EA SPORTS FC™ 25

I organised a four-player couch session for FC 25's launch weekend and the most animated we got was during Rush, the new 5v5 small-sided mode that replaced Volta. Seven-minute matches on a compact pitch, an AI goalkeeper handling the net, offside only enforced in the final third, and blue cards that send foulers to the sin bin for a minute - it genuinely plays like futsal with a FIFA DNA, and for my kind of casual Saturday night crew it was the highlight of the whole package. EA even patched match length down to five minutes after community feedback, which tells you both that they were listening and that the original length was already too long. Zoom out from Rush, though, and the picture gets murkier. FC IQ - the new Player Roles and Smart Tactics system - promises more tactical control, letting you specify whether a winger cuts inside or hugs the line, or set your striker to hold up play versus make runs in behind. In practice the system works best when you already understand real football tactics; casual players may never notice it, and even tactically engaged players run into genuine bugs where role instructions bleed across formation changes, producing wingers who forgot they used to be midfielders. The slower, more methodical 11v11 pace rewards patient build-up play and makes rushed finesse shots from distance far less reliable, which is either a sign of maturity or a frustration depending on your playstyle. Goalkeeper AI remains genuinely erratic, headers feel neutered, and the defending-attacking balance has been a known problem for multiple cycles without a meaningful fix. For the multiplayer crowd, split-screen and cross-platform support are both present, which is great news for mixed-platform households. Pro Clubs got a meaningful refresh this year, with a Clubhouse hub area, upgradeable Facilities that boost squad attributes across categories like strength and pace, and Rush folded in as a co-op side mode. Ultimate Team is still Ultimate Team - climb FUT Champions, grind Squad Building Challenges, or dip into Rush for a quick hit. The microtransaction machinery now extends beyond FUT into the Clubs cosmetic layer, and the shadow of a full NBA 2K-style monetisation spiral is starting to loom noticeably. Casual players who ignore the card-collecting economy entirely can still have fun, but they will feel that pressure. The menus are, bluntly, a mess. Tabs freeze, load times drag, and tasks as simple as setting player tactics take more presses than they should. Technically the on-pitch action is mostly clean, but the surrounding infrastructure of the game feels under-cooked, which is a straight consequence of the single-year development cycle. Presentation and match-day atmosphere remain genuinely excellent - the crowd audio, broadcast-style camera work, and player animations are the best in the genre with no real competition from any other football title currently on the market. If you skipped FC 24 you will feel something resembling freshness here. If you played it, expect to spend the first few hours with a nagging sense of deja vu that Rush alone is not quite enough to dispel. FC 25 is the only serious football sim available on PC right now, which means it wins by default as much as by merit. Wait for a sale, grab it with your regular football gaming friends, and spend at least half your time in Rush.

Riley · Scout Team

Sports & racing

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