EA Sports FC 25 Preview

The pitch is still scarred from the hard-fought battles of the Euro 2024 and Copa America 2024 finals from this past weekend, but EA is ready to ramp up the excitement for the upcoming club football season, and release EA Sports FC 25 this September. Currently riding a wave of success, England and Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham will grace the cover. We had a chance to watch a few presentations from the development team of this year's game, and learn about the key features that hope to move this sports series forward. We also got some hands-on time with an early beta build.

Across a few different sessions, the developers discussed the most notable changes that fans can expect, and indeed a few of them were driven by fan feedback. The first major change is the removal of the Volta mode, the casual street football area that let players compete in bright and unique arenas and extensively customize their avatars. Instead, EA FC 25 will be introducing Rush, a 5vs5 competition that keeps the casual feel but adopts a bit more serious visual style. However, it's not a separate mode like Volta was, and instead this gameplay style is integrated into the existing core modes. In Rush, the pitch is small and the games are played in a special sponsored Nike stadium. There are no player roles like attackers or defenders, and there are custom rules, such as special kickoffs, blue cards for fouls that make players sit on the sideline for a minute, offsides in the attacking third only, special commentary and unique penalty kick mechanics. It seems like a bunch of ideas from the special Kickoff modes put together. And again, because it's integrated as an option in offline and online modes such as career, Clubs and FUT, the developers hope the mode will stick around.

The other game-wide change in FC 25 is the introduction of FC IQ gameplay mechanics, the next step after Hypermotion and PlayStyles. Essentially, it's this year's gimmicky name for the underlying changes that have been made to the gameplay engine. The new mechanics include Player Roles, the next step from EA FC 24's PlayStyles. The Roles allow players on the field to be proficient in specific areas and styles of play, and specifically their movement and tactical positioning when off the ball. You'll be able to train players to improve their familiarity with different roles. This system will feed into new menu screens for team management screens, as well as new in-match popups and tooltips related to subs, tactics, and prompts. You'll also be able to save custom team tactics and share with others through codes, even on different console platforms.

The player roles promise to make a difference on the field of play, alongside some other changes such as the dedicated tactical foul button. In a risky decision, the mechanic allows players to foul an opponent to prevent a clear goalscoring chance. This is an automatic yellow card, and while a part of the real sport, it will be interesting to see if the mechanic will be abused. But it provides an alternative to the desperate tackle from behind that's usually even more costly. FC 25 also promises a refined left stick dribble, with some new skill moves. Another interesting system hopes to add more simulation-style elements to the game, with wind affecting the hair of players and flight of the ball, and wet surfaces possibly causing players to slip – though these will be optional elements.

In presentation, FC 25 promises some authentic stadium mascots, more crowd and team reactions, and other match day scenes. Following negative fan feedback, the full pre-match presentation elements will also return. The game will feature a time progression system, so the sun may set after the half time break, changing the stadium look and feel. For the first time, ray tracing will also be supported, along with full cloth sim and self shadowing, all upscaled to 4K in the Enhanced visuals mode. The Resolution mode will remove some of those effects, and run at pure 4K; both visual modes promise 60fps performance.

In offline career mode, a few changes are promised. To help inject some dynamism, a new Live Start Points system will let you begin the career at a specific point of the real season. Supported at about 10 top leagues, and launching after the season gets going, players can select a week-by-week scenario based on the real standings and club performance, and manage their player or team from that point onward. Another option is Snapshots – you get to start managing a team from a key event, instead of a week-by-week choice, such as when a coach is fired or a key player departs. The FC IQ elements are also integrated into career mode, with the new player roles and tactic menus.

Elsewhere, Icon players from FUT will be making an appearance in career mode. Women's football will also offer a managerial experience – while similar to the men, it has its own unique challenges, such as different contract budgets and smaller player pool. The Youth Scouting has also been revamped, with new menu screens and expanded scouting options, ability to scout across over 160 countries, better player generation logic, and youth tournaments. For those who want to become a pro player, a new player Origins system sets up some minor storylines and pre-generated profiles to choose from – or you can still create your own.

In online play, Ultimate Team continues to dominate the discussion. As expected, Rush and FC IQ elements are here as well. Rush in FUT promises themed events, and the developers hope players use this mode to show off their superstars to their friends in action, rather than just sharing the news via photos. Evolutions system, introduced last year, will be tweaked and expanded, and now allow players to visually customize their player cards. Friendlies matchmaking will be separated from Rivals, so you can work on objectives in online play and use a wider variety of players, without affecting your competitive Rivals rank. Last but not least, a storage for duplicate cards will be introduced as a big fan request. There will now be a storage of up to 100 cards where you can send duplicates to use in Squad Building challenges.

In Clubs, a new menu look promises faster and smoother navigation within the mode. The lobby called clubhouse now has dynamic visuals that show avatars in the dressing room as they await getting into a game, and it can be customized with your team colors and crests. New Facilities card system allows your club to get upgrades that provides performance bonuses during play. New cards cost money, which can be earned by being competitively successful and increasing your club's reputation.

We had a chance to get some hands-on time with an early build of the game, which included a kick-off match in the UEFA Champions League, as well as Rush. The kick-off matches provided no major surprises - FC 25 is very much the familiar football experience that fans are after, with minor tweaks. We got a glimpse of the new tactical screens, which do look more modern, but will take some getting used to and now have a multitude of up and down navigation menus to sort through. But there are neat touches, such as being able to change player roles and seeing which areas of the pitch they will shift to. It's also handy to get tooltips, such as when choosing a high defensive line, the game will advise that this approach needs players with good stamina and will cause the team to play narrow.

We also got to play a few rounds of Rush. It's really 4vs4, since the 5th man is the goaltender. The shorter pitch allows for quick gameplay and individuality, and in that way it does remind of the Volta spirit. So do the controls, as you will need to be more precise than in a regular match, and goalkeepers are tuned to be much better. The unique ways to take penalties, kickoffs, and fouls are interesting, but not exactly gamechanging. While it has some fun moments, it certainly in no way fills the void that Volta leaves behind, and just seems like a kick-off match with custom rules. Perhaps with time and being able to see how the mode integrates across the rest of the game will improve its positioning.

After changing its name last year, EA's football franchise didn't skip a beat. EA Sports FC 25 looks to continue building on its new name, with predictable incremental feature changes. Everything that we got to see during the series of developer sessions appears promising, and will likely come together for yet another season of polished and engaging gameplay, though without any feature that seems to stand out or bring any revolution to this highly successful sports series. And for many fans, that's probably enough.