Football fever has been at its peak this summer, as the entertaining league seasons fed into the not quite as exciting Euros and Copa America. As is always the case with an international-filled summer, we’ve only got a short break before the 2024/25 season kicks off, and that means a new EA Sports FC game nears release as well. I had the chance to play some of EA Sports FC 25, which featured the UEFA Champions League Kick Off mode, and the new Rush mode.
The preview build for EA FC 25 had seven teams to choose from men’s and women’s football across both modes. Those were both the men’s and women’s Real Madrid and Chelsea teams, Manchester City men’s team, Liverpool men’s team, Athletico Madrid men’s team, Liverpool men’s team, and the women’s Olympique Lyonnais team. As you would expect, each has their strengths with Real Madrid and Manchester City having the best stats, though every team has its key players.
To make those players stand out, FC 25 sees the return of playstyles from FC 24. These are attributes that enhance specific elements of a player’s skillset, with key players having elite playstyles. For example, Valverde has Rapid+ which gives him a higher sprint speed when dribbling, and reduces the chances of making mistakes when sprinting or performing knock ons. Another player with an elite playstyle is De Bruyne, with his Incisive Pass+, which makes through passes more accurate, gives his swerve passes maximum curve, and precision passes that travel at top speed towards their target.
While the game has been enhanced with a new FC IQ to manage player tactics, EA FC 25’s main on the pitch action feels very similar to its predecessor. Much of the matches condense around the midfield with occasional bursts through the centre and the wings to either get a shot on goal, or fire a cross in. Goals do feel easy to score, with none of my matches played being a 0-0 draw. This was playing the game on Professional difficulty. Getting the ball into the box for and cutting back a pass to another player almost always guarantees a goal. Worldies are harder to pull off, but in one match I managed to replicate Bellingham’s overhead kick that he scored against Slovakia.
For the full game, there’s a few marquee changes built around the core on pitch action. The career mode will let you dive into women’s football for the first time, giving parity to the men’s game across all modes, and there’s also a new Live Start Points feature that will take real world scenarios and put you in control after the mid-season transfer window or managerial changes, for example. Reckon you can survive the fight at the bottom of a league?
The mode that could really ignite the excitement for EA FC 25 is Rush mode, in what is a fresh take on five-a-side football and the Volta mode of recent years, with two teams of five players playing. This can be single player with AI teammates, or with four other players with an AI goalie. Where a proper match can at times feel slow, Rush mode is fast paced and end-to-end, feeling more like a basketball game as teams rapidly go back and forth trying to score.
Now, some of you may remember the blue card controversy from earlier this year. FIFA proposed introducing a blue card that would send players to a sin bin temporarily for certain infractions for a limited time, before being allowed back on the pitch. While that idea was dropped in reality, the blue card is present in Rush mode. If a player gets blue carded, they are sent off leaving their team at a disadvantage, but only for a period of time. There is no way around it, as Rush mode does not have substitutes either.
Rush mode will not just be a standalone playable mode either, with it being confirmed that it will be part of Ultimate Team. Just like standard Ultimate Team, players will be able to build a five player team to compete in FUT Rush. It’s also integrated into Manager Career, giving you control over a team’s Youth Academy development with 5v5 tournaments to take part in.
While this press preview only gave a small look at what to expect with FC 25, my general impression is a little mixed. The main game feels more of the same from FC 24, with the on the pitch action not being too different. It is Rush mode that really gives some fresh breath of life (more so than the name change) to the series, and I think it will be incredibly popular for all players due to how entertaining and quick it is.
