The rhetoric around EA Sports football games is, ironically, the same year after year. People who don’t really get it wonder why the seemingly minor modifications couldn’t have been added in an update, while die-hards, importing their tribalistic fan culture from real-life football perhaps, agonise over each new face and feature.
I am definitely one of those people who’s been locked into the peaks and troughs of FIFA and EA Sports FC for more than 20 years (a devastating revelation), but it feels like, through a mix inconsistent and unsatisfying gameplay, an increasing push towards more-and-more expensive Ultimate Team packs and a fossilisation of every other game mode at Ultimate Team’s expense, that anger within the community is turning to apathy – particularly with competition from FIFA and 2K games reportedly on the horizon.
EA Sports FC 25 looks to address this head on by modernising fundamental parts of its gameplay, adding more social and casual spaces to re-emphasise fun instead of a constant grind and by creating a more holistic experience that updates long-underserved modes.
The first of these updates is what EA’s calling FC IQ, a full rework of the underlying tactics system controlling your players’ behaviour on the pitch, which aims to bring a new level of realistic tactical flexibility to EA Sports FC 25.
While there have obviously been improvements in the back end, the interface for tactics in EA Sports games has been the same for a very, very long time. I can remember telling strikers to “Get in Behind” and setting a DM to “Stay Back While Attacking” when I was literally a child.
As football fans generally have become more knowledgeable about in-depth analysis in the xG era, the tools FIFA and then EA Sports FC 24 gave you to emulate Liverpool’s high press, a Guardiola-like 5-5 split in possession, or whatever Spurs are doing when the left-backs play up-front, were nowhere near up to the task – particularly compared to its suit, tie and spreadsheets cousin, Football Manager.
After setting their position, players now choose from one of more than 50 new roles, including things like “false-back” (where a defender steps into midfield in possession like Trent Alexander-Arnold) or “half-winger” (where a central midfielder wanders out wide to make use of their crossing ability, à la Kevin De Bruyne for Man City).
The murky high, medium and low work rates are gone, and you now set a player’s “Focus” to attack, roam or defend on the new Activity Map where you can see how they’ll play out their position and Player Role. Players also have different proficiencies in each role, with a “+” if they know what they’re doing or a “++” if they’re world-class at that job. EA has said that it’s more about the best players excelling at their Roles rather than unfamiliar players being bad when they’re thrown onto the pitch out of position, but it’s all done with the aim of giving players greater personality, as well as making the gameplay feel more involved and less robotic as a whole.
You can also independently set tactics for when you’re with and without possession, in what is a genuinely impressive-looking shake-up. Whether this renewed tactical focus can break the old reliances on cut-back goals, pace abuse and exploiting overpowered mechanics is a tough question, but EA has said there will be more viable tactical styles than ever, rather than everyone just being able to copy the same ultra-defensive meta tactics from pros.
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Playstyles have also gotten a rework, with goalkeepers the biggest beneficiary. They’ve got new special abilities like “Footwork” (which is basically a buffed “Saves with Feet” trait) and the incredibly exciting “Reflector” (which makes the keeper push the ball further out when they make a save to guard against rebounds).
Another showpiece refresh is called Rush, a new five-a-side game type which is replacing VOLTA and will be integrated into all of the key game modes instead of being a standalone one. It’s a fast-paced, shorter-sided match with a smaller pitch and new rules. Offsides start in a team’s defensive third instead of at the half-way line, while persistent or egregious fouling is punished with a “blue card” sin bin instead of a straight red.
I used to like VOLTA as a concept, but there’s no doubt it became an afterthought after a couple of novelty games. This time, EA is pitching Rush as the less competitive social space for its other modes, but one that still contributes to your overall season progression, so you don’t feel like you’re losing out on precious time that could be better spent elsewhere. Each Rush match will still count towards things like Ultimate Team objectives, or your progress in Pro Clubs, but, hopefully, with less hyper-focused competition.
In Ultimate Team, you can play Rush with four friends (plus an AI keeper) or enter matchmaking to get stuck in with a team of similar players. You each bring a single player from your UT collection, with EA saying it’s the perfect place to show off the amazing player you just packed, or somewhere to towel off from the sweatiness of Rivals and Champs.
Then, in Pro Clubs, Rush is basically just a condensed version of the full-sized gameplay where you can earn Rush Points to unlock rewards. However, the best implementation is definitely in Career Mode, where you can now play Rush tournaments with your Youth Squad at specific points throughout a season.
You can either play at your youth players’ current ability to gauge their suitability for the first team, or get a glimpse of their full potential – kind of how Youssoufa Moukoko scored a billion goals at youth level – as they play against rival teams of other youngsters.
More ways to interact with your youth team has been high on the list of dream features for Career Mode fans for a long time, and a way to enjoy more of your youth players at full potential (when the practicalities of life mean you don’t always make it quite as far into a Career Mode save as you’d like) is a really tantalising prospect to breathe some life into the beleaguered game mode.
These tournaments will apparently also give big boosts to your best youth players so they can burst onto the scene with a more usable overall (basically like Lamine Yamal) – another aspect of creating your own story lines in Career Mode that’s felt lacking in the past.
From the Rush I’ve played, the pitch size felt better than VOLTA, and the keepers were less dominant thanks to the bigger goals. Keeper movement has also apparently been nerfed, meaning they can only take more of a single step rather than scuttling all the way over to close the angle to a ridiculous degree, which is a big win for every game mode.
But this means that Rush has a true arcade feel, where you can go on mazy runs, launch Hollywood passes and finish off silky moves in a breezier and less intense setting. However, I’m slightly sceptical of its staying power in the game modes outside of Career. As evidenced by Ultimate Team friendlies being just as, if not even more, sweaty than basic Rivals, the EA Sports FC community has been flame-hardened by years of blazing competition, and proven uncompromising when it comes to toxic griddy wars. Is everyone really going to play nice just because it’s supposed to be casual?
EA has made some strides to begin to temper this feeling of over-competitiveness throughout the different game modes, firstly by uncoupling the matchmaking in Friendlies from the Rivals ELO so there’s a greater range of more casual players and less incentive to actively smurf.
Then weekly rewards have been tweaked to rely on a points-based system with three points for a win and one point for a draw, reducing the incentive for a win-at-all-costs mentality and the frustration of standing still after a match finishes level. You can also now get relegated from Rivals leagues, so there’s no more getting stuck in the motivation-sapping try-hard divisions. All of these changes are in both Ultimate Team and Pro Clubs.
Ultimate Team will now also, finally, have duplicate storage to hold onto the multiples of players you get from packs. My biggest bugbear with FC 24 was feeling like you received literally nothing for your time investment after you logged on, grabbed your rewards, discarded Edin Dzeko, Mats Hummels and Borja Inglesias, then Chris Smalling if you’re lucky, before wondering why you’re even starting the grind all over again.
Another of my biggest gripes has also been given an overhaul. With a system EA’s calling “Cranium”, players without a real headscan have seen their likenesses massively upgraded – something that’s felt like it’s laid dormant for a long, long time.
I think many of the changes EA has made in FC 25 are very positive, especially given how FC IQ, Rush and Cranium can finally bring meaningful changes to Career Mode, but the question always remains to be how these things will manifest over a full season of play. Particularly Ultimate Team is hammered for any weaknesses, so while the FC IQ tactics look like a lot of fun to dig into, it’ll be even more interesting to see how a meta emerges.
EA Sports FC 25 will be released on September 27.