We’ve waited a few days to write this article. FIFA 21, the latest in the very long-running line of annual soccer game releases from Electronic Arts, was released on October 6^th. In the two or three days after it was launched, everyone took to the internet to give their opinion on it. Some people loved it, and some people hated it. That’s inevitable with a launch of this magnitude. We wanted to wait a little longer and spend more time playing it before we weighed in with our own opinion, but the time has now come. We’ve played FIFA 21 every way it can possibly be played, and here’s our honest take on what’s wrong with it.

Ultimate Team

Let’s deal with the elephant in the room straight off the bat. Ultimate Team is still there, and it’s still mostly based on loot box mechanics. It’s almost unbelievable that EA is persisting with loot boxes at this point. Belgium has banned them because they use identical mechanics to online slots. The United Kingdom is also very close to banning them because that country’s government also considers them to be too similar to online slots. Think about it. You’re spending money – real or “in-game” money – on a Real money casino, with no way to influence the outcome. How is that any different from what a player does at an online slots website? It isn’t. You’d never let a child gamble, and the morality of allowing them to simulate gambling is dubious at best.

That side, Ultimate Team, is largely unchanged. Fitness and coaching have been removed, which has proven to be a popular choice with the community, and you can customize your stadium, which is a nice (if meaningless) touch, but everything else is basically the same. If you liked last year’s Ultimate Team, you’ll like this. If you expected significant evolution, you’ll be disappointed.

Gameplay

There were a few things that players badly wanted to see done to the balance of gameplay compared to FIFA 20. They got some of them. Crossing, thankfully, has been dramatically improved. It’s now possible to score a headed goal, and it’s nice to get that experience back. The defensive IQ of your computer opponents is better now, too. The same goes for your teammates. They’re less likely to fall over because of the most innocuous of challenges. They’re more likely to run into space to receive a pass when space is so obviously available.

The downside is that dribbling is now even more complicated than it was last time around. We don’t think anybody asked for that. There’s now a third mode of dribbling to go with skill dribbling and strafe dribbling, and we can honestly say that we still don’t know what it’s for or how it makes the game any better. The game has also (re)introduced “creative runs” – a feature from years ago where you can briefly switch control to off-the-ball teammates to have them run for you. This is a good idea in principle, but the player on the ball has a dreadful habit of losing it as soon as you surrender control of them. There are some nice ideas here, but they’re not fleshed out.

Realism

Here’s one of our major gripes with this game, and it won’t be one that everybody agrees with. VAR – or “Video Assistant Referee” to give the system its full name, hasn’t been popular with everybody. In fact, it hasn’t been popular with the majority of people. Fans hate it. Players hate it as well. It’s been accused of everything from spoiling the atmosphere of individual games to ruining the sport completely. For a supposedly foolproof system, it makes a lot of mistakes, and the decisions it makes about goals – especially those where there’s a possible offside or handball – are egregious. It’s far from a perfect system, and we wish it weren’t there.

Even with all of that said, hating the system doesn’t mean that it isn’t there. That makes it inexcusable to leave it out of FIFA 21. This game, above all other things, is supposed to be a football simulator. VAR, for better or for worse, is very much part of the modern game. Not including VAR in this year’s edition makes it feel stuck in the past. We know that not every player would want to deal with it, so give them the option to turn it off if they want. The exclusion of VAR feels lazy and doesn’t help with the impression that this ‘new’ version of the game is really just a slightly tweaked version of last year’s with new kit designs.

Career Mode

There are a few surface-level improvements with career mode, so here they are. Transfer negotiations are a little more flexible and realistic than they used to be. You can now loan players with an agreement to buy them at the end of the loan term, and the clubs who come in for your players tend to be a little more realistic. When you’re training young players, you can now train them in groups instead of individually, and you can encourage them to learn new positions. That rapid 17-year-old left-back you’ve been nurturing can be turned into a left-winger, becoming the new Gareth Bale in the process.

Simming games in career mode is a better experience now, too. You can watch the gameplay out minute by minute as if you were playing Football Manager, but jump in and take over if you go a goal down or the game isn’t going the way you want it to. That’s a lot better than pressing one button and immediately being given a result you can do nothing about.

These changes don’t make career mode feel any less empty, though. The same teams still go up and down from all the leagues. You can’t edit kits. The same managers keep their jobs for as long as you play through your career. Whether it’s 2021 or 2031, Jurgen Klopp will still be in charge of Liverpool, and Sean Dyche will still be at Burnley. The world is stale and static, and so after a while, it becomes dull.

We should have known better than to expect too much of this version of FIFA. It’s come out at a difficult time, during the transition from the current generation of consoles to the next one. Next year there won’t be a current-gen version of the game, and so more focus will hopefully have been placed on making the most of the capabilities of the newer hardware. FIFA 21 is very much a placeholder game, and so because of that, it might be one to miss.

Megaways slots, if you didn’t know already, is a great and unique twist on one branch of online casino games you won’t want to miss out on. Compared to original slots, Megaways Slots offer something truly different, and players get more chances to win and play slots than ever before. Read on to find out more, or head to your nearest online casino and game with Megaways slots today!

What are Megaways Slots?

In comparison to traditional online slots, Megaways Slots are vastly different, though the concept is nothing new. Usually, regular slots are set across five reels with three or more symbol variations and between 10 and 243 pay lines. In other terms, regular slots have a set number of reels and symbols. Most of the Megaways slots offer from 46,000 to 117,000 different potential winning combinations.

However, with Megaways slots, the number of symbols there are entirely random and so there are more potential winning combinations possible. For example, each Megaways slot reel consists of anything from two to eight symbols – meaning a whole bunch of different winning combinations. These expand into more than a hundred thousand ways to win! Not something any online casino player will want to scoff at.

How Megaways slots work

But, just how exactly do the mechanics of such a thrilling and different kind of slot machine work? It’s all in the reels with the workings of Megaways slots. Most of the Megaways slots today have up to six reels, but the cinch is that all of the reels hold a really varied amount of symbols. Due to such a great symbol variation, there’s no way any player can know what will happen with the next spin.

Say for example you’ve got three symbols on the first reel, two on the second and eight on the third. On the next spin, you could have seven on reel one, four on the second and so on. It’s a fun concept with slots and the fact it gives players more ways to win – Megaways in fact – it’s a hard concept not to love!

2020 Megaways Slots

#1 Bonanza

This was one of the earliest Megaways slots, but it remains one of the most popular titles to this day. And for good reason, like many others in the Megaways genre, with Bonanza you can get up to 117,649 winning combinations along with a tonne of thrilling features!

#2 Extra Chilli

Another Megaways slot that’s a bit of a cult classic, try your luck with Extra Chilli. It’s similar to Bonanza in terms of function and design so you can expect this to be a popular and fun choice from Megaways slots. Extra Chilli has six reels and up to 117, 649 potential winning combinations.

#3 Dragon Born

The first of the Megaways slots released, Dragon Born is still a popular hit with the online casino scene. With six reels, up to 117,640 possible pay lines and special features it’s still as good a choice as any. But don’t just take our word for it. Give one a go today!

When you first think of those who might be most likely to play bingo, you’ll probably think of retired people, those over 60 or 70, who like to head off to the local bingo hall and who enjoy their one or two evenings out a week there. It sounds, to many, like a game for ‘old people’.

The truth, though, is that more and more young people are starting to enjoy the thrills of free bingo as well. That’s because bingo is now available online for anyone to play, and rather than going to a physical bingo hall, people can play online or on their mobile devices and have just as much fun.

Having A Fun Night In

Online bingo offers younger people the opportunity to do something different. They don’t have to sit and watch TV or scroll aimlessly through their social media feeds – they can play online games and potentially win some money as well. It’s a much cheaper option than going to be a nightclub or pub, and it doesn’t take up too much time either – a half hour here or there, or even less than that, and you can have a good time, spend a small amount of money, and enjoy the thrill of bingo (whether they win or not).

You might even want to invite your friends over and play together – a takeaway and a bottle of wine or a soft drink to add to the mix makes it the perfect night in.

Social Bingo

One of the reasons that bingo is so popular in general is the social aspect of it. People love to be with others, and when they go to a bingo hall they can chat with friends and have a lot of fun whilst also playing games.

Online bingo – which the younger generation prefers – also has a social aspect to it. Although you won’t be seeing people in person in a physical sense, you will be able to have online chats with lots of people (far more than there would be in a bingo hall). You might make lifelong friends, or you might only chat for one game; the choice is yours. The social aspect of online bingo is just as important as the social aspect of traditional bingo, and it’s a good reason to play.

Play When You Want

Younger people like playing bingo, it’s true, and the fact that they can play when they want to no matter where they are definitely helps. They don’t have to set time aside in their busy weeks to go to a physical building at a specific time, and leave at a set time, and get home late. They can play whenever they have a spare moment, or they can set time aside if they prefer. The choice, as ever, is yours, and it’s all down to have some great options too.

Because there are so many options, it means more people than ever can play bingo in a way that suits them. These include younger people who may not have been able to before bingo went online.

 

With two new flagship consoles on the horizon, and a slew of brand-new games coming to them and making the most of the hardware, now is an exciting time to be a fan of video games. However, while there is plenty coming out in the next six months to get ready for and play, there’s always a part of us that is looking even further ahead, to announcements and teasers that get us even more hyped for the future.

E3 might have been cancelled this year due to the ongoing pandemic, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t still get hyped together for the games of tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow. In fact, many livestreams are continuing to take place, sharing what developers and companies around the world are working on for the future in virtual showcases. We’ve compiled a short list of some hotly anticipated games that, while not on the immediate horizon, are worth waiting for.

Skate

It’s been over ten years since the release of Skate 3 on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, a game that pioneered with its open-world skating simulation and multiplayer social aspects. Recently, skating games have been undergoing a little bit of a resurgence, and so it felt about time that EA revisited this much-loved franchise.

Fans have been clamouring for a sequel or revisit to the series for years at this point, and every time EA had something to announce they were always there on social media, with ‘Skate 4’ this, and ‘Skate 4’ that. Well, after all this time, and coincidentally right after Activision have announced their remake of the first two Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games, EA has answered their hardcore skater fans’ prayers. They revealed at their recent EA play event that they were bringing back the series in some capacity – whether it’s a remake or sequel is yet to be seen – but it will take some time, as the project is still very early in development. Perhaps we’ll be able to see some grinding gameplay at next year’s EA event!

Did you know? – With games in development that span multiple years and are of a huge scope, sometimes it’s hard to predict what will happen with the console market, and often developers will have to pivot onto new consoles as they come out to make sure their game is still relevant when it eventually sees the light of day. Porting and transferring games to different consoles and platforms can be a difficult task, and this explains things like game porting services from Abstraction, a company that specialises in realising a company’s vision in a wide range of different formats.

The Elder Scrolls 6

While it’s almost undeniable that Skyrim is one of the greatest video games of all time, and one that will be forever replayable for years to come, Bethesda have released it on an incredible amount of platforms and in a variety of different forms at this point, from PC, to Nintendo Switch, to even in virtual reality. It’s about time for a new Elder Scrolls game, and if you’re not someone that can get their satisfaction from an MMO in the form of TES: Online, then you’ll be looking out for the next instalment in the main franchise.

At this point, The Elder Scrolls 6 is some ways out, and all we have seen about it is a splash screen showing some text. That was revealed over two years ago at this point, and they stated that it would be ‘years’ out then. Sadly, that seems like it is very much still the case. We have also yet to hear more about Bethesda’s project Starfield, a SciFi RPG, and that’s going to be out before TES6, which means it will be plenty of time before we even see some gameplay. Nevertheless, the mere knowledge that a large-scale Skyrim successor will one day grace our presence is good news, and it’s a white whale to look forward to in the future.

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum

A fascinating narrative-driven game that pits players as the tragic and pitiful Gollum/Smeagol combination, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum from Daedelic will surely offer a unique twist on the Tolkien universe, different from something that we’ve seen before in Middle Earth games. Based on the books rather than the films, the development team have discussed in Edge magazine how they have taken inspiration from some Tolkien drawings and paintings, and want to follow some of the intricacies of the book differently to how the popular Peter Jackson film trilogy did.

We’ve already seen some screenshots and concept art of the title, discussing how systems and combat will work from the perspective of the feeble former hobbit that is Gollum, and it also shouldn’t be too long before we can get a closer look at this one, with it set to launch at some point in 2021 on modern consoles.

 

Number games and grids like Sudoku have been around for hundreds of years. Today, these are everywhere – you’ll find them in newspapers, magazines, websites, and also as smartphone applications. But, believe it or not, the modern-day Sudoku dates back to almost 4000 years.

Overview

Howard Garns is officially credited for the invention of this puzzle game. His version of the free Sudoku puzzle game first appeared in the Dell Puzzles magazine in 1979 by the name “Number Place.” But, it wasn’t an immediate hit in the US then. However, five years later, in 1984, the game became incredibly popular when the editor of Nikoli magazine introduced it to the Japanese audience under the name “Sūji wa dokushin ni kagiru,” which translates to “the digits are limited to one occurrence.” Eventually, the name got abbreviated to “Su Doku.”

This game brought about a revolution in the history of Sudoku puzzles, making Sudoku the best-seller in Japan. Since Sudoku has always been a logic-based number game, it worked well in Japan because language-based puzzles are always challenging to incorporate as crosswords. For these reasons, most people believe that the game is of Japanese origin, but that’s not true.

Though Howard Garns is recognized as the inventor of Sudokus, he’s still far from the first person to actually discover the concept. Famous Swizz mathematician, Leonhard Euler, derived the “Latin Squares,” which is similar to today’s Sudoku but was then based on the concepts of “Magic Squares.” So, the idea of these number games in general dates back to ancient China.

 

Global Outbreak

Even after getting published in the Dell Puzzles magazine, the reach of this game was virtually confined for around two decades until a man from New Zealand, found these in Tokyo and decided to develop a dedicated computer program to produce Sudoku puzzles on the spot. What turned the free Sudoku puzzle games into a worldwide phenomenon was the effort of Wayne Gould, who brought these puzzles to life in the West. Post-2004, the popularity got massive, and since then, there’s no looking back.

 

Sudoku Today

Sudoku has worked its way into the lives of millions all around the globe as a daily staple of fun, entertainment, and great mental exercise.

So now, with your Sudoku knowledge established, test your skills with these wonderful free Sudoku puzzle games available in this app called Sudoku.com developed by Easybrain. It’s a big hit on the Google Play Store with more than 10 million downloads. It offers 10,000+ free Sudoku puzzle games along with intuitive gameplay. The players have to place numbers 1 to 9 in a specific pattern on a 9×9 grid, where each figure is to be used only once in every row, column, and 3×3 sub-grid.

So, take your part in some of this history – install the app right away!