EA Sports FC 26 Review, Gameplay Impressions, Videos, Features, Career, FUT and More

EA Sports FC 26 from EA Vancouver and EA Romania puts the emphasis on peppering a variety of feedback-based upgrades across its many features and modes. 

The third iteration of the new EA Sports FC series and 33rd overall in the legendary series formerly known as FIFA, FC 26 sheds the traditional annual release cycle of upgrading one or two major things.

It's also something of a release seeking a comeback. A year ago, FC 25 fell far under expectations in terms of reception (76 Metacritic, 2.7 user score), shaping how FC 26 came together. 

At first glance, the results look fantastic. Gameplay tweaks and straight up offering two different styles of play across its many modes is a bold, yet fitting response while attempting to please so many different styles of players. 

Gameplay

One thing onlookers might notice from simple videos is the fact that FC 26 overhauls dribbling, and therefore the entire on-pitch feel. 

While these are little things, they add up: It's clear ballhandlers keep it closer to them than in the past and shield it from defenders more naturally. Also clear is that the game now more dramatically accounts for ballhandler height and even foot preference.

In stride with the above are changes to the acceleration system. Three types remain (explosive, lengthy, controlled) and certain ability thresholds, such as agility rating, influence what acceleration a ballhandler can use. 

The details above make the knowledge gap matter on the pitch. Players who understand the names in the action can better predict who will go fast, how fast, and when. Written another way? It's more realistic than ever. 

Passing and shooting feel more responsive, too. In the case of getting the ball to open teammates, it feels like players can send it with more precision than before, fitting it through tighter windows.

Footballer positioning on the pitch feels like it received an overhaul, too. There are multiple things going on here to create the feeling, but most notably, off-ball movement feels more natural and seamless, as does the way AI runs up to better provide support at proper angles. 

The revamp to goalkeeper animations is apparent even in the first match. The netminders take more varied positions than in the past, contort in new ways to defend and, perhaps most important of all, deflections seem to go back the shooting team less often.

Those are just the usual, annual sports game upgrades tucked behind fancy names and backed by things like AI and whatnot. Where FC 26 refreshingly differs from its past iterations is in the game style splits. 

Like Madden and other sports titles have done in the past, FC 26 offers up two distinct, selectable gameplay presets: 

• Competitive 
• Authentic

At its most basic, Competitive goes for a faster, sort of arcade-based slant to fit game modes like Ultimate Team, at least compared to Authentic, which leans more realistic with the mountain of data baked into the experience to make it more like a simulation. 

There's more nuance, of course, like competitive features, faster passing, and a fairer balance around the outcome of things like headers, particularly for head-to-head online modes.

It's an impressive idea and in execution. Which is better will vary by the player, but they each feel distinct and fitting for their intended game modes. 

Graphics and Presentation

Like its predecessors, FC 26 is one of the best-looking sports games on the market. Player models look good, venues are accurate, crowds dynamically react, announcers tend to paint the scene well, and the visual fidelity of detailing on jerseys, lighting work and beyond keep the experience immersive. 

FC 26 doesn't capture the sudden re-arrival of sporting pageantry via the revived college football series. But it clearly starts to make some serious headway in that direction with new camera angles and even swooping broadcast-like clips from a stadium's surrounding areas. 

A special shoutout also goes to the user interface (UI). While it isn't always lag free, the amount of detail that is simple to find in something like, important hubs within career mode, remains impressive. Ditto for on-pitch stat overlays, graphs and breakdowns that provide a ton of information. 

Top of all in this area, though, is the HUD actually showing the ballhandler's foot preference and skill-move rating. It's a nice little detail that used to be tucked deep in the menus but, alongside the expansive gameplay shifts, now moves to the forefront in a great way. 

Career, Clubs and More

A year ago, FC 25 finally threw some serious love at Career mode and topped the package off with some fun arcade-like happenings in Rush. 

FC 26 evolves on the former by going heavy on varying up career mode for players. The biggest push in this area is a new dynamic hub that offers up different challenges that shake up goals, be it weekly tasks or monthly, over the course of a season, if not both.

It seems like a nice mix of variety for players who might otherwise be tired of rehashing the same old mode. Helping in this pursuit is the continued presence of different live start points or manager live. Some of these permit the inclusion of challenges that reflect real-world happenings, such as transfer windows. 

On-pitch details aren't the only thing getting a revamp in FC 26, either. The archetypes system that governs a created character's play style and progression gets a fresh pass, too. 

In Career mode, archetypes replace the old player growth system to nice effect. There are a handful based on some obvious legends, permitting players to say, build a winger who focuses on pace and dribbling to zip around defenders.

Progression on Career mode archetypes feels steady and helps created footballers feel unique, adding more replayability to the mode, even for longtime veterans. 

Clubs is the other mode that gets an overhaul and archetypes love (think, "Progressor," a center-back specialization in long passes and anticipation). Players get one for free, then must earn the dozen others through experience points and/or currencies as they progress.

Actually taking these traits to the pitch is a blast, in part, because of the revamp to Clubs Rush game modes. Live events offer up various challenges and are single-elimination knockout tournaments, really upping the stakes. 

Football Ultimate Team (FUT) modernizes the always-online feel, too. There, new live events, including tournaments and gauntlets with various ways to actually qualify, as well as different match settings keep things fresh. 

Arguably most notable is the idea that gauntlets task players with taking part in a flurry of matches while using different footballers, so players can't just rely on the same superstar cards every single match. 

Along the way, FUT smooths some of the bigger complaints to the customization system from past years. Players won't lose styles or cosmetics when evolving characters now. 

Beyond those highlights, FC 26 again features a laundry list of other smaller modes, from multiplayer to training and beyond. 

When it comes to the microtransactions conversation, they are as pervasive as ever, especially when layering on pre-order bonuses and season passes. That said, the game does appear to hope that evening out the power curve in FUT will prevent it from becoming a spending spree that makes players feel like they need to spend real-world cash to keep up as the game grows over time. 

An already-robust suite of options actually gets some notable additions in the accessibility department in the form of new contrast options and the ability to simplify the inputs required for flashy skill moves.

Conclusion

A year ago, FC 25 didn't feel like a step back, but the hype built around a flashy new rebrand apparently quickly faded and annual-release fatigue swept the playerbase. 

In a savvy move, FC 26 steps back, almost with its hands raised, and starts knocking down player feedback requests left and right. Straight-up offering two distinct styles of play is a bold move and the result is profound. 

As such, it's not just a smart PR marketing push. These are impactful, asked-for changes. Paired with the annual upgrades to gameplay, this is the best-feeling game on the pitch to date. 

Make no mistake, there are issues. The grind and microtransactions scene that continues to give the NBA 2K games a push will remain divisive. 

But overall? FC 26 is a stellar entry in the series and simply fun to pick up and play, making it the rare sports title that is perfect for new and lapsed players alike.