Like clockwork, EA Sports is back with the reveal of its next soccer sim. After unveiling some spicy cover art earlier in the week, FC 25’s debut trailer is now out in the wild. Not only does it showcase the usual dramatic montage of players banging home free kicks and making last ditch tackles, but it also gives an early look at a new five-a-side experience that I am incredibly excited to try. It also confirmed that players will be able to jump in in late September.
As sports game franchises go, few are as popular each year than EA FC. While there can occasionally be an underwhelming lack of improvements or new features between entries, things are already looking promising for FC 25. Even at this early stage in the hype cycle EA Sports is flaunting its new small-scale Rush mode, which is being integrated into the Kick Off, Pro Clubs, and Ultimate Team experiences.
We reported earlier this week on some leaks that divulged some details about this mode, and they all appear to be accurate. While Rush is five-a-side, it will actually be a 4v4 mode as the goalkeeper on each team is controlled by AI. Each outfield player, though, is controlled by an individual player. In Ultimate Team Rush, you’ll be able to select one player item from your club to bring into your team. That means that you and your friends can really put the eternally spicy ‘pick your dream five-a-side team’ debate to rest.
A few other gameplay details about Rush have been confirmed by early hands-on previews as well. Fouls will be penalized by blue cards, which will essentially sin bin you for 60 seconds, penalty kicks will not be static and instead involve an ice hockey-style where you can dribble the ball, and offsides will only be active in the final third of the pitch, rather than on the halfway line.
The other big aspect to this is that Rush will totally replace the Volta experience that’s been hanging around since FIFA 20.
A few other details have emerged too. There will be an all new tactics system called FC IQ introduced, which gives you more freedom than ever to set up your squad. This also includes a system called Player Roles, which adds more depth to positions.
Despite a sparkling new mode and a big tactics overhaul, the one feature I know will send Ultimate Team veterans wild is the addition of a duplicate pile. No longer will you have to discard high-value dupes or pump them into any old SBC to use them up. How many years have we waited for this? Too many. But I’m thrilled to know it’s finally coming.
Finally, there’s the big one: the FC 25 release date is confirmed for Tuesday, September 27. As always there will be some early access offered up to those with EA Play subscriptions or those that pre-order the Ultimate Edition, and this year it’s a whopping seven days of early game time, so a lot of people will be jumping in on September 20.
While you patiently wait for September to arrive, check out some other excellent multiplayer games and co-op games that can keep you and your pals occupied.
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