Fancy a kickabout on EA Sports FC 24 for free? Just grab a Nintendo Switch and start playing.
The latest edition of the popular footy game is free to download for Switch Online members until Monday, February 26. This isn’t a demo, either: You’ll get unrestricted access to the full game, including its career and online modes.
Best of all, you don’t have to spend a penny to grab it. Even if you don’t have a Switch Online membership, you can sign up for a seven-day free trial. Otherwise, it costs £3.49 per month or £18 per year, which is much cheaper than PS Plus or Xbox Game Pass Core, and comes with tons of classic Nintendo and Sega games.
Despite ditching the FIFA moniker, EA Sports FC 24 is business as usual for the mega-franchise. It still has all the proper teams, leagues, and players, the big championships, and the Ultimate Team mode that many associate with the game. On top of which, EA has made just enough tweaks to the physics and systems to keep diehard fans happy.
The seven-year-old Switch isn’t as powerful as the latest consoles, so you may notice some downgrades. As others have pointed out, the game suffers from sluggish animations that can sometimes make it feel like all the players are the same. The main culprits are a lower frame rate and the absence of Hypermotion V, which is the name of EA’s new motion-capture tech.
Those shortfalls aside, the game is still superior to the minimal legacy editions of FIFA that were hurried on to Switch in the past. The visuals look a bit more polished and the gameplay is better than on its predecessor.
All told, EA Sports FC 24 is still the best footy game on the Switch. Mario Strikers and Captain Tsubasa might be fun for a casual, arcade experience, but nothing else matches the realism of EA’s popular series.
