The modern era of video games has seen FIFA reign supreme as the king of all football games (or soccer), drawing in millions of fans with its gameplay, graphics, and range of modes that have hooked people for years. The 2010s, in particular, saw the franchise grow it’s player base exponentially with the creation of Ultimate Team.

The decade of FIFAstarted very strong, but, not all the games were massively well received, and, in fact, as the 2010s went on, the same complaints about the game kept getting brought up without change, prompting an effect of it’s critical and fan reception, as is evident on the Metacritic scoring of the games.

13 2014 Fifa World Cup Brazil - 74

Released as a part of the famous World Cup line of FIFA games, the coinciding game of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil was one that was fun for the months of the tournament, but did not earn its price tag.

It played like an alternate and more stripped-down version of the main game from the same year, and while the entire World Cup tournament aspect is fun, it did not last long.

12 Fifa 20 - 79

The latest iteration of the game (released in the tail end of 2019 so qualifying for this list) was, and still is, an incredibly divisive game, and got panned by users on Metacritic with a 1.1 rating.

The game added some fun features like Volta but did nowhere near enough of an overhaul of a game to justify it getting called anything more than an annual refresh. With bugs aplenty and the same old slew of Ultimate Team and Career Mode issues, it has undoubtedly been a disappointment despite the gorgeous gameplay.

11 Fifa 15 - 82

With all-new emotions and reactions added, FIFA 15 certainly had a lot of potential for the decade’s FIFA midpoint, but ultimately added little to previous installments.

The game did improve from a graphics point of view, and arguably in terms of the gameplay too, but did nothing to take the game forward leaps and bounds out with that.

10 2010 Fifa World Cup South Africa - 83

Jumping back to the World Cup line of games, like the 2010 World Cup itself, the coinciding game was one that had fans very excited.

Fans enjoyed the game thoroughly as it captured the feeling and atmosphere of that year’s tournament well with real feeling drama and international stakes that, while only keeping any real value for a couple of months, worked incredibly well.

9 Fifa 19 - 83

Keeping with the trend of mainline FIFA games from the second half of the decade falling at the bottom of the list, FIFA 19, while still a great game for fans of the sport, did not live up to past games.

Crisp, fresh, and gorgeous, the game improved on the typical changes, but again did nothing to transform other game modes like fans have waited for, with so much focus on Ultimate Team.

8 Fifa 16 - 84

Staying again with the second half of the decade, few would argue FIFA 16 as the most magnificent FIFA entry of all time, however, at the time, it was most definitely the most realistic in terms of the sport the game had been.

Slower and more grounded, the game did have some buggy online issues, and had some serious competition from Pro Evolution Soccer that year, but remained an excellent simulator.

7 Fifa 18 - 84

Showing FIFA’s downward trend in the past five odd years again, FIFA 18 was a game with a rebuilt animation system that fans still found disgruntled in terms of reasoning to buy it at the high price tag as an annual release.

The Journey was, again, fun, with Ultimate Team being its usual high-quality self - if that is the type of thing the player likes - and there is no doubting the overall quality of the game, it just suffers the same complaints from fans as 19 and 20.

6 Fifa 17 - 85

FIFA 17 benefits massively from bringing The Journey into FIFA, finally bringing something entirely new to the franchise, something fans are currently begging for.

There is not much else to say about the game; the Journey was enjoyable, Ultimate Team underwent the usual graphic change, with the gameplay mostly kept the same. It had fierce competition but remained a reliable choice.

5 Fifa 14 - 88

Jumping to the first half of the decade, FIFA 14 was a bright start for the franchise on the next-gen consoles of the PS4 and X-Box One holding all positive critic reviews on Metacritic.

The game does some fine-tuning of the features given to the game in the previous entries of the series, the same as what the game is doing now, except early enough that it is not seen as lazy. It was arguably the last great FIFA game.

4 Fifa 11 - 89

FIFA 11 was arguably squashed in-between two superior entries to the franchise, something Metacritic backs up, but on its own is still a fantastic FIFA game.

The game did a lot to tweak the mechanics as it traveled in the direction of becoming an uber-realistic football game. The Career Mode could have been more fleshed out, but for a simulator game, every fan got their fill with this.

3 Fifa 13 - 90

Falling third only due to second place having a superior rating on the X-Box 360 side of things, FIFA 13 is a pretty great FIFA game.

The first touch in this game is something that still haunts some FIFA fans, with that not being the only technical gameplay flaw within the game. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful game and one that, excluding some play issues, was well rounded with an incredible soundtrack.

2 Fifa 12 - 90

Like many FIFA games, FIFA 12 is a game that really makes fans wonder if a yearly release is essential. However, it just continued a brilliant streak of excellent games of the game.

It loses first place only due to first place having a higher Metacritic score on one of the two primary consoles. The game added some significant gameplay changes as well as some to Career Mode, and, of course, continued innovating EA’s money-making Ultimate Team.

1 Fifa 10 - 91

While released in 2009, FIFA 10 was the game played by fans of the franchise throughout most of its titular year in 2010, making its way on the list, and earning the top spot with a 91 and 90 Metacritic rating on the two major consoles respectively.

The game was the second year of the phenomenon that is Ultimate Team, and while FIFA 08 gets so often heralded as one of, if not the best FIFA game, FIFA 10 certainly gives it a challenge with its gameplay and range of modes, truly being a brilliant simulator of the sport.

NEXT: Ranked: The 10 Best Soccer Games Ever Made