EA Sports FC 25

Quotation forthcoming.

Same procedure as every year... a few optimizations here and there, but unfortunately also noticeable improvements that make things worse. If you don't need UT, you can stick with EA FC 24.

EA FC 25 is a fickle title. For every two steps forward, EA takes one step back and one step sideways. Although it's still an improvement on last year's release, it's not a significant enough evolution to dispel the idea that it's the same game every year. That's what you get when you play to manage the score.

EA FC 25 shines for its tactical realism and Career Coach mode, but stumbles over an ageing interface and on-field gameplay that struggles to convince unless you switch to simulator mode.

EA Sports FC 25 is a slightly better offering than FC 24, thanks to the new Rush mode. FC IQ is still in its early stages and while it could have a huge impact on future titles, it is not yet very apparent how it is impacting the on the pitch action in this game. This is the EA Sports FC as you already know it. Whether that is a good or bad thing is up to you.

EA FC 25 offers a much more polished gameplay and adds enough details to make the experience at the controls much better. In addition, the new career mode is now more interesting and deeper for those of us who enjoy creating our own legacy.

The two main innovations in FC 25, namely Rush mode and the FC IQ system, really hit the mark. However, the other significant changes can be counted on the fingers of one hand. If you liked FC 24, you will certainly like FC 25, but if you were not a fan of the previous installment, you will probably not have a good time here.

EA Sports FC 25 is an excellent improvement over its predecessor in many areas. Rush mode – especially when played with friends – is brilliant at times and brings back the fun of EA’s football game. However, the game has too many issues to truly impress us. The gameplay and FC IQ are well-designed, but the servers are often so poor that everything feels sluggish. Both the menus and the online gameplay feel very slow, although that still doesn't stop us from enjoying FC 25 quite a bit.

EA Sports FC 25 has cut the amount of innovations to the bone compared to last year, although the scope of some of them is bound to make a lasting impression on hardcore soccer aficionados. FC IQ might be the strongest new feature in years, but it's also so easy to miss it that people will probably dub it yet another more of the same - and understandably so, given the shortage of surface-level additions.

Despite numerous efforts and innovations, FC 25 remains in the shadow of FIFA’s golden era. While promising new features like FC IQ and AI Behavior signal progress, the past few years have been challenging. The path ahead for the EA Sports FC series looks even more difficult as it strives to recapture the glory of its predecessor.

With some slower gameplay, EA Sports FC 25 plays very well, giving the right feeling. In addition, new additions are very good, such as Rush, FC IQ, the use of Cranium and various gameplay tweaks. Does that make it the ultimate soccer game? Yes in the sense of for lack of better/competition, no when it comes to the bugs and glitches, as well as the lack of innovation in the game. It's mostly more of the same with no real big steps forward in gameplay, with the tweaks not necessarily all doing what they are supposed to.

EA is playing a better game than last year. That’s not to say that EA Sports FC 25 is suddenly a classic footie or anything – far from it; this is no Fifa 17, let alone PES 5 or Sensible Soccer. But hey, the bar is just not set very high in 2024.

Virtual recycling at its finest, FC does it yet again. This lowers the overall quality of the game and the company’s renown, each year without fail. It is still a pretty decent game, but it still doesn’t deserve a full price tag. It is time for a change or for the whistle to mark the end of the match.

This is a new FC, with some genuine differences on- and off-pitch. It's also the exact same FC it's always been.

So yes, FC 25 feels a touch different again, and the immensely popular Ultimate Team is also back, but whether that's worth the full price - target price 65 euros? We doubt it. We feel that EA is on the right track and knows where it wants to go, that's for sure, but FC 25 just doesn't feel "finished" after all these years: the focus is still too much on fast breakaways, defenders still look a bit clumsy and after a while you realize that tactics that work excellently in real life are useless in FC 25. For us, it could be a bit more.

None of these features are particularly groundbreaking or game-defining. As always with a new FC game I think that there has to be a better and fairer way for this to work for the consumer. My ideal is always a seasonal model, one that follows the real-world football season. Update the existing game, set everyone back to zero - with legacy cards for those who still want to play with their old teams and look back on cards they’ve collected - and provide live-service content updates as EA does for so many of their other titles. That way you get the same buzz of a new game without having to pay £100 for basically the same game engine, graphics, and features every year.

It is a bit difficult to rate this game. Mechanically, this is a good game. The football fits like a shot, but if you bought last year's edition, I'm not quite sure if I can in good conscience recommend you buy this...EA Sports FC 25 is the best soccer game on the market, but primarily because there are no real alternatives.