EA Sports FC 24 Review – Squad Overhaul

Following its split with soccer’s governing body, EA Sports’ FIFA series is no more, but make no mistake: EA Sports FC is a solid game with a host of welcome improvements. Like a stable club, the foundation of this franchise has remained solid and familiar. Ultimate Team has undergone a complete overhaul. The manager’s and players’ career modes have also received small, but welcome, updates. 

The gameplay is largely unchanged: it’s solid and comfortable. The biggest change is the feel of the ball – it’s loose, with matches tending to have more 50/50 moments, and it’s wonderful. This loose-ball situation adds to the drama of the match and the moments. It’s empowering when cover star Erling Haaland snatches a ball acrobatically out of the air to finish a play. The whole thing feels much more real. There’s a controlled chaos in these situations that makes the game a little more realistic than last year’s. The more systematic pace and more realistic situations made the game more enjoyable. 

The new PlayStyles feature improves EA Sports FC 24’s gameplay. Select soccer players can be given special skills to fit their style of play and gain an edge. For example, clean tackles can be accompanied by special animations. Power shots are also taken quicker, and wingers get an additional sprint boost in order to beat defenders. It is satisfying to use players like Trinity Rodman, who are quick and have the ability to beat a defender with pace just like she does in real life, or ping a driven pass 30 yards to someone’s feet.

It’s also the most beautiful the series ever looked. Animations look more realistic and fluid. If you watch Haaland on TV, you’re going to notice how he kind of hops before swinging his arms, arching over, and sprinting like a human battering ram. Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez looks like a gazelle thumping quickly, powerfully, chaotically, and purposely. Video game characters move in a similar way, adding to the realistic feel. Kits, which have been updated to reflect this new release, bounce authentically when they hit players. Sometimes, the shirts will bounce funny, which can take you out of immersion. A small change in the game is that stadiums now feel more authentic, as flags are waving around and fans are louder and rowdier than before. You can also watch in first-person the ref run over to your player if you have made a bad tackle. All these little touches add up. 

EA’s most significant upgrades are in Ultimate Team with a large swath of meaningful changes, including one substantial addition: Women are now a fully integrated part of the mode. Stagnation set into the mode over the last two years thanks to a lot of the same players being featured and the fact that you had to grind countless matches to unlock players that usually aren’t as good as who you can earn by opening packs. Adding the women has reinvigorated my interest — and my playtime. 

The team I created had Rodman on one wing, and Alexandra Popp the other. I felt nothing but joy as I sprinted down both sides of each field to provide crosses for Haaland while scoring goals using their outside boots. What a great way to inject the “fantasy” into Ultimate Team in a gratifying and equitable way. 

Unlike EA’s NHL Ultimate Team mode, the women fit seamlessly and handle well against their male counterparts. Sure, not all women goalkeepers are very tall, causing a disadvantage for some shot-stopping, but I haven’t noticed it too much with my 5’ 9” Canadian goalie, and my women wingers have dominated with their pace. 

Then, there are UT Evolutions. I run multiple teams in UT that are all pretty solid, but sometimes less popular leagues and teams (such as Team USA) don’t get a lot of new or powerful cards. A 90+ striker is going to have trouble with an 80-rated center back. 

The new Evolutions aspect of UT makes it so you can upgrade your favorite players’ skills, traits, and even proficiency with their weaker foot. It’s a joy to upgrade players, and I can’t wait to keep squads competitive this way. 

It’s less exciting that one Evolution is behind a payment wall. It’s obscene to spend 50,000 in-game coins or real money via 1,000 FC points (just under $10) on it; you just don’t earn enough unless you dump a lot of hours into the mode each week. EA is obviously trying to get players spend more on better teams. Lady luck will only take you so far when grinding. It’s an annoying aspect inherent to card-collection modes like this; it isn’t getting any better and just outright feels bad. It’s also disappointing if you have a tradeable card to upgrade, as once you begin upgrading it, you can no longer sell it. Everything feels against you unless you spend more cash, and I don’t like any part of it. The microtransactions only affect this mode.

The addition of Evolutions and women brings Ultimate Team’s fantasy to life. Players with multiple positions also don’t require a position change card to move from a striker to, say, a left-wing position and keep chemistry – which adds to their speed, shooting, or other stats – this year. The team’s tactics are also more flexible and this is a welcome change. 

There have been fewer updates to the Manager and Career modes. However, adding new features in both of these is welcomed, even though neither are impressive. 

In the Manager mode, you have a new option whereby you hire coaches in order to improve your team’s ability with a particular tactical vision such as parking a bus or wing playing. But hiring coaches isn’t the most exciting feature. Sure, you can improve your midfield with the right personnel, but between managing this and my players’ stamina each week, it just doesn’t do enough to hold my interest for more than a season. It seemed that my teammates didn’t care about my tactic when I played simulated matches, making the whole experience pointless and boring. 

As you improve your avatar by using new PlayStyles to make them a superstar, the player’s career becomes a bit more interesting. But again, the experience doesn’t do enough to hold my attention. The move from FIFA to EA FC would have given the opportunity to add more to these modes, or to bring back story mode. It is great to see these updates but Ultimate Team has the most changes. This seems to be a missed chance to introduce the new name. 

Sadly, Volta remains a forgettable diversion; it just doesn’t hold your attention well. It’s a messy, bad arcade version of soccer with uneven power-ups. Playing futsal and street soccer is fun, but Volta doesn’t recreate the control and pace of the real thing, instead opting for avatar customization and leveling that devolves into just being able to run fast and score ridiculous goals. 

Dropping the FIFA license doesn’t make this a better or worse game. If you’re already a fan of EA’s soccer showpiece, you’re going to enjoy the rebranded EA FC, even if every mode wasn’t transformed like Ultimate Team. And honestly, since every major soccer game has fallen off or isn’t made anymore, EA’s soccer title is the best one available by default. 

It isn’t perfect, but EAFC has sucked me back into a mode I was about to give up on, has some of its slickest soccer to date, and hasn’t missed a beat in its transition to a new name. The EAFC misses an opportunity to bring in its new age with a unique style, and instead chooses to stick to the old. And that’s a shame. Regardless, I’ll be pinging passes with Rose Lavelle for months to come.