For many gamers it is the highlight of the year when the new “EA Sports FC” part starts at the end of September. Many people may still know the game under the name “FIFA”. However, that has been history for a year. The background to the name change is the end of the collaboration between product developer EA Sports and the international football association, FIFA. With the “EA Sports FC 24” part released last year, the company promised the beginning of a new era. This will now be continued with “EA Sports FC 25”.
But the start was anything but smooth: technical problems arose on the first evening of the release day for early access players. They couldn’t compete in the popular Division Rivals mode in Ultimate Team; Rather, when they searched for opponents, they received the message that no opponents were found. They vented their anger on “X”, formerly Twitter, and some even demanded their money back.
We are aware of players experiencing matchmaking issues on Ultimate Team Online Modes and are actively investigating.
Updates will be provided as they become available.
EA SPORTS FC Direct Communication (@EASFCDirect) September 20, 2024
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The gaming experience in “EA FC 25” has changed significantly
Basically, the question that many people ask themselves is the same every year: What does the game bring me compared to its predecessor? We have now tested this. A look at the almost unchanged menu suggests that not much has changed. The graphics in the game are also very reminiscent of its predecessor “EA FC 24”, which does not diminish the quality. Rather, EA Sports has made seemingly smaller adjustments this year – but these change the gaming experience significantly.
Also read: “EA Sports FC 24”: What’s better after the name revolution – and what’s not
The biggest change in advance: EA Sports is relying on a completely new tactics system for this year’s edition. “FC IQ” is his name. The idea: You should have more control over the positioning and playing style of the players. According to its own information, the manufacturer uses an AI model. From now on, players will have significantly more opportunities to find and implement their individual playing style. As our test shows, the instructions work well. Each player largely sticks to their tasks.
The graphics in EA Sports FC 25 are still of high quality, as this screenshot shows. | © EA Sports
The innovations offer opportunities – at least for tactical foxes who can experiment from now on. There is also the option of making your own tactics available to the public. In the future, Ultimate Team players will be able to copy the tactics of e-athletes, for example. The focus on tactics has never been as great as in “EA Sports FC 25”.
Small changes to the season pass
Also new is the EA Hub, which now replaces the season pass from Ultimate Team: By collecting so-called “Season Points” you can unlock bonuses for various modes, including career mode. It has changed more than it has in a long time: Thanks to the new “live start points”, you no longer have to start at the beginning of a season, but can also start at the current point in the current season.
But that’s not all: During the transfer period, social media posts from transfer expert Fabrizio Romano and the trade magazine “Kicker” are now fueling the rumor mill and announcing changes. However, our test run showed that there is still room for improvement: small errors occasionally crept into the contributions.
Overall, however, the innovations seem refreshing. They create change and give the mode a completely new appeal. The possibility of creating individual training plans for the players and hiring coaches for the positions of attack, midfield, defense and goalkeeper also contributes to this.
New commentator duo with a refreshing effect
The new German-speaking commentators Jan Platte and Florian Schmidt-Sommerfeld, who succeed Wolff Christoph-Fuss and Frank Buschmann, also liven up the game in their own way. Meanwhile, Esther Sedlaczek remains in the career mode as a field reporter.
And otherwise? The new game mode “Rush” offers the possibility of five-on-five, which is very similar to the former “Volta” mode. In comparison, however, “Rush” is played on a smaller grass field instead of on the street or in the hall. “Rush” can also be played in a similar way to normal mode, which means that something special is missing here.
Fewer players in less space: This is the new “Rush” mode. | © EA Sports
From our point of view, not much has changed in terms of gameplay: goalkeepers seem a little stronger than in the last part, which means that more high-quality opportunities are missed. Shots from a distance and corner kicks are also a little more difficult than before. But the balance is there – at least for now. Because how the game can really be played usually only becomes apparent after a first patch, i.e. an improvement by EA Sports.
This is what we tested: All games reviews from our editorial team
What is new is that a small display on the edge of the screen warns that a player is coming offside or is offside. This allows the player to avoid an active offside position. The only point of criticism: During the goal replays, it occasionally happens that the camera is directed at the spectators or shows the opposing goalkeeper instead of the goal scene.
Our conclusion about “EA Sports FC 25”
The first impressions of “EA Sports FC 25” are mostly positive: the gameplay is fun, the new tactics system offers space to try out and the career mode in particular takes on a whole new appeal. On the other hand, server problems and display errors like those with repeats remain – well-known problems, but they occur much less frequently.
The game is available for the Xbox Series, Xbox One, Playstation 4, Playstation 5 and the PC and costs 65 euros in the standard edition. We tested the game on the Playstation 5.
