EA Sports FC 25 Review: Minor League Upgrades

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It's difficult to recognise granular changes in seemingly constant things. You don't really notice a tree growing every year, but when you put those years together, the difference becomes apparent to the naked eye. The erstwhile FIFA series of football sims is somewhat like that. With a new edition released every year, the changes to the long-running and ridiculously popular sports franchise can be imperceptible over a year, or even more. These games only start feeling new after three or four subsequent editions when Electronic Arts is compelled to re-energise the series after a run of games becomes undeniably stale. To me, FIFA has always existed in eras. A spate of games follows the same language with minor improvements and tunings, before EA decides to freshen things up.

The franchise's latest era began last year when it shed its decades-old FIFA identity and rechristened itself as EA Sports FC. But a new name didn't bring a promised new beginning with FC 24. There was a new coat of paint, but underneath, the game was very much carved out of the same wood that has long been showing cracks. No one expected EA to upend a successful formula and re-imagine the game in a new light, but EA Sports FC 24 was desperately lacking fresh ideas. One year later, EA Sports FC 25, the second entry in EA's new football video game timeline, is still very much a fruit from the same tree. But there are a few new ideas this time around, some of which elevate the game from its swamp of familiarity. On a visual level, there's not much that differentiates FC 25 from its predecessor. You could boot it up and your flatmate might walk in on you playing and think its FC 24. But if they'd pick up the controller and jump in a game, the differences are likely to become a little more apparent.

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To begin with, EA Sports FC 25 is harder, especially for those who are used to running at defences with a pacy winger,