It would be an understatement to say that soccer video games have been disappointing for a while now. The rest of the world’s Madden really hasn’t made waves since FIFA 19, and since that point each release has been met with a familiar refrain of “it’s a little better, but still feels like the same game.” EA Sports vowed to change this in FC 26 with a massive overhaul to the core mechanics of the game, paired with accepting that the EA FC community doesn’t all play the same way — and that means making a fundamental change to the formula.
The question now remains: Does it all pay off?
One of the first initial changes you’re met with when booting up FC 26 is a monumental choice about how you want the game to feel. There are two distinct gameplay settings called “competitive” and “authentic,” focusing either on gamers who spend their time online, playing head-to-head, and grinding out their Ultimate team — and those who prefer to run a career, play offline, and replicate the games they see on TV.
This setting can be switched at any time, but it completely changes the feel of FC 26 depending on your selection. I found that when I dialed in the correct difficulty (which ended up being World Class), and putting the game in “authentic” it was exactly what I was looking for. It was a solid challenge to score and defend, with the AI making runs off the ball to open passing lanes, being in good defensive positions to keep my shape, and contested balls in the air being met with more realistic contextual animations. Runs are also much more realistic thanks to new pathing, particularly on the wings. AI teammates will now execute more curved runs, finding the soft spots in defense and open up better passes. It’s a small thing that has a mammoth impact that much more closely resembles playing co-op than single player.
The biggest overhaul comes in goalkeeper play, which is much more realistic than past iterations. There’s now a balance between “diving halfway across the goal and catching it perfectly” and “smacking the ball right back to a forward.” Keepers will now cut off angles better than before, make a variety of different saves, and make heroic fingertip efforts that see the ball roll just past the goal for a corner.
The strategy of the beautiful game
There’s so much nuance to soccer that’s often missed when watching on TV. Formations have always made an impact on how you play, as well as the ability to alter tactics mid-game — but they’ve truthfully never felt that impactful. New player roles in FC 26 put more of an emphasis on a manager’s planning of the game, giving you the ability to run a false back, inverted fullbacks, have defensive mids crash the box for headers.
This is supported by broader tactical changes which the AI reacts to appropriately. In my managerial season as Thomas Frank and Tottenham (COYS) there was a tangible difference to handling strategy against Pep Guardiola and Manchester City. Starting in a high press, I noticed that City moved to stretching the field wide to take away the advantage — from there I had moved into a counter attack, which punished their aggressiveness on the edges.
It was a fun sub-game to the match itself, and while I still needed to execute — it felt more like another level to a big time game. The next match against Bournemouth required nowhere close to the same level of exacting management in-game.
If you’ve played this series year-in, year-out it’s easy to overlook just how brilliant the presentation of EA FC really is. Naturally the Premier League gets the highest production version of this, but the small addition to the pre-match introductions really is very neat with Google Earth satellite photos of the stadium zooming into the pitch, showing the proximity of other Premier League teams on the way.
From there players are given the option to either watch the complete match introduction, complete with contextual discussion of managers, strategies and lineups — or skip ahead to get an abbreviated version. This year also highlights fans even more than in the past. While playing a game between Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique Lyonnais the camera showed Lyon fans teeming inside a cramped bar to watch the game, adorned with Olympique gear. The same is true for other teams too, and each time it feels geographically appropriate.
It’s small touches like this that really make the game pop. There are also massive contextual differences between where you play. The MLS is big and brash, with tifos flying and fireworks. Some stadiums in South America will feature flares in the stands, and playing a game against West Ham begins with bubbles still popping on the pitch.
More of the same in some areas
Predominantly online players have told me that their experience with FC 26 is largely unchanged from a year ago. Small tweaks to be certain, but nothing that to them justifies the new price tag other than wanting to keep up with where the player base is.
Similarly the Player Career mode is largely unchanged. It’s still a neat experience about building up a player through a variety of archetypes, but it’s missing the depth of other “be a pro” modes found in other games. That said, it’s still hilarious to boost your stats by spending $18,000 on silk shirts and ties.
FC 26 is substantially more than a repeat of last year, with some caveats. If you’re an online player who spends the bulk of their time improving their rank, participating in tournaments, and honing your Ultimate Team then you’ll appreciate the snappier, esports-focused controls in favor of realism — but the experience will be quite similar.
Casual gamers looking to play as their favorite teams and emulate matches vs. CPU will find FC 26 to be a mammoth upgrade and move towards realism the series has been lacking. The momentous improvements in goalkeeper reaction, paired with overhauled AI makes the experience more challenging and rewarding than before. The satisfaction of scoring the perfectly set up goal against challenging AI is like nothing else, and the drama of desperately trying to get possession while your opponent is trying to park the bus late in a game is part of the drama that makes the sport great.
Rather than reinvent the wheel, FC 26 adds more spokes — but they’re extremely welcome. This is a fantastic soccer experience that’s absolutely worth spending a 10 hour trial with to see if this year’s entry is worth it for you.
