Another year means another entry in EA Sports FC. This year, there have been some great additions in Career Mode, and there’s more control when passing and moving in the box. The new online mode The Grounds is a keen attempt to add life to the multiplayer community, but is this enough to make EA Sports FC 27 worthwhile? The answer is: Yes and No. It’s enough for casual fans who may have skipped a couple of years to see big improvements, but to those who play year to year, it might not be enough to see the big changes we rarely see.
When it comes to actually playing EA Sports FC 27, I noticed a big difference when passing the ball. There’s more choices to play the ball into better space. I found I had plenty of control dropping a cross right into a striker’s feet, but also those attempting a header get much better weight behind it. This is something I’ve found with recent years, where attempts on goal go wide or over the bar because I can’t get a good angle on a lofted pass. Thankfully that extra freedom to place the ball exactly where I want is something noticeable from the get go.
Dribbling is also more freeing, and as long as I’m using a player with good strength and agility, I can still recuperate the ball after being knocked off it. When taking a corner, you can control players in the box to move into a better position, yet it rarely made much difference. It’s a nice touch, but one that hasn’t quite worked as well as I would have liked. I found last year’s authentic style to be much slower than competitive, but now it really takes into account the player roles and tactics you utilise, to the point you can see them working as the matches go on.
One big change to Career Mode is the transfer system. Gone are the annoying cutscenes that play out every time you try to sign someone. Now, it all plays out over the phone on a screen with a sleek UI. Getting to this point takes a bit of time, though. It’s a good thing, as transfers aren’t near as guaranteed as they’ve been in the past. You can register interest in a player to see how the water lies. Some players might turn you down, but if other clubs are interested, it puts pressure on them to sign. It adds a better sense of realism, one that’s not been seen before.
Another big change to Career Mode is dynamic overall ratings. A player rating can fluctuate based on things like performance, morale, and fitness. It’s a nice touch, but I found certain players in my squad dipped far too much. On the opposite side of this, I had strikers go from 69 to 78, then somewhere in the middle over the course of a couple of weeks. If this gets balanced better, I’ll be a big fan of the addition as it helps to mimic real life, but after a couple of losses, some of your players can suffer more than they need to.
The big new mode in EA Sports FC 27 is The Grounds. The developers have clearly taken a lot of inspiration from 2K’s The City, and while I can see it having potential if EA choose to stick with it, there’s a definite bare bones feeling to it right now. Once you create your player, you’ll interact with a handful of real world players like Chloe Kelly and Kylian Mbappe. Of course, these guys a world famous footballers and not actors, but I couldn’t help cringe when talking to them. Alex Hunter, the main character from previous games’ The Journey story mode, which does help to cut through the wooden performances.
When it comes to the actual world, it’s populated by NPCs that stand pretty lifeless or walk around aimlessly. There are targets for you to aim for with your ball, giving you something to do when not playing one of the matches, and football’s history is signposted with places of interest. When it comes to the various modes, there’s not a ton to choose from. 1v1, 2v2, and 3v3, Rush, and a handful of minigames are available, but it just doesn’t feel enough to keep players invested in the mode like Pro Clubs and FUT has done all these years.
The look and presentation of EA Sports FC 27 remains solid. Player likenesses, stadiums and fans, in-game pop-ups and walkouts all look great. There’s not been a ton of changes to how all this plays out, but it definitely looks great on your current wave of consoles. Commentary feels pretty familiar too, with little noticeably standing out compared to last year’s entry. Some of the menus are sharper than previous years as well (though the fact glitches from last year’s game remain on some images is not a good sign), yet the overall presentation feels more like a tweak than a huge overhaul.
Depending on what you want from EA Sports FC 27, there are small changes across the board. FUT has a new Gallery option that sees you collecting players as part of a group to hand in for rewards. It’s not a huge change, but something new that should feel more impactful when new cards and players are introduced. It’s The Grounds that signals the biggest change, as does the way transfers impact Career Mode. Some gameplay tweaks improve performance, but it’s not enough to make it stand out from the recent entries in the series.
