EA Sports FC 26 Review - A Step in the Right Direction

I was introduced to EA's FIFA title with FIFA 2004 and FIFA Street. With a PlayStation 2 and a PC that was hanging by a thread, I quickly fell in love with these games. Thus began a tradition of playing or trying every FIFA title I could get my hands on.

Unfortunately, in 2023, EA lost its FIFA license, which led to them renaming their football titles to EA Sports FC. The name switch for one of the most iconic sports titles in the world led to an unprecedented situation among the series' longstanding fans. Aside from the name switch, the game also went through significant changes, like defending being harder than before, passing feeling dull, and lob passes being ineffective in every scenario. Since then, I have played both EA Sports FC 24 and 25, and these issues have left me unimpressed with EA's staple sports title.

Recently, I had the opportunity to play EA Sports FC 26 a week before the game's official release. While the gameplay is a lot similar to the previous two titles, EA has made significant improvements to the defending system, making it a lot easier than before. Moreover, the passing also feels a lot better and more fluid than before. EA is moving in the right direction with EA Sports FC 26; however, some longstanding issues still remain, preventing the game from reaching its potential. Let me start by discussing the positives of the game and then move on to the so-called "negatives", or issues that are holding the game back from reaching greatness.

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EA Sports FC 26

The first new thing I noticed in EA Sports FC 26 is the new Competitive and Authentic play styles. The Competitive play style is mostly reserved for all online game modes, including Ultimate Team and Seasons. The competitive game modes are fast-paced and arcade-esque. The Authentic game mode tries to capture the essence of the classic FIFA titles with a more slow-paced and grounded football experience. The Authentic play style is available for all offline modes, including kick-off and career mode.

The different play style worked wonders for me. I have always divided my playtime in FC titles between online and offline game modes. So having the liberty to wind down with the Authentic play style felt like a blessing. Defending and passing in the authentic play style felt a lot more fluid and improved. The slow-paced and grounded aspect made build-ups much more rewarding. However, using wingers to build up is still on the weaker side due to lob passes being heavily ineffective after crossing the attacking half of a field. But in all honesty, the authentic play style is a very effective tool for players who like to indulge in the career modes of the game.

Now diving into the online play of FC 26, I will start with how the Competitive play style comes into play for online modes, especially Ultimate Team. Offline modes in FC titles have started to become less of a centre point, as EA and the player base focus much of their attention on Ultimate Team. To be frank, I quit playing Ultimate Team with FIFA 23, as it became a complete sweatfest with horrendous matchmaking, the more you started to get better. However, as I got to know about the different play styles in this year's title, I jumped into Ultimate Team to take a peek at how the online experience is this year. Overall, I was quite impressed with the Ultimate Team mode this year.

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EA Sports FC 26

Due to the Competitive play style setting getting a major adjustment from EA, the defending, passing, and all-around flow of the game felt much more robust than usual. The passes were flowing in the direction I wanted in no time, while lob passes still remain a little underwhelming. However, through passes felt balanced, which was a major issue in the past two titles. Movement and dribbling felt smooth as butter off the bat, with sprinting becoming a little more grounded. On the flip side, defending felt a lot better than ever; my standing and sliding tackles were actually hitting the spot without input delay. When compared to the Authentic play style, Competitive leans on a faster-paced and arcade-ish gameplay speed, which is indeed a good thing for keeping the current-gen players hooked on the game.

Moving on from the PVP aspect of the game, the offline mode, aka Career Mode, is the next most popular choice for a certain player demographic of EA Sports FC titles. The Career Modes in FC 26 have received major improvements, with Manager Career Mode becoming more dynamic and true to life. The manager career mode simulates a mirrored version of how the coaching aspect works in a real-life scenario. On the other hand, player career mode remains almost similar to what we see every year, except for a few quality-of-life changes made to give players an increased degree of immersion.

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EA Sports FC 26

Unfortunately, while the positives of FC 26 indicate that EA is moving in the right direction, the game still lacks the essence of prior FC titles. There are little to no changes made to the overall UI of the game, which, in my opinio,n is a cluttered mess. The UI makes navigating to different tabs a hassle when you are in a hurry. Additionally, the goalkeepers in the game are still ridiculously overpowered. Goals from long shots or perfectly executed long shots are very rare, as the goalkeepers still stop every single thing you throw at them from a certain range. Visually, the game is almost similar to the previous year's title, with a few tweaks made here and there.

Furthermore, Ultimate Team is still quite pay-to-win, as EA focuses more on monetisation than actually working on player complaints like fixing lob passes, crosses, and the UI. You can buy player packs with egregiously priced currency bundles and create a super squad in no time. At the same time, players who choose not to go through the monetisation route have to play more matches to build a similar squad. Not to be rude in any manner whatsoever, but the pay-to-win aspect of the FC titles has made its yearly release a joke for a majority of longstanding fans of the series. While I did play Ultimate Team this year, I do not think I am going to go forward with it , because no matter how much I play, my opponent could just buy some points and get the gold-rated player they want in no time.

Final Thoughts

Now, before I hurt anyone's sentiment, I just want to state that this is a completely subjective take from my side. For long-standing fans of the FC series, I would not recommend getting the game if you are looking to play offline modes, as there are no major changes at all. However, if you are looking to play Ultimate Team, then you can consider getting the game. In the long run, I don't think you'll miss much action, and the game is not worth its full price. You can consider picking up the game once the holiday sales go live in a few months.

Although I expected EA to put in a lot more love into FC 26, and they did make some notable changes, the game still felt similar to the past two titles. The feeling of similarity is not a good thing for me in the long run, as my playtimes with both FC titles in the past two years were significantly less than usual. Hopefully, EA will keep improving the game with continuous updates instead of going back to point 0 by ignoring player feedback. FC 26 has the potential to break the circle of player frustration along the game's life cycle; however, only if EA manages to keep up with the improvements.