EA Sports FC 25 Review – A Beautiful, Yet Familiar Game

It’s that time of year again when the world’s biggest sport gets a virtual release in the form of EA Sports FC 25 (formerly FIFA). This year, I must say EA Sports FC 25 truly is a beautiful game, in more ways than one.

Game Name: EA Sports FC 25
Platform(s): PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S (reviewed), PC
Publisher(s): EA
Developer(s): EA
Release Date: 27th September 2024 (7 Days Early Access Available From 20th)

Kickoff

I guess I should start by talking about what’s on offer in EA Sports FC 25. The truth is, in terms of modes, there isn’t too much change, the biggest being that Volta, the FIFA Street-inspired mode, is gone. Outside of that, we have all the modes we’d come to expect, with some changes, both good and bad.

Career Mode

This year, Career Mode does see some additional options for how to play. You can finally take one of the in-game Icons, e.g., David Beckham, and use them in a Player Career Mode. Unfortunately, the things you do in Player Career don’t seem to have changed; you still have personality points to allocate that help you earn different traits and objectives to complete that progress your career.

As for Manager Career Mode, that sees a few changes, the biggest one being that you can now manage in women’s football. Functionally, this is exactly the same as managing in men’s football, but due to the lack of women’s leagues available in the game, it is much more limited. It is nice to see the WSL finally in the game, with women in general having more representation in the franchise. I was just left feeling as though there weren’t enough women’s leagues in the game to make it an enjoyable, in-depth experience. That said, I would love to see them expand on this women’s management mode in the future.

Outside of that, Manager Career as a whole just gives you more options for what type of experience you want to have. When setting up the mode, you are greeted with a host of new options, from adjusting player development rates to board strictness and more. You have more control than ever to play Manager Career the way you want to. I, for one, love this flexibility and can see myself spending many hours playing the mode with different restrictions and settings.

Ultimate Team

In EA Sports FC 25, everyone’s favorite mode (except for your bank accounts) is back. That’s right, Ultimate Team, which, if I’m being honest, seemed to have basically zero changes in my experience. Of course, there are some new Hero cards and Icons, as well as the removal of contract cards. In the grand scheme of things, though, this is the same mode as it was last year, with Squad Battles, Division Rivals, Moments, Evolutions, and more all returning.

Well, I don’t mind the modes of play available within Ultimate Team; the problem it has is the same one it has been dealing with for years. Pay-to-Win, microtransactions… yes, they are here again. If you don’t know by now, in Ultimate Team, you progress by opening card packs to get new players. These packs are purchased using either in-game coins earned through winning matches and occasionally completing objectives or FC Points, which can be purchased from the game’s store using real money. If you are an EA Play member, either through a standalone subscription or through Xbox Game Pass, you will get a 10% discount on these points, but the cost is still crazy, with you being able to spend over £100 on EA Points in just one transaction.

The problem, obviously, is that if you don’t spend money, you will instantly get left behind by those who are willing to spend.

Clubs

Unfortunately, these microtransactions now also affect the Clubs mode, where you make a pro and take them online, either in random drop-in matches or by starting a club with your friends. It is a fantastic mode that hasn’t changed gameplay-wise outside of some new menu designs to fit with the new UI across the entire game. The only change is the customization store, which allows you to get new hairstyles, tattoos, etc. The problem is that while you can buy these cosmetic items with in-game currency, they are also available for purchase with FC Points. Many of the best items are locked behind currency amounts that would take most players many hours to earn, and why do that when you can have it in seconds for some real cash?

I will say that in Clubs, these microtransactions are kept to only cosmetics for now, but it does give me concern about what the future of the mode holds. I would hate to see EA Sports FC 25 going even further down the NBA 2K road.

Rush

The one truly new gameplay mode in EA Sports FC 25 is Rush. That’s because Rush is more of a gameplay type than a mode itself. In Rush, you will engage in 5 v 5 smaller matches for a shorter time. In Career Mode, Rush is used as a way to train your youth academy players. In Ultimate Team, it offers a way to earn additional rewards away from Squad Battles or Division Rivals.

I had fun playing Rush the first few times, but I found that the novelty quickly wore off, and it turned into a game style that I would almost completely ignore.

Kicking The Ball

So, how does playing the game actually feel, I hear you asking? Well, it feels amazing! Every single aspect of the gameplay on the pitch has improved, from passing to shooting, and especially the goalkeepers. It feels like there has been a massive jump in terms of authenticity, thanks to EA’s FC IQ technology, which uses real-world data to power a new AI model, new player roles, and more.

Speaking of player roles, they are part of a major tactical improvement this year, which gives you more control over how your team plays both on and off the ball. Player roles take a lot of inspiration from the Football Manager games. This year in EA Sports FC 25, you can choose between a poacher and a target man, wingers or inside forwards, and much more. Each has a tangible difference, really impacting how you can play depending on the way you’ve chosen to set up your team.

There are also new goalkeeper playstyles that improve their effectiveness in a wide variety of scenarios. Playstyles were introduced last year for outfield players, and they replace what was previously known as player traits. The aim of these playstyles is to better recreate what you might see actual players do in real life.

All this leads to a much more true-to-life gameplay experience; I very rarely feel cheated by the game when unrealistic things happen. I often think to myself, “Yeah, Erling Haaland probably would have scored an overhead kick there.” The added level of realism combined with EA Sports FC 25‘s trademark fast-paced gameplay has led to the most enjoyable and authentic experience in the franchise’s long history… for me at least.

A Beautiful Goal

I have scored some beautiful goals thus far in EA Sports FC 25, and they look more stunning than ever with the massively enhanced visuals on the pitch this year. Players’ hair and their kits (jerseys) look and react more realistically than ever. The lighting also seems to be vastly improved, and this could be down to the addition of Ray Tracing in this year’s game, depending on which of the two graphics modes you choose. However, it is hard to tell since the descriptions of the modes don’t say exactly where Ray Tracing is used within the game. Away from the pitch, I mentioned earlier, there is a brand new menu UI this year; it looks a lot cleaner, more stylish, and is much easier to navigate.

Of course, with the visual improvements, you’d hope for some audio ones as well. I’m not sure that audio is improved this year, but it has always been good. What I will say in the audio department is that the collection of licensed tracks this year is the best in recent memory, with not one track I have disliked so far. Of course, all of our music tastes vary, so you may have a different opinion.

Accessibility

Accessibility doesn’t go unnoticed here either. Firstly, as always, you can customize your control scheme to a degree that is rarely found in games these days. This may seem simple, but being able to change the controls can be the difference between playing or not playing a game for many people. EA Sports FC 25 also offers color-blind options, something that all games should do. They also give you the ability to remap the triggers to the bumpers or vice versa.

So, while EA Sports FC 25 may not have over a hundred accessibility options like some games do, it does have more than the bare minimum, and in a time where we still see many games with virtually no accessibility options, this is something that should be celebrated.

A Match Winning Performance

EA Sports FC 25 on the Xbox Series X has two graphical modes, as I mentioned earlier: Enhanced Visuals, which includes Ray-Traced Ambient Occlusion, and unspecified graphical improvements. The other is Favor Resolution, which turns off these features to hold a higher base resolution instead. Both modes target 60 frames per second, and I have no way of testing console performance, but to the naked eye, it looked and felt flawless.

I am hoping to test out the PC version of the game later, so if you are playing on PC, keep an eye out for a follow-up article specifically about PC settings and performance.

The Final Whistle

Review Disclosure Statement: A copy of EA Sports FC 25 was provided to us for review purposes by EA. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy for more info.

Affiliate Link Disclosure: One or more of the links above contain affiliate links, which means at no additional cost to you, we may receive a commission should you click through and purchase the item.