EA Sports FC 25’s Stumble Sets a High‑Stakes Test for FC 26

FC 25’s rough year and why this matters before FC 26

I’ve played FIFA/FC every season since the Xbox 360 days, and EA Sports FC 25 caught my attention because the community consensus wasn’t the usual “annual meh”-it was “worst in the series.” That’s not just review score drama. It’s a signal that the annualized sports machine finally hit a wall of player patience: clunky menus, thin-feeling gameplay, dated animations, and an AI that too often forgets it’s supposed to be playing football.

Key takeaways

• Rush mode is the one genuinely fresh idea-a faster, more arcade-leaning burst that actually feels new.
• The UI is the season’s biggest own goal: slow, touch-first menus that make Career and Ultimate Team a slog.
• On-pitch issues-robotic animations, reactive (not predictive) AI—make FC 25 feel stuck years behind.
• FC 26 (expected Sept 26) has to deliver a controller-first UI and smarter, more lifelike football on day one. No more band-aids.

Breaking down the FC 25 backlash

Let’s start with the interface, because it’s the first thing you fight every time you boot the game. FC 25’s menus feel built for a phone, not a controller—scrolling horizontally through nested lists with sluggish transitions. In modes where you live in menus—Career and Ultimate Team—that friction multiplies. Any franchise vet remembers FIFA entries where you could whip through scouting, squad roles, and tactics. Here, the basics take too many clicks. It’s death by UX.

Visuals are a mixed bag. Broadcast presentation took a step forward in places—the Premier League package looks slick and walkouts were reintroduced—yet player faces, off-pitch models, and a lot of animation work feel stuck. When you’ve watched this series since the Frostbite shift, you can spot reused animation loops from a mile away. The lack of fluidity between touches betrays the “next-gen” marketing and breaks immersion when you’re trying to build purposeful play.

The AI is where things unravel most. Too many matches boil down to predictable patterns: defenders over-commit or ball-watch, midfield shape collapses on counters, and CPU attackers don’t probe in ways that pressure your decision-making. The result isn’t “arcade fun,” it’s shallow. It’s the kind of simplified football that makes great goals feel accidental more than earned. If you’re into tactical mastery—pressing triggers, lane denial, rotational balance—FC 25 rarely meets you halfway.

The one bright spot: Rush mode

Credit where it’s due: Rush mode is a blast. Short, high-intensity matches that don’t pretend to be the Sunday broadcast—just quick, punchy football. It’s the first time in years I’ve felt EA prototyping something genuinely different within the series. The problem is that Rush feels like a spin-off success living inside a struggling main game, not the tide that lifts all boats.

What EA patched—and what still hurts

EA pushed post-launch updates that smoothed some stability and menu responsiveness, and made minor balance tweaks. Helpful? Yes. Transformative? No. The core problems—controller-first navigation, animation blending that sells first touch and body shape, and AI that understands space the way real players do—aren’t hotfix material. They need deeper work, the kind that usually arrives with an annual reset.

Career mode fans will tell you there are sparks of progress—clearer player roles, a touch more tactical flexibility—but bugs and the same sluggish UI kneecap the fun. Ultimate Team reorganized its menus horizontally, which does help, but it’s still an info-dense mode whose usability depends on load speed and clarity. When those lag, the grind feels worse.

Can FC 26 fix it? The must-deliver list for Sept 26

• Controller-first UI overhaul: Fewer layers, faster transitions, and predictable navigation. Career and FUT need speed, not flair.
• Smarter, braver AI: Defensive shape that recovers, intelligent pressing triggers, attacking runs that read your intent—not just ball physics.
• Animation refresh where it counts: First-touch variety, planting and momentum, and cleaner collision resolution to cut down on pinball scrambles.
• Career stability and tools: Robust training, scouting that matters, fewer menu bottlenecks. This is the single-player anchor—respect players’ time.
• Rush as a pillar, not a novelty: Give it progression hooks and custom lobbies so the “fun first” crowd sticks around.
• Performance parity: Consistent frame pacing across consoles, with responsive input the priority over cinematic gloss.

I’m cautiously optimistic because EA clearly heard the backlash. But history says believe execution, not promises. We’ve seen flashy buzzwords before—remember when new-tech branding was supposed to redefine realism? The bar now is tangible, feel-it-in-your-thumbsticks change, not a sizzle reel.

What gamers should do right now

• Still on FC 25? Lean into Rush for quick sessions, and use gameplay sliders in Career to add challenge and cut the arcade edges.
• Skip pre-orders for FC 26. Wait for day-one impressions and the first title update—this series often settles two patches in.
• If you’re a Career purist, hold for post-launch reports on UI speed and sim stability before committing a season save.
• FUT players: plan your grind. If menus are fixed, great—if not, consider whether the time sink is worth it this cycle.

TL;DR

FC 25 earned its backlash: painful menus, flat-feeling AI, and animations that undermine realism. Rush mode is the rare win, but it can’t carry the year. FC 26, expected Sept 26, has one job—make the core football smarter and the game faster to use. If EA nails that, trust can rebound; if not, the series stays stuck on the halfway line.