YoIt’s been a year since EA, after abandoning its FIFA license, brought us EA Sports FC, the most oddly named sports game franchise since Peter Shilton’s Handball Maradona. Sales were Apparently 5% less After the switch to the catchy new name, profits rose thanks to the cash-raising power of Ultimate Team, EA’s controversial and financially voracious take on a Panini sticker album. Now we’re onto the sequel and with Konami’s eFootball continuing to underperform and no new Fifa title on the immediate horizon, it’s another open target for the team at EA Sports.
Luckily for us, the developer isn’t taking its dominance for granted – there are some genuinely intriguing new features here. Last year it was the advanced HyperMotion2 animation technology, this year it’s FC IQ, which looks to improve the strategic side of the game by giving you intricate control over team and player mentalities. Here, you can fine-tune your build-up style and defensive approach, and then go in and change the priorities of each individual player. Want Saka to play in an aggressive attacking role rather than a balanced one at Arsenal? You can make that change. Then, when you start a match, your AI will yell at you to get forward at the expense of providing defensive support. It’s a fun option for Claudio Ranieri types, but a bit much if you’re just looking for a game of football.
All the familiar gameplay varieties are here, from manager and player careers to seasons, tournaments and clubs, where you can play as a single, consistent player on a team. The new main mode is Rush, a fast-paced futsal game that replaces the flashy street football spectacle Volta. It’s a back-and-forth game that requires extreme concentration and quick passing, and those who have bothered to learn slick moves like feints and overhead passes will have a huge advantage. Naturally, Ultimate Team is back too, allowing you to build your dream team from purchasable randomised player packs – there are some minor cosmetic and tactical changes, and Rush mode has been added to the gameplay options, but for the most part it’s as addictive a game as ever.
On the pitch, a revamped animation and graphics engine overall gives us a delightful, expressive and thoughtful football experience. Players move with grace and fluidity, there’s extraordinary dynamism and variety in how they react to the ball, how it bounces off unwary limbs or slips under the spell of a skilful receiver. The pace is slower than in the days of Pro Evolution Soccer, but it lights up at key moments as your team advances down the pitch. Playing with my kids, we enjoy how different each team feels and how the contrasts really come through in the action – how different it is to attack with Juventus rather than Real Madrid. I’m not sure it’s ever felt so pronounced before.
The most beautiful things happen when you control star players. A few minutes with Manchester City and you really feel Foden’s explosive acceleration; you jostle for position with Haaland and fire perfectly aimed volleys as De Bruyne. For all its flashy TV-style presentation and overly enthusiastic commentary, the moments when EA Sports FC 25 comes closest to the authentic experience are when you play well as Jamal Musiala or Aitana Bonmatí and get a brief glimpse of what it must feel like to be a genius. Those luminous seconds really are up there with executing the most elaborate special moves in Street Fighter or the most deftly timed roll, parry and strike manoeuvres in Dark Souls.
Visual detail comes at a price, though. I saw some very noticeable graphical glitches, such as lines of HUD text stacked on top of each other and various players’ limbs eerily combining during goal-line melee, like something out of a Cronenberg-directed body horror film. The first-person camera, which sometimes puts you in the shoes of a particular player or even the referee, is complete nonsense. I wasn’t looking forward to peering down the shirt and then into the shoulder socket of Brentford corner-taker Bryan Mbeumo, but there it was.
EA Sports FC 25 may not be the huge structural leap that its predecessor was; it is, to use the classic phrase, an evolution, not a revolution. To make the most of its new technical features, you’ll have to delve into the depths of pre-match menu systems, and that’s not for everyone. Ultimate Teams, meanwhile, is as problematic as ever with its carefully oiled compulsive cycle of in-game purchases and micro-upgrades for your fantasy team.
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However, if you love playing with updated teams, stats and visual details and perhaps skipped the previous edition, you’ll be enjoying this feature-packed football feast for months. EA Sports FC 25 aims for the top corner and, more often than not, scores.