is going into FIFA 20.
Again, it's a landmark
year, so it's Volta,
but it's
everything else as well.
LAURA: And Volta
has some other modes,
right, that you were discussing?
JEFF: Absolutely.
Volta is extremely deep and not
only is it about being able to
create your avatar and
customize your character,
we've got a Story
mode this year again,
which is about your
avatar as the main protagonist
and how we introduce you to
the world of street football.
We've got Volta Tour which is
a kind of PVE experience where
you're playing tournaments
throughout the Volta world.
Volta League, which is PVP which
is awesome because it's online
and you're playing
against other opponents.
And so Volta is very
deep, along with all of FIFA,
the entire package.
TIM: Awesome.
I'm on the edge of my seat
seeing how this
one's going to wrap up.
It sounds like there's
a lot to the whole equation here
you can expect.
Volta is definitely where I'm
most interested as a sort of
starting point with the game.
You can also have goalies;
you can have no
goal keepers if you want.
LAURA: And you were also telling
us about customizing your own --
creating your own character,
and it's really customizable.
JEFF: Yeah. Absolutely.
With Volta specifically --
and we won't get to see it here
obviously because
this is a demo --
but, you know, it really starts
with you creating your avatar.
And once you
created your avatar,
it's, you know, it's
yourself, it's -- because,
again, we want to be authentic
and relevant to the culture.
It's yourself and you're
bringing yourself through the
street football world,
and it starts with a story.
And so what the story does is
it kind of introduces you to the
world of small-sided
football and Volta.
And the nice thing about the
story this year in FIFA 20
is you're the main protagonist.
So in the past it's been
we've given you a character.
But now, you are the character
kind of navigating the world
and so that's really great.
You're able to customize
your character as well.
TIM: Awesome.
JEFF: Everything from your
hairstyle to different clothing
elements that we have.
So everything within Volta
is really about your avatar
and you as well.
TIM: That's excellent.
Well, that's an excellent
look at the mode I feel.
I really appreciate you taking
the time to walk us through.
And, you know, folks
don't have to wait too long
for the full release.
FIFA 20 is coming
out September 27th,
and you can also check out
Volta mode for yourself.
There's a free
demo out now on PS4.
But, Jeff, thanks
so much for joining us
for a look at Volta mode.
JEFF: Really happy to be here.
Thanks for having me.
And looking forward to the
worldwide release of FIFA 20.
TIM: Thank you very much.
[OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING]
