EA Sports FC 25 arrives on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC and Switch with a new career mode and a rebuilt approach to how teams move on the pitch. The result is a solid, if familiar, football game. Critics landed on a 7.7 out of 10 average, and that number feels about right.
Trailer, via EA SPORTS FC.
Rush and the Return of Small-Sided Play
The biggest new addition this year is Rush, a 5v5 mode that can be played inside career mode, Ultimate Team and online matches. It cuts the pitch down to size, speeds up the pace of play and rewards fast passing over slow buildup of possession.
Rush works best in short sessions. It is a fun break from the full 11-a-side game, and a good way to fill a spare ten minutes, though it never feels like it could stand in for the main game.
There is a simple pleasure in the mode’s chaos. Goals come quickly, and matches rarely last long enough to grow stale.
A New Way to Set Player Roles
EA Sports FC 25 introduces a system that lets players give each position its own set of instructions, rather than picking from a small list of ready-made formations as in past years. The goal is to make the shape of a team on the pitch feel closer to how real sides organize themselves during a match.
In practice, this new role system changes how teams move without the ball far more than it changes how the game feels while you are holding the ball. Positioning looks smarter, and space opens up in places you would expect it to based on the roles you have set. It is a deeper system than the one used last year, though the difference shows up more clearly in how the team behaves over the course of a match than in any single moment of play.
Setting up these roles takes time. Players who prefer to jump straight into a match may skip past most of the new options entirely, and the game does not punish them heavily for doing so.
Career Mode Gets Deeper
Career mode has been rebuilt with new player role settings, a reworked transfer system and more detailed control over how a team is built and managed across a season. Managers can now set roles for individual players that carry through matches the game plays out on its own, which changes how the computer handles substitutions and formations when you are not directly in charge.
The mode is more involving than it has been in recent years. Finding new signings and working through transfer talks now takes more steps than before, and young players brought up through the academy get more attention than they used to.
This is the strongest part of EA Sports FC 25. Long-time players of the series are likely to spend more hours here than in any other mode.
Ultimate Team and the Familiar Grind
Ultimate Team returns with much the same structure as last year. Pack mechanics, weekly goals and rewards tied to Champions all carry over from past entries in the series, with only small adjustments here and there.
Anyone who has played the mode before will know exactly what to expect. Nothing here will surprise longtime fans of the series, for better or worse.
There is little sense that Ultimate Team has moved forward this year. It remains the same loop of packs, goals and grinding that fans of the series have come to know, and while that loop is still effective at holding attention, it offers almost nothing new to write about.
Presentation and the Look of the Game
The look of EA Sports FC 25 is a small step up from last year’s game rather than a big leap forward. Crowd movement and lighting have been sharpened somewhat, and the faces and likenesses of players from top clubs and leagues continue to improve with each release.
Commentary has been given some new lines, though the delivery still sounds close to prior years. Load times and menu screens move faster on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S than they do on Switch, where the game continues to show its age in both frame rate and level of detail on screen.
The crowd, in particular, looks better than before. Small touches like scarves waving and banners moving add life to matches without drawing attention away from the action itself.
Switch Falls Behind
The Switch version trails behind the other three platforms by a clear margin. Detail is lower, movement is slower to respond, and matches simply do not look as sharp as they do elsewhere.
It still works well enough to enjoy.
That said, the gap between the Switch version and its counterparts has been a steady issue across recent entries in the series, and nothing in EA Sports FC 25 closes it. Anyone choosing a platform with a real option between systems should expect the console version and the Switch version to feel like two different games wearing the same name.
Key Facts
- Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Switch
- New mode: Rush (5v5)
- New system: player role settings for formations and shape
- Critic score: 7.7 out of 10
EA Sports FC 25 does not remake the series from the ground up, but it improves several of its more important systems. The new role settings add real depth to how teams hold their shape, career mode is more engaging than it has been in years, and Rush gives players a fresh way to play in short bursts. Ultimate Team, meanwhile, offers little that is new, and the Switch version continues to lag behind the rest.
Taken together, it amounts to a small but useful step forward for players already invested in the series, even if it breaks little new ground. Score: 7.7 out of 10.
