EA Sports FC 24, or as most people would eventually end up calling it – FIFA 24, is the latest entry from EA Sports in its annual series of football simulation games that make billions in revenue for the company each year. Why the name change you ask? Well… FIFA (Fédération internationale de football association), the international governing body of the football association decided that it didn’t want to renew the contract with EA Sports unless the latter was ready to increase the compensation in exchange for using the governing body’s name for its video games. As EA Sports was already paying around $1 billion in its previous contract with FIFA, it decided that it would not be bullied and that it has a loyal fanbase that would stick with the game, irrespective of what it is called. Hence the name – EA Sports FC 24. It doesn’t have the same ring to it as FIFA, right? We can all agree there. However, does the disassociation of FIFA and EA Sports bring drastic changes to the table or is it the same game with a new name? Read my detailed review below to find out.
Before we jump into the review, I would like to disclose that I received the review code for the game for PlayStation 5. The game is already available for purchase on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch.
Table of Contents
Is EA Sports FC 24 a completely new game?
For those of you who had been hoping that EA Sports would bring a fresh game that would fix all the issues with the previous versions, it is sadly not the case. It is a case of simple rebranding and the core mechanics of the game, game modes, animations, glitches, and even the extremely annoying microtransactions are still very much part of the EA Sports FC 24. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing as FIFA has been the best football simulation game in the market for over a decade now and the game, despite its many flaws, at its best can produce moments of joy that can easily replicate the thrill felt while watching real-life football games.
User interface and game modes
UI
To be very honest, the user interface in the menus on the FC 24 has me in a conflicted state. On one hand, I’m a fan of the new modern-looking aesthetics and animations that provide the game with a fresh feel. On the other hand, the UI has definitely become more complicated than ever. If you compare last year’s game’s menus to this year’s, the difference in complexity is night and day. While last year it was easy to navigate around different game modes, this year, despite playing the game for more than a week, I’m still not fully sure of where I need to go for a certain setting or a game mode.
Game modes
The most-played game mode in FIFA games has been the Ultimate Team for the last decade and a half. Ever since it was introduced back in FIFA 09, this game mode has only grown in popularity over the years and has become the biggest money-churning machine for EA. In this game mode, you have to build your team from scratch and then play and earn rewards to improve your team through the year. As has been the case, you can either do the grind, or you can simply pay to buy the packs with FIFA points, which can be purchased through real-world money. Within Ultimate Team, the game modes remain the same. This means you still have Division Rivals, where you climb through the divisions by winning against opponents and earning weekly rewards. You also have the dreaded FUT Champions (a tournament played over the weekend that offers great reward opportunities), which is sweatier than ever if you ask me.
If you’re a fan of offline games, you still have Squad Battles and Moments where you play against AI for rewards on a weekly basis. As has been the case traditionally, the rewards offered for winning online games are far better than the ones you can get by playing against AI.
Now that I have covered the aspects that have remained the same from last year, let’s talk about what’s new. One of the biggest changes from previous years in Ultimate Team this year is that now women can play in the same team as men. While there was some online debate as to whether this would make the game too unrealistic or not, let’s face it, Ultimate Team allows you to play legends of the game (who retired even decades ago in certain cases) with current professionals, so realism was never really a factor here. Does it make for a fun experience? I’d like to hold that part for the gameplay section. To include more female players and make sure there is plenty of variety on offer, EA has added over 19,000 fully licensed players, 700 teams, and 30 leagues from the women’s soccer divisions to Ultimate Team. This means that the game has a bigger roster than ever in its three-decade-long history.
Coming to the second major change, EA Sports has introduced ‘Evolutions’ upgrades in the Ultimate team. With this, you can upgrade your existing low-rated players into beasts over time and make sure that you don’t have to rely on pack luck or spend real-life money to improve your team. This feels like a breath of fresh air as earlier you had to rely on EA to release special versions of player items for them to become usable in your team. Now you can simply place the desired player in the evolutions tab and complete some simple objectives to help it get massive upgrades.
Despite the new additions, pay-to-win is still a massive part of this game mode. If you can grind the game enough or get lucky to pack the best players, you will enjoy the game more, but otherwise, you might feel like the game does get unfair at times when your team with common gold players comes up against teams with Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry, and Kylian Mbappe.
Moving on to other multiplayer modes, Volta and Pro clubs are still an enjoyable experience if you have a group of friends who love to play together but otherwise, you might find it hard to enjoy these modes to the fullest.
As far as single-player modes are concerned, Career mode allows you to play as both a manager and as a player. While EA has made several noticeable presentation inclusions such as the Ballon D Or ceremony, open bus parades, and more, the game mode feels more or less like the previous years.
Gameplay
The gameplay in FC 24, for better or for worse, feels similar to the FIFA games. That means you get occasional glitches where players might collide, you might get red cards for nothing, and you might even get stuck in the middle of an online match as well. However, if we talk about a core fundamental change, it has come in the form of playstyles in the Ultimate Team. As EA describes it, “PlayStyles essentially give specific boosts to the top stars reflecting their real-life abilities.” This means that every footballer has a unique playstyle and this means that even players who were not considered “meta” earlier due to lack of pace or game models, can now make their presence felt more strongly in certain areas, thanks to their strengths in real-life football.
While on this side you get a more authentic simulation of the real-world game, on the opposite side, you get to play with female players and even dominate sometimes against physical monsters such as Virgil Van Dijk, Ruud Gullit, Patrick Viera etc. Overall, I would say that FC 24 is a mixed bag of gameplay features that enhance the fun element of the game. If the female players didn’t have extremely agile game models, they would likely have been unpopular choices in the game and that’s why it is fun that some of these players can play much better than the male players.
Graphics
Just a few days before the release of FC 24, my cousin and I were playing FIFA 17 for nostalgia and we realised that in some aspects, especially the colour palette, the game looked even better than FIFA 23 (the latest release at the time). This was shocking to us as we naturally expect the games to improve graphically over time. Don’t get me wrong, the game has come miles ahead in terms of gameplay elements and responsiveness, but the fact remains that graphics is one of the most debated aspects when it comes to this video game series. While EA claims to make improvements in this regard almost every passing year, the actual differences are often hard to notice. As players are showcased from a distance in this game, unlike NBA where player models are visible up close even in gameplay, you will be hard-pressed to notice the differences.
However, during the cutscenes, you will realise that EA has in fact, improved game models and player likenesses in this game. If you’re expecting a massive overhaul in this year’s game in terms of graphics, sadly you will be left disappointed on that front.
Verdict
EA FC 24 is an amalgamation of everything that the company has learnt over the years and without a doubt, it is the best football game you can buy right now. The game comes with enough game modes and content to keep you busy for an entire year but sadly, it doesn’t do away with some of the issues with player physics, the pay-to-win factor can spoil the fun in Ultimate Team, and overall FC 24 is not vastly different from last year’s game. Rounding off, I would say that FC 24 is fun to play and engages you like very few games out there can, but it is about time that EA works on its long-term issues and provides players with a more polished product.
Editor’s rating: 7.5 / 10
Pros
- Playstyles in Ultimate Team add authenticity
- Evolutions add a fun element to the game
- Player models are more realistic than ever
Cons
- Microtransactions are annoying
- Graphical glitches are still a thing
