EA FC 25 is pure wish fulfillment for longtime fans

While casual fans will likely struggle to spot some of the nuances across each annual instalment of EA FC, I’ve put hundreds of hours into each entry in the franchise formerly known as FIFA for over a decade.

I mention this upfront because, when I played my first few matches of EA FC 25, it wasn’t immediately obvious what was actually new. I started to worry that EA had finally run out of ideas when it comes to on-the-pitch action. And then it hit me - or, more to the point, it hit Erling Haaland.

Starting with a thud

As I swung a deep free-kick into enemy territory and nodded a header back across goal, Man City’s talismanic striker rose to nod it in - and managed to clatter the goalpost in the process.

Not in terms of EA FC 24 where players would sort of wrap themselves awkwardly around it - Haaling hit it hard, with a new animation as he did so.

It was at that point that I realised I was looking at EA FC 25 wrong. This isn’t the “rip it all out and start fresh” mantra of the FIFA games in action. This feels like genuine, clever improvements to last year’s game that make it feel much closer to the real sport.

Tactical fouls are another great example of this. We see it week in, week out across all competitions, but you’ve never been able to reliably bring a player down to stop a counterattack. Now, while holding R1 and tapping X, you can stop the likes of Vini Jr. from breaking clear.

It’s all part of EA’s efforts to bring footballing intelligence to the game, and while there are some new animations, it’s actually in the brains of EA FC 25’s players that you’ll see the biggest leaps.

IQ test

The big new buzzword this year is “Football IQ”, and it’s a big change for a franchise that has traditionally been happy to stick to formations and a few sliders.

Football IQ introduces deeper player roles, helping you set up your team the way you want them. Now, you can opt to turn your full-back into a false back, like a Zinchenko, moving higher and more central when you’ve got the ball, or have your attacking midfielder move into more of a shadow striker role.

Players will be better in certain roles, as in the real world, but certain players will be world-class in certain positions. Going back to our big Viking in the blue half of Manchester, Haaland is an excellent poacher, but he’s not quite as good at some of the other roles.

These roles are affected by tactics, too, and I was pleased to see, on more than one occasional, genuine overload tactics working as I pushed my full-backs on as Manchester City, or found extra room for Trent Alexander-Arnold as Liverpool.

Football IQ extends further, too, finding its way into career mode and deeper set piece customisation, so you can go full Nicolas Jover when it comes to creating corner routines. While the menu felt a tad clunky in my playtime, I’m sure it’ll become second nature just like Ultimate Team did all those years ago.

Rush Goalie

Sadly, Volta is no more, but it has been replaced by a fresh new Rush mode. Rush pits five players against another five players on a much smaller pitch, located in a new Nike Arena.

Offsides and fouls are a little more lenient, and positions are non-existent, meaning you’ll see the likes of Foden making last-ditch tackles, or Van Dijk playing up top. It’s essentially playground rules, but whereas Volta felt a little like an additional mode, Rush feels more deeply integrated into things.

EA told us players can enjoy Rush in Ultimate Team with friends, as part of Clubs, or even in Career Mode, with Rush tournaments taking place every two months in-game for Youth players (yep, Youth Academies are finally in this year!).

It’s a sillier version of football, but it’s also built on many of the same principles of EA FC as a whole - meaning it’s not an entirely new dribbling method to learn a la Volta.

Here we go!

While we were only able to play a spot of Rush and standard 11v11 matches, EA is making all the right noises with EA FC 25.

Career Mode is getting a huge suite of updates, notably adding in careers for women’s leagues and the aforementioned Youth Academy. There’s also a bigger focus on customisation and an element of fantasy football.

The former comes from Live Start Points, a post-launch addition that will let you kick off a career from a specific date in the season’s calendar. EA used the example of taking control of Jadon Sancho after his loan move from Manchester United back to Borussia Dortmund, setting it to take control at the moment he arrives back in Germany to try and win the Champions League.

Regarding fantasy football, EA is introducing some players as career mode icons. These are optional, but I’m certainly looking forward to dropping someone like Thierry Henry into my Arsenal team to see how he fares in the modern-day Premier League.

The coaching staff will make a bigger difference now, with tiki-taka coaches able to help bring out the best in player roles focused on that style of play, while gegenpress coaches can help with more aggressive styles, as examples. You can now scout in 160 countries, too, and once you find the diamond in the rough you want to bring into your team, Mr “Here we go” himself, Fabrizio Romano, will announce it via a new social feed.

Final Thoughts

After literal decades of playing FIFA and EA FC, this might be the most excited I’ve been for the next addition to the franchise - despite it looking a little like more of the same at first blush.

Dig ever so slightly deeper, however, and EA FC 25 could be a staggering evolution for virtual football.