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EA Sports FC 27 from EA Vancouver and EA Romania continues the effort to win over fans on a global stage.
The fourth entry in the “FC” branding for the series formerly known as FIFA, FC 27 follows up on a 77 Metacritic average for last year’s game, which was a single point higher than FC 25.
An international sensation regardless, FC 27 continues the trend last year of going all-in around player feedback items. That means hyper-specific gameplay updates and quality-of-life items for game modes on top of the usual upgrades there.
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Like usual, the first pass is great. The listed updates, gameplay and otherwise, sound good. The exception might be the polarizing addition of a social hub mode, but we’ll get there. And as always, it’s how FC 27 gets supported past launch that will ultimately decide its fate and standing within the community.
One glance shows the difference when it comes to FC 27 compared to prior years.
Footballer fluidity is a big emphasis this year and it shows in the form of weightiness and fewer pre-canned animations. This is seen, among other places, in the ability for more agile ball handlers to dribble well while off-balance.
It’s impressive in the way it mirrors real life for pick-up-and-play fun, but also in the way it creates skill gaps for the competitive scene. Taking advantage of curbed runs, control through contact and attacking intent feels more rewarding compared to time invested.
These efforts loop in more than the ball handler, too, as a new two-player header system means more wow-worthy aerial duels that reward timing and skill.
Similar feel for more dynamic corner kicks, which live up the experience and bring it closer to the real thing.
A big emphasis also goes to defense, with enhanced manual defending options and another pass for the very strong tactics system. Fine-tuning how clubs implement play styles and specific roles in specific formations, then being able to swap them on the fly during a match, is just fantastic.
Seriously, being able to sort specific commands for specific possessions or phases and assigning certain individuals to specific duties within one single formation is an embarrassment of riches in terms of refined control.
Will the majority of the playerbase interact with this on a deep level? Maybe not, but it’s the sports game equivalent to those mind-bogglingly deep tuning systems found in the best simulation racers.
It’s an emphatic overall result. There’s plenty of pick-up-and-play fun here, but deep-dive stuff, too. Post-launch support for problematic areas will brighten the outlook, too.
No shock here, but this series continues to nearly pace the entire sports market in this department.
Players might nitpick a very specific footballer’s look or kit designs, but there’s something to be said for the sheer immersiveness of matches. The feeling of size and scope behind a big international match in a huge stadium with the realistic chants and crowd reactions is just great.
Tack on the usual stuff, like fresh broadcast camera angles, new mannerisms from participants on the pitch and the nice lighting and physics, too.
At this point, commentary is a little stale. Good and immersive for brand new players, but even every-other-year players might be able to predict some of the lines before they happen. Voice-acting elsewhere is a little stilted and stands out in a bad way.
It’s a small, little thing on this front too, but The Grounds’ unskippable cutscenes are a slog and throwback to some of the horrific “stories” in sports titles of long ago.
Even so, it’s an overall good, mostly immersive impression here, with solid points for the user interface (UI), too, in an era where sports games are extremely hit-or-miss in that area.
A year ago, the player career, weekly stuff and even archetypes got an overhaul to nice effect.
This year, the manager career gets some serious love.
For example, the transfer market is more dynamic in the way negotiations can take multiple stages. It’s a little subjective, but it feels like clubs behave more realistically, too. Career mode also goes deeper on scouting and development
Generally speaking, the whole thing feels more random, too. Unexpected events even away from the pitch make it feel less like a video game and more like, well, real life.
Sparking a little cherry on top here is the presence of dynamic ratings. The continued shuffling of ratings in response to what is actually happening in the career mode is a really big deal. Whether it’s short-term injury stuff or long-term developments, the impact is noticeable and appreciated.
Shiny and new this year is The Grounds, a sort of social space like those highly polarizing (but monetarily successful) ones found in games like the NBA 2K series.
The Grounds includes three districts:
- Montclair (Paris)
- Zeiza (Buenos Aires)
- Parkside (Britain)
Smack in the middle of all these is the central hub, The Terrace, which includes social areas, Clubhouses, stores and more.
As expected and needed, The Grounds loop in teaming up with friendste a bit more
Overall, The Grounds is a solid success because it takes past strong streetball efforts like Volta Football and combines it with some of the better elements of the NBA 2K social-space stuff. It won’t be for everyone, but it’s a nice chill way to keep the experience fresh.
A year removed from really emphasizing the always-online nature of Ultimate Team (FUT), this year, much of the love here is in player expression. The FUT Gallery arrives and lets players display their items. The Gallery Hub is a showcase for collections, including rare variants.
On the gameplay and actual collecting side, Squad Building Challenges have had their scoring streamlined in a great way. And there’s an uptick in PVE modes to help solo players earn their season points in a way that feels fairer.
Short end of the stick here goes to player career and Clubs. The former gets a boost from the dynamic ratings and the latter from The Grounds, but as a whole, these two feel like they were on the dartboard to get the least attention this time out, as is the case for annual sports titles.
Microtransactions and currencies to juggle remain an issue. At launch, we’re looking at coins, points, season passes and now gallery tokens. It’s a lot to digest, by design, and how their presence impacts progression across various modes will be something to watch.
As always, FC 27 is a feat in the options department when accounting for the usual stuff, plus some expanded gameplay sliders this year to give players even deeper control over their on-pitch experience.
A social hub coming to FC is going to end up as polarizing as it gets for all the same reasons it is in other sports games.
The verdict? Players don’t have to engage with it if they don’t want to, but it shouldn’t hurt to have it as part of the package. Even sports games should continue to be encouraged to try new things.
Overall, FC 27 is an easy enough recommendation. The on-pitch upgrades feel great and the effort to appease the wants of a global fanbase can be felt. There’s deep replayability in career modes, too.
Annually, now, FC has been a solid entry point for new and lapsed fans alike, and this year’s game is no exception to the praiseworthy rule.
