EA Sports FC 27: Electronic Arts' Take on Football Reviewed

EA Sports FC 27: Welcome Back to the Pitch!

Why are you here reading the EA Sports FC 27 review? I don't know precisely, but I can try to guess, regardless of the fact that we're talking about the king of football titles. Perhaps you're looking for redemption because the Italian national team didn't make it to the World Cup for the umpteenth time, or maybe you can't come to terms with your favorite team making the classic summer budget transfer market and you already know a season of suffering awaits you. But nothing prevents you from wanting to relive the exploits of your favorite champion or wanting to climb the world rankings to show everyone you're the best FC 27 gamer. Whatever the reason, you're in the right place. Lace up your boots and let's hit the field! As you know, EA Sports FC 27 will be released for practically every platform on the market, but I wanted to get my hands on the PlayStation 5 edition, which will offer exclusive tournaments dedicated to its users.

The definitive version of the classic annual installment of the football saga arrived in my hands a few days ago, which is why this review will be without a final score. To give you the most accurate feedback possible, it will be necessary to play EA Sports FC 27 for many more hours and, above all, with servers full of other players ready to play against and with me.

Gallery

As per tradition, FC 27 immediately impresses with its enormous gameplay offering, and the menu is nothing short of rich, both in terms of settings and modes. All the modes we've come to know in past years return, including friendlies, training, leagues, Champions League, FUT, player or manager careers, and seasons, where gamers from all over the world compete to reach higher divisions in ten-match leagues. Enriching the offering is The Grounds, an open world where gamers from every corner of the globe can share their love for football, in a system that seeks to unite street football with stadium football through minigames, social interaction, and self-expression. The game world is divided into three neighborhoods: the French Montclair, the Argentinian Zeiza, and the English Parkside, each seeking to emulate situations where football originates from the streets to give birth to champions and legends. You create your avatar, dress them with style, and start making a name for yourself in street soccer environments, participating in events ranging from 1-on-1 matches to minigames that blend basketball with football, passing through many variations on the theme. Social interaction blends with gameplay, style with football passion, in a hub that becomes the new home for clubs, where gamers can organize their experience with friends and teammates. The potential of The Grounds is obvious: we could have a cornerstone for all users or an experiment that won't have the strength to attract a wide enough audience to make it truly alive and appealing. To date, I haven't been able to test it with a proper influx of players, but the various minigames available show substantial differences: some are really well-designed and will surely attract the playing public, while others seem to be fleeting.

EA Sports FC 27: Modes for All Tastes

All other modes mirror the offering we've known for years and carry forward a system we're accustomed to. There's truly something for everyone, and we're facing yet another football feast capable of satisfying every type of gamer. Certainly, the main attraction for many will be FUT, which returns with the usual formula but emphasizes collecting, team customization, and increases the freedom of squad building. I have no doubt that, this year too, the obsession with opening virtual card packs and the race to fill one's album will be unleashed. The other big attraction will be "Seasons," where you start from the tenth division to play online leagues of ten matches, aiming to score enough points to climb categories, trying to reach the first division. As always, we can create our virtual footballer and embark on a career in professional football, but we can also satisfy our desire to become a manager, taking charge of a team and managing its tactics and finances. There are also various quick modes that complete an increasingly comprehensive offering.

EA Sports FC 27 is simply an all-encompassing title designed to be literally enormous. Within it, it contains several modes that, alone, could keep a player engaged for months and months, and they intercept different types of gaming experiences. Whether you're looking for a casual match, want to compete against opponents from all over the world, or engage in a managerial system, FC 27 has what you need. I find it almost impossible to believe that a player is able to utilize the entire offering of this title, and credit must be given to the developers for putting in their utmost effort to allow any type of football enthusiast to have fun. Each mode offers new features, but we're talking about limited innovations that don't change what we've learned over the years much.

EA Sports FC 27, Two Souls in Two Gameplays

At this point, we need to talk about EA Sports FC 27's gameplay and its new features. Once again, the developers have decided to focus on specific improvements rather than a revolution. Let's start with the goalkeepers who, year after year, gain more and more confidence. During my tests, I didn't notice any blunders or particular problems, with a strong predisposition to send powerful shots out for a corner, rather than parrying them back into play and risking putting opponents back in the game. As announced by the development team, manual defending is more functional than in the past, especially when you manage to anticipate opponent passes. As for off-the-ball movements of attackers, the announced new features seemed very marginal to me, with behaviors that didn't satisfy me: especially when I tried to develop play down the wing, my central forwards sought movements inwards, nullifying my intentions to cross. The same behavior on headers seemed very similar to FC 26. These are just a few examples that can be made regarding all the improvements implemented by the developers, but it must be clear that we are still talking about limited new features that do not revolutionize any game element, but merely refine the gameplay.

A separate discussion for corner kick management, where EA has decided to allow more time between selecting the kick and the movements of attackers and defenders in the box. Now we can better manage the possibility of evading markers with a quick movement or fighting to assert our physical prowess. Here too, there isn't a true revolution, but the system receives an important evolution that, over the months, will surely develop tactics that will make corners truly dangerous.

Throughout all this, the two types of gameplay, realistic and competitive, continue to coexist. The former is only usable offline, while the latter continues to be the basis for all online modes. Like last year, the realistic mode allows for more thoughtful play with a more natural pace and a more satisfying specific weight of the ball and players. The competitive mode is more immediate and reactive, where the ability to strategize loses importance in favor of the ability to act quickly. Already in previous years, playing online, it was almost always the one with greater mastery of tricks who won, and today the feeling is even more pronounced. The most talented footballers have gained an additional bonus in ball control in unbalanced situations, making them even more devastating than an average athlete. I would have preferred a downsizing of top players, but for this year, we must resign ourselves to the fact that, in online challenges, it will always be the strongest clubs that make the difference, much to the chagrin of more talented gamers who, perhaps, would like to try using teams that are not top-tier.

EA Sports FC 27: Is it True Innovation?

As for game satisfaction, realistic gameplay far surpasses competitive gameplay, and I find it limiting that it can only be used offline and that a way hasn't been found to create "split" online modes for those who want one or the other way of playing. Perhaps the problem is precisely wanting to maintain this dualism when everything could have been shifted to realism, but this doesn't detract from the fact that you'll have plenty to sink your teeth into, whether you love one game system or the other.

Technically, the production is always very polished, and while here too we can't speak of a revolution, an improvement in animations is noticeable, always more fluid and realistic. Needless to say, EA Sports pays enormous attention to every element of its "favorite child," and we are talking about a premium production that leaves nothing to chance, but seems to be almost crushed by the scope of the project. EA Sports FC 27 is literally enormous and embraces the world of football 360 degrees, to the point of being almost too big for the time a single gamer can dedicate to it during a sports season? A flaw? Absolutely not, because such a quantity of content must be absolutely rewarded and is capable of entertaining anyone who appreciates the game of football.

Certainly, innovations continue to follow the lines of what we already know, and the development team continues to choose a safe and conservative path, not to mention the dualism of the two available gameplays, but this does not detract from the fact that EA Sports FC 27 is full of interesting elements. A good title that struggles to take a stance on how to evolve, whose online aspect I still need to properly explore, waiting for the servers to be lively and full of gamers. For now, I can already tell you that FC 27 is a melting pot of content suitable for all tastes, but it still struggles to find the path on which to evolve.