Every football fan knows this routine intimately: summer is over, the transfer window is closed, you brew a nice cup of coffee and wonder,“Is this year any different?”
EA Losing The FIFA License Could Revive Football Games
There’s not been a better time in the last 25 years to kick off a new football series.
FC 25is the second EA Sports football title after theFIFAlicensing agreement ended. Aftera very disappointing year withFC 24, expectations were low. EA Sports were expected to publish the same old game with minor tweaks, and charge full price for it… but it seems this might finally be a turning point for the football gaming goliath.
This is not a paradigm shift, but it feels likethe focus is back to being good, fun football for the first time in years.
Football First
After Konami torpedoed thePESline with the transition toeFootball 2022, football fans had to choose between FIFA’s fast-paced arcade gameplay andFootball Manager’sdeep-dive slog.
This schism left players seeking accessible realism orphaned, with many abandoning football games altogether. But with the newest EA FC title acting as a return to form, if you need an excuse to ditch that worn copy ofeFootball PES 2021, this is it.
The most glaring gameplay change inFC 25is how sprinting works when in possession.
The Pass & Go has been the meta for goal scoring for over a decade ofFIFAtitles. You’d pick a fast player, set him up on the wing, play a one-two, and send a through ball no defender can reasonably chase.
The simplest way to counter that was to emulate Tony Pulis, put eleven men behind the ball, and absorb the pressure.It made for horrible gameplay.
InFC 25, having the ball on your feet means you are significantly slower, perhaps even too slow.The jury is still out on whether this was an overcorrection, but the gameplay implications are positive.
Being able to run into space now requires creating that space.The build-up matters inFC 25.
As a counter to the slower attacks,the learning curve for defending has gotten steepernext toFIFAandEAFCtitles of yore.
Defenders have a more realistic ‘weight’ to them, and accurate challenges are more efficient. The problem is thatanything short of that sends the marking man past the ball and into the Twilight Zone, leaving a gaping hole for opponents to run into.
In other football titles, similar changes were balanced by having more efficient or easier containing, but inFC 25jockeying and interceptions also require a lot of finesse. Until defenders learn how to do their job again, you can count on goalkeepers to save the day.
Keepers are not overpowered, but they are dramatic.The dozens of matches that went into crafting this review were peppered by excited and frustrated expletives as seemingly 100% goal moments dramatically fell apart at the gloved fingertips of goalkeepers.
Like in all previous EA football titles,expect patches that balance the action on the pitch, but it is hard to see this significantly changing the flow ofFC 25.
Tactics Galore
This is still notFootball Manager(nor does it try to be), and EA Sports knows their core audience is not losing sleep over whether that #10 is playing as a trequartista or an enganche.
What makesFC 25different is that those who care about these fine details can implement their vision through the Tactics Hub.
This is an accessible way to specify what you need your players to do. Through a clean interface, virtual managers get todecide what each player needs to do with and without the ball.
Each role comes with a fact sheet next to the formation map containing its pros, cons, and core features, sonew players can enjoy this featurewithout having to search fortactics guides online.
Three Games in a Trench Coat
EA Sports made a habit of adding game modes that just didn’t have the legs to survive multiple releases. The Journey story mode washed out after two entries despite a promising start. VOLTA did a bad parody of FIFA Street and died an unceremonious death.
This year’s gameplay twist is Rush, essentially a 5-a-side modewith a smaller pitch, but standard-sized goals. Time will tell whether EA Sports will keep Rush alive, but early impressions are positive.
The Journey relied on plot, VOLTA needed flair gimmicks, butRush goes back to basics: it’s just football.You can play it in the regular offline and online modes, including Career andUltimate Team.
The other modes have stayed the same for around a decade, butCareer Mode in FC 25 deserves a shout.
The mode itself is mostly unchanged, but thetactical improvementsoutlined before add meaning to tasks that previously felt like chores. The spam of important emails almost feels like Football Manager Lite, butEA lets you tweak details or automate everything and be done with it.
Virtual managers chasing glory in UEFA and ASEAN competitions are well served, with most major leagues and clubs available.South America is a barren wastelandin comparison, with only Argentina represented.
This presents a problem for smaller clubs as South America is historically the prime source fortalented young playersat relatively low fees.
Sound & Vision
FC 25packs a cinematic grandeur that begs for playing on the couch, hooked to a big TV.The cameras and transitions make the magic happen, this time not only for big licensed leagues.
The commentary is dynamic and provided byreal broadcasting veteransin all languages, and you’re able to feel the difference in crowd intensity between stadiums.The controller audio implementation is hamfistedand out of place compared to the high-quality audio from the game.
Body cams in corners, crowd shots, substitutions, VAR, and the most innocuous moments are highlighted when the ball goes out of play. You start skipping them intuitively after a while, but their existence adds to the feeling thatthere is a football game on, albeit a virtual one.
Plus, Lesser-known players finally look less horrifyingthanks to the morbidly named Cranium technology, although the generic faces are still a far cry from the scanned crowd.
Menu Struggles
Surfing through menus inFC 25comes with a chill playlist, which is good consideringhow frustrating the experience is.
The sleek visuals are overshadowed by the laggy transitions and inputs. It is not clear how the developers managed to createa game that runs butter smooth in graphically intensive scenes but struggles with menus.
Some menus are also booby-trapped, like the FC Hub button on PlayStation 5.Activating it gets you a splash screen with “Reconnecting to EA Servers” that does not go away until you restart the game, potentially wiping your Career Mode progress between saves. It’s just little issues like this that can make any time not on the pitch a burden.
Eurasian Football Simulator
FC 25does not attempt to be an all-encompassing experience likeFootball Manager, but the licensing still falls flat within its limited scope.
England and Germany are the only ones that go beyond the second tier, while besides Spain, Italy, and France, other leagues have no relegation or promotion.
Playing in Italy is not quite the same, however.Inter, Milan, Lazio, Atalanta, and the mighty Monza are not licensed.
The big derby between Milano FC and Lombardia FC, with ugly generic kits, does not get anyone hyped.
National teams are in a similarly poor state.Europe has 22 licensed teams, while the rest of the world combined tallies seven.Canada, Brazil, Australia, Japan, Egypt, you name it - generic badge and jersey for you.
Closing Comments:
This is an honest entry into football gaming, the kind you can buy this year and enjoy for two, or three seasons, or however long it takes for EA Sports to add new features worth checking out. Career Mode remains a far cry from Football Manager, and the licensing situation might as well have changed the series name to “European Football 25”. Odds are it will not get better for a while. FC 25 is like watching football: a mix of great moments, frustration, and occasionally asking yourself “Why did I put two hours into this”. The answer is that FC 25, like football, is just good fun.
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