When Claude Makelele moved from Real Madrid to Chelsea during the Galacticos era, Zinedine Zidane famously said:
And despite the exciting addition of playstyle to the first EA Sports FC, EA’s flagship football franchise has been a bit similar to that in recent years. With inconsistent gameplay filled with exploitable mechanics that drive both casual and committed players wild.
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However, the EA Sports FC 25 feels like it’s finished with its wig. Put hard yards in and redevelop a critical foundation that isn’t too exciting behind the box, but you’ll end up having a much better match experience in all different game modes.
But EA actually needs to put these new systems behind the box, so it sounds like they’re adorning their flashy and brain names, showing how fast the ball is spinning during every pass of Tuesday’s fixture between Hull and Bristol City.
The most important thing is “FC IQ.” This overhauls the tactical structure of all games, providing players with new roles to play on the pitch, allowing them to set up genuine concrete game plans that actually have a visible and powerful impact on the player’s behavior.
This is a transformative shift for players who want to be involved in the system, allowing them to create a more predictable style of play for their team, with or without the ball. American soccer nerds can actively realize all the buzzwords they’ve heard on the podcasts of people who know what they’re talking about, from those who are “Back 3 owned”, “Five and 5 split”, “Repeatable offensive action”, and “Box midfield” all possible with new tools.
It is also much more shareable now, and can be easily imported into the Team Management menu with unique tactical codes.
FC IQ is very error prone to the first pass, making it a loop to a more intentional moment. But importantly, this is a solid feature that brings something new to almost every game mode of the EA Sports FC 25. This brings an extra layer of depth and reliability to the long-dependent manager’s career mode.
However, the FC 25 has significantly improved gameplay, but it is still technically a mixed bag, with some false Jablanis mixed with the right matchday equipment.
The menu can freeze slowly, especially in the ultimate team. This is frustration since last year’s game. Later, in the activated career mode, several mechanisms of key features such as youth scouting were eavesdropped (youth players in the outfield are too inaccurate in their heads, but goalkeepers have no diving ability) or incomplete (some new scouting countries have only one last name in their naming pool).
It’s irritating and shaky, especially when positive measures are being taken in so many areas.
However, Career Mode is also another major beneficiary of the main additional beneficiary to FC 25, which EA calls “Cranium.” Simply put, players who don’t have surreal face scans look like themselves and runescape NPCs.
In previous editions, the licensed managers, who had not had the right FACESCAN, looked embarrassed and bad. However, we still have a cheerful and cheerful Carlo Ancelotti, as we only have one body type, but the floors are grown all over the board. In the top division saves where most players have scans, the unscanned player doesn’t stick out like that meme with one man dressed to Babadok at a diner party. That’s a big plus.
Again, the match experience in career mode has been greatly improved by FC IQ, but the overall package also has the same quib. With long-term saves, the overall rating inflation of AI teams is not so realistic, as AI tends to build a biased team with just three world-class right-backs and one central midfielder. You can sort this a bit with Peak Barclay or FPP Head Cannon (maybe better standards for football, or the strange roster is due to a fictional transfer embargo), but it shows that there is still much to do to turn EA Sports FC into a truly complete soccer sim.
Interestingly, the Ultimate team feels like the most static mode on the FC 25. This is because it is very aesthetically similar to the 24, even when it benefits greatly from the same upgrade as the other modes.
Additionally, the Ultimate team is the most difficult part of the game as it changes dramatically throughout the game’s annual lifecycle. One overwhelming exploit is discovered and simply throws most profits and various FC IQs out of the window.
The opening weeks have felt like a progression and escalation of shifts seen in recent years, becoming a more humanly impossible reward, focusing on completing the same handful of meta-SBCs rather than building a team in casual deals.
It’s definitely a grind, but it’s something that helped a lot with much better access to less competitive outlets like the stronger career mode and the new game type rush.
Rush is a five-card game type featured in professional clubs, as a youth team tournament in career mode and as a fantasy power league for the Ultimate team. With a small pitch with blue card sinbins for professional fouls, focusing on quick interchanges and skill moves, Rush is pitched as the more social and less toxic game type of FC 25, designed to be fun, fast and engaging, rather than as intense as brain-teared.
It’s a lot of fun when you get a like-minded team, but of course, strangers on the internet aren’t necessarily like-minded. But there is also a disorderly energy for those who choose to go for the slow silver CB, who refuse to stand anywhere but offside on the edge of the enemy I have to respect.
The cliché of EA sports games is that they are always a repetitive step. But apart from the graphical similarity of the mid-console generation, there is a lot that the EA Sports FC 25 is not repetitive. The major changes brought about by FC IQ, Cranium and Rush will be an interesting gameplay refresh that will give new driving forces for both competitive online modes and long-standing offline carriers.
EA Sports FC 25 is currently available on PlayStation, Xbox, PC and Switch.