Prime ICON Thierry Henry

The arrival of TOTW 29 was… well… abysmal and the lack of a standout player to review had me looking elsewhere for potential options.  Dipping back into the ICON pool I decided to go with the perennial talisman and original young French forward Thierry Henry.  The 93 rated Prime version of Henry has just about everything you would want in a striker.  6’2 (188cm), 4 STAR WEAK FOOT, 4 STAR SKILLS, and base stats of 90+ in Pace, Shooting, & Dribbling.  Everything about this card screams goals, goals, goals.  Yet, my experience did not always match the expectation and I am preparing to get slaughtered for this review.

Final Score

Final Rating: 9.1/10

If you follow my reviews at all you will know that this rating is low compared to some of my more recent ratings.  In fact, it actually compares to another Frenchman in FUT Birthday Anthony Martial who I reviewed a few weeks ago.  This type of rating is why I expect some backlash on this review but it comes from a place of honesty and a sample set of 30 games for proof.  9.1 is still a fantastic rating but Henry simply did not set this Weekend League on fire and at times I felt he was holding me back.  I even went as far as trying three different chemistry styles with HUNTER, HAWK, and MARKSMAN all applied for ten games, without a noticeable difference in performance.  

Good vs. Bad

Rating: 4/5

With that bleak introduction out of the way, we should talk about all of the positive attributes this card has.  The runs this card makes in behind are fantastic, I would put Henry alongside any of the players I have used in terms of movement.  94 ACCELERATION & 94 SPRINT SPEED are important here, while 93 POSITIONING doesn’t hurt at all.  If this was any other FIFA I might have had a different opinion of this card, but the one on ones in this game are incredibly difficult and often these fantastic runs were not rewarded.  The 4 STAR WEAK FOOT is also a shining light and I actually think that I scored more left-footed goals throughout the weekend; 94 FINISHING as a base statistics is a big part of this success.  Yet all of these fantastic attributes cannot overcome the fact that this card feels clunky and borderline uncoordinated.  I realize the comments will be filled with “you just don’t know how to use him,” but as I read smaller reviews of this card I see this trend popping up.  Is it the 66 BALANCE, or player architype?  I have no idea, but this card on the ball feels like it downshifts to a slower gear and becomes a truck to turn.

Uniqueness

Rating: 3.5/5

This card doesn’t have a lot going on in this category, but I want to be perfectly clear that this in no way swayed my rating or thoughts on Henry’s performance.  It is worth stating though that this card is quite plain.  While the commentary in-game can be enjoyable as he screams “HENRY!!” there is not much else.  Lack of a dynamic image, minimal in-game comparisons, and those terrible black and white EA boots just take some of the enjoyment out of this card for me.  Small, small details I know. 

Link-ability

Rating: 5/5

Has to be with an ICON and provides those strong links to French players we mentioned last week.  As with all ICONS they just make everything easier and fitting in the players you want almost seems too simple.

Value/Coins

Rating: 3.5/5

This card fluctuates quite a bit from day to day and I witnessed FUT Managers listing for prices around 1.8 million and fluctuating all the way up to people paying 2 million.  Regardless of where you get this card in this price range it is just not worth it for me.  If you are a long-time fan then you will pay any price and obviously your enjoyment of the card has nostalgia.  But if you are just looking to improve your team there are better options out there including CR7 with change left over to spend on other positions.  Again, I realize that there will be people with crazy goal totals using this card, and perhaps it was a clash with my playstyle, but I just cannot endorse this one; especially coins for value.

End Game Potential & Closing Words

Rating: 5/5

If you just look at the statistics (24 goals, 8 assists, in 30 games) this card wasn’t a total flop and I am not suggesting he is terrible by any means.  9.1 as a rating is still fantastic and again, the movement on this card alone opens up so many opportunities.  I still leave a 5/5 for end game potential because this card does have some real quality overall.  I will also add that there was some serious disrespect by EA of Henry’s passing ability in assigning the values for this card, but this only cements some of my previous points about his overall value.  In the end, I leave the decision up to you… go easy in the comments I can only write what I experience.  Cheers for reading.

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