EA Sports FC 25 hands-on preview: EAFC 25 finally gives tactics, visuals, and Career Mode a much-needed overhaul, with modernisation as a focus

The rhetoric around EA Sports football games is, ironically, the same year after year. People who don’t really get it wonder why the seemingly minor modifications couldn’t have been added in an update, while die-hards, importing their tribalistic fan culture from real-life football perhaps, agonise over each new face and feature.

I am definitely one of those people who’s been locked into the peaks and troughs of FIFA and EA Sports FC for more than 20 years (a devastating revelation), but it feels like, through a mix inconsistent and unsatisfying gameplay, an increasing push towards more-and-more expensive Ultimate Team packs and a fossilisation of every other game mode at Ultimate Team’s expense, that anger within the community is turning to apathy – particularly with competition from FIFA and 2K games reportedly on the horizon.

EA Sports FC 25 looks to address this head on by modernising fundamental parts of its gameplay, adding more social and casual spaces to re-emphasise fun instead of a constant grind and by creating a more holistic experience that updates long-underserved modes.