It’s been a year since EA, having abandoned its Fifa licence, brought us EA Sports FC, the most awkwardly named sports game franchise since Peter Shilton’s Handball Maradona. Sales were apparently 5% down after the switch to the catchy new moniker, but profits were up thanks to the cash-raking power of Ultimate Team, EA’s controversial, financially voracious take on a Panini sticker album. Now we’re on to the follow-up and with Konami’s eFootball still underperforming and no new Fifa title on the immediate horizon, it’s another open goal for team EA Sports.
Fortunately for us, the developer is not taking its dominance for granted: there are genuinely intriguing new features here. Last year it was all about the advanced HyperMotion2 animation tech, this year it’s FC IQ, which looks to enhance the strategic side of the game by giving you intricate control over team and player mentalities. Here, you can tweak your build-up style and defensive approach, then go in and change the priorities of each individual player. Want Saka to play in an aggressively attacking rather than balanced role at Arsenal? You can make that change. Then, when you start a match his AI will be yelling at him to make forward runs at the expense of providing defensive support. It’s a fun option for Claudio Ranieri types, but a bit much if you’re just after a kickabout.
All the familiar gameplay varieties are here, from Manager and Player Careers to Seasons, Tournaments and Clubs, where you get to play as a single constant player in a team side. The major new mode is Rush, a fast-paced five-a-side runabout, which replaces the showy street football extravaganza, Volta. It’s end-to-end stuff, requiring extreme focus and snappy passing, and those who’ve bothered to learn skill moves such as feints and step-overs will have a huge advantage. Naturally Ultimate Team is back too, allowing you to build your dream side with random purchasable packs of players; there are some minor cosmetic and tactical changes, and the Rush mode has been added to play options, but it’s mostly addictive business as usual.
On pitch, a generally overhauled animation and graphics engine gives us a lovely, expressive and thoughtful football experience. Players move with grace and fluidity, there is extraordinary dynamism and variety in how they react to the ball, how it richochets off unwary limbs or slips under the spell of a skilled receiver. The pace is slower than the rocket-propelled days of Pro Evolution Soccer, but it ignites in key moments when your team is surging up the field. Playing with my sons, we enjoyed how different each side feels and how the contrasts really come out in the action – how distinct it is attacking with Juventus rather than Real Madrid. I’m not certain if it has ever felt this pronounced before.
The most beautiful stuff happens when you control the big star players. A few minutes with Manchester City and you really feel Foden’s explosive acceleration; you jostle for position with Haaland and you rocket beautifully directed volleys as De Bruyne. For all its showy TV-style presentation and over-enthusiastic commentary, the moments EA Sports FC 25 gets closest to the authentic experience is when you’re playing well as Jamal Musiala or Aitana Bonmatí and you get the briefest glimpse of what it must feel like to be a genius. Those luminous seconds are truly up there with pulling off the most elaborate special moves in Street Fighter, or the most skilfully timed roll, parry and strike maneuvers in Dark Souls.
The visual detail comes with a cost, however. I’ve seen some very noticeable graphical glitches, including lines of Hud text piling up on each other and multiple player limbs disturbingly combining during goalmouth scrambles like a Cronenberg-directed body horror movie. The first-person camera, which occasionally puts you into the boots of a particular player or even the ref, is a total loose cannon. I didn’t particularly want to peer down the shirt, and then inside the shoulder socket, of Brentford corner-taker Bryan Mbeumo, but there it was.
EA Sports FC 25 is perhaps not the major structural leap forward that its predecessor was – it is, to use the classic phrase, an evolution not a revolution. To get the most out of its major new technical features, you’ll need to really dig down into the depths of the pre-match menu systems – and that’s not for everybody. Meanwhile, Ultimate Teams is as problematic as ever with its carefully greased compulsion loop of in-game purchases and micro-improvements to your fantasy squad.
However, if you love playing with up-to-date teams, stats, and visual flourishes, and perhaps skipped the previous edition, you’ll get months of pleasure out of this feature-packed footie fiesta. EA Sports FC 25 shoots for the top corner, and most of the time it scores.
• EA Sports FC is released on 27 September on PC, PS4/5 (version tested), Switch and Xbox One/Series X
