It is September, and that means that the yearly football/soccer game for the recently started ’25/’26 European season has arrived. This year’s keywords are authenticity and player feedback, but let’s check out how all that works out. All this and more, in XboxEra’s review for FC 26 (also known as EA Sports FC 26, tested on Xbox Series X!
FC 25 + 1 = FC 26?
It feels like such a moot point when discussing yearly sports games, but aside from the rare times there is a major engine overhaul or something similar, these games don’t really change all that much from year to year. It would be futile to spend thousands of words on establishing things that have been virtually identical for a dozen games or more, yet I still would like to paint an accurate picture of what the game is. After all, not everyone started playing sports games in the 1990’s like I did.
So, keep in mind that this year’s EA Sports’ football romp is, for the most part, quite similar to last years. The countless game modes for single player and co-op careers, the the ranked online matches, the gacha-esque Ultimate Team, the obscene level of customization of every single aspect of the game: from the controls, the exact camera angles, how much assistance the title gives you with the controls or the visual aids. From the FIFA days to the more recent FC titles, EA Sports’ titles have an absolutely unparalleled level of player agency, letting every fan of the beautiful game create the experience that most satisfies them. Whether you want to play out a massive manager career, step into the shoes of a single footballer or stand up to the global competition, FC 26 truly has something for everybody.
I’m feeling authentic
Despite the astonishing width and variety of such games, there’s always been one thing EA Sports’ games lagged behind a bit, and it’s something I would very much appreciate in Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer and eFootball titles. That is, a somewhat slower, more tactical, more methodical gameplay. High level FIFA and FC play have always been dictated by explosively fast players, incredible dribbles, absolutely bangers of goals from tough angles. For all the formations and defensive AI, you’d very often be able to eat the best defenders for breakfast with the right move, going alone against the opposing keeper. You could call this approach as arcade in style, and while incredibly fun, it did render the tactics a bit less important in the big picture. Put Kylian Mbappé as your main attacker, and you’ll be cutting through the defense like a knife through butter almost every single time. He’s incredibly strong in real life, too, but he can’t jump through the defenders that consistently.
In FC 26, this is no more – or at least, the player gets to choose if this is how they want to play or not. Regardless of the game mode, the player can choose between two distinct styles of play: Competitive Mode, which presents the gameplay most similar to prior chapters, and the brand new Authentic Mode. The former is basically FC 25 on crack – even less focus on player fatigue, even less focus on strategies, AI leaving a lot of room, explosive physics with massive rebounds. It’s what makes Ultimate Team so good, after all, and it’s been absolutely pushed to the maximum here. Authentic Mode though, to me, is the most important feature EA Sports added in many years, because it truly is a game-changer. The players follow their formation and positions a lot more accurately, the speed of players is far less decisive, defenders act in a lot more believeable manner, keepers deflect the ball more realistically, with even animations and physics revamped to deliver a more realistic experience.
A new game
I’ve been a fan of the FIFA franchise for ages. It had its ups and downs, but I have fond memories of endless careers on the Xbox 360 days in particular, where I’d have ridiculously long career saves for my beloved Juventus. Be it before or after the FC rebranding, I’ve had my share of favourite titles, but I’ve also found a handful of episodes a bit less polished or inspired. The ups and downs of yearly titles, as derivative as they may be, are not at all uncommon, and there definitely were years in which I didn’t feel the desire to push through gargantuan career modes, as something didn’t quite click for me in that episode. FC 26 is one of those games where I really want to push through a massive career save, because the new Authentic Mode is a blast to play. There may be less shocking last second goals or tremendous upsets, but the beauty of playing a more tactical football with EA Sports’ tremendous presentation is something I really needed in my life, and I’ve been quite vocal about this. And what’s great about is that, if you prefer the exact opposite end of the FC gameplay, Competitive Mode delivers it in a more spectacular fashion than ever.
How this new Authentic Mode will shape the online scene and the future of the franchise is hard to say. After all, there’s millions of players who love the arcade approach of the franchise, there’s massive eSports tournaments backed by the real football teams, and clearly the classic FIFA/FC formula is still immensely popular. Personally though, this new mode is one I enjoy even more, despite the incalculable amount of hours I’ve put into the franchise’s “classic” approach. But regardless of which of these playstyles you opt for, there’s been countless subtle, but not less important changes to how the match plays out. More realistic animations and ball physics, improved AI of the players we don’t control, with even rebounds seemingly behaving in a more plausible manner. There’s been a lot of mixed feedback on the changes to FC 25 throughout the year, and EA Sports have seemingly found a way to address what went wrong there.
Everything for realism
The career modes, too, have seen various changes and improvements that better mimic the ins and outs of an actual football season. As wild and unpredictable the market windows and results may have always been, there was always a sense of linearity, control over the overall narrative, with few truly surprising developments throughout the season. In FC 26, the player can have mid-season objectives, players having personal matters impact their form, whole dynamic and economic shifts during the season. Shall we endure the sudden devastating economic woes of the team with a lot of unhappy players, or is it better to flee the sinking ship and find a more stable team? Choices like this aren’t too frequent, but they happen – and the fact they can manifest greatly improves drama and unpredictability.
I did mention I have a long history with sports games. Precisely for that reason, I can absolutely appreciate the astonishing graphics, attention to detail and realism displayed by this franchise, by this point. What used to be cardboard-esque cutouts for the crowd are now fully animated 3D characters with diverse animations. We can see the TV broadcast show our team’s mascot dance after a satisfying 3-0 lead, or present the ins and outs of the stadium in the pre-match. HyperMotion POV replays are back and more spectacular than ever, with all sorts of 3D graphics that display possession and shooting stats on the field, rather than just in a generic 2D textbox. Even ray tracing is in, and yet the performance of the game is stellar on Xbox Series X, mantaining a stable framerate at almost every moment, with only a handful of small glitches with the UI, some occasional physics woes and a few visual oddities, such as one time I saw the rain stay afloat in the air. There’s even cross-play across all platforms – what more can we ask for, really?
Maybe not the best FIFA of all time, but surely the best FC ever
If I were to get into the details of every single change from FC 25, I’d have to spend dozens more paragraphs. There’s player archetypes in career mode now, better player evolutions in Ultimate Team, harsher penalties for quitters, revamped menus. There’s yet another banger of a soundtrack, with mainstream picks like Ed Sheeran and JENNIE, all the way down to more niche picks like the timeless electronica legends, Soulwax. There’s even a brand new meme team, which is a club where every player is Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Yeah, I’m just as confused. To end this long list, I’ll also point out that, while FIFA and FC games have always allowed players to import their player settings, they have always been incomplete – so we still had to tweak our custom camera angles, commentary options and more, at least if they were different from the defaults. For the first time ever, in FC 26, all my niche picks were mantained from FC 25 – including my own HUD options and even the fact I keep the in-game music instead of the audio commentary tracks. Sweet!
As such, I really have no doubts. While it doesn’t solve all of the franchise’s issues, such as how predatory Ultimate Team is with its pay-to-win lootbox mechanics, FC 26 creates two separate playstyles that should satisfy almost any football fan – those seeking the arcade thrills of the fast-paced online modes, and those who want a slower, more tactical single player career as well. The changes to the physics and AI are smart and felt, and the amount of content and polish really has no rivals, making FC 26 the best the franchise has been in years. Authentic Mode truly reignited my passion for the ball, and I can’t wait to finish my review to go back to my virtual dreams of Juventus winning the treble. One can dream, right?
Those with access to the Ultimate Edition of FC 26 can start playing the game a week early, on the 19th of September, on just about any platform – PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S (where we tested the game), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and even the Amazon Luna streaming service. Other editions unlock the game on the 26th of September, 2025. Check out what sort of access to the game you can get via the EA Play subscription and through Game Pass!
FC 26
Played on
Xbox Series X
PROS
- Authentic Mode is sensational...
- ...though Competitive Mode is a smart evolution, too
- A lot of positive changes to physics, AI and progression
- As always, a crazy amount of content and customization
- Graphics and performance are excellent
CONS
- Ultimate Team remains a really predatory experience
- A few historic flaws of the franchise remain
- Occasional technical hiccups
