It goes without saying that reviewing EA Sports FC 26 feels like a review I have written several times before. Each year, these games are released, and there is a general discussion on whether the improvements made are worth the price of admission.
This year is slightly different as EA have framed this game as the one the community has been asking for.
This is evident in most of the trailers posted by the developer. Now, you want to know whether this has actually been done, or if it’s one of those marketing buzzwords to convince you that something has actually changed.
Well, this review will hopefully answer that.
The Cash Cow- Ultimate Team
Trying to figure out what has changed is actually quite tricky. The overarching change is the introduction of two new gameplay styles: Competitive and Authentic.
The Competitive gameplay style is used in Pro Clubs and Ultimate Team, while Authentic is used in Career Mode and Kick-Off.
This allows developers to make tweaks to either gameplay style without affecting the other, which is a significant improvement as it’ll help keep both audiences happy (in theory). I definitely put more time into Ultimate Team than any other mode as it is the one that receives the constant updates.
The biggest Ultimate Team promise is that the developers were going to slow down the power curve. Last year, the number of promo cards included in packs was unbelievable. If you missed, say, a couple of weeks of the game, you’d be behind the power curve, and it just made it feel like an almost never-ending grind.
We have already had the first promo, Cornerstones, which significantly boosted the ratings of some low-rated players, while those of the higher-rated ones have changed only slightly. Yes, this is good, but it will be interesting to see what happens with further promos.
This all sounds like they are sticking to their promises. Still, by day two and three of the early access period, there were so many promotional packs that in matches, I was facing all the highest-rated players that are currently available. This indicates that while the power curve may be slowing down, the pay-to-win aspects will remain unchanged.
As we write this review, the new gauntlet mode has dropped, and while it’s a nice distraction, it lasts no more than an hour, and then you have to wait 24 hours to give it another go. It will be interesting to see how this mode evolves throughout the year and what rewards get dropped alongside it.
Career Mode and Pro Clubs- The Forgotten Modes
Now, onto the parts that often seem neglected: Career Mode and Pro Clubs.
The menus of Career Mode look nearly identical to those of last year, which is no real surprise. Similarly, I couldn’t notice anything that tangibly changed how I played the mode compared to last year, off the pitch.
The biggest change, as previously mentioned in the Ultimate Team section, is the actual gameplay. Last year, too many games ended with cricket scores because the gameplay was tuned for the arcadey style of Ultimate. In FC 26, the authentic gameplay aims to replicate the speed of a real game.
Dribbling feels perfect, and every game does feel like you are fighting for every point, no matter which team you are playing as or who you are facing.
I selected my beloved Tottenham Hotspur as my team in Career Mode and aimed to improve on our 17th-place finish in the Premier League from the previous season. While signing unrealistic transfer targets is still a thing, I found each game to be an actual challenge on both Legendary and Ultimate difficulty. I am disappointed that the mode is neglected off the pitch, but with yearly releases, I didn’t really expect anything different.
Again, Pro Clubs is in a similar boat. Unfortunately, the friends I formed a club with last year did not have the game yet, so I had just played drop-in matches, and they went as iffy as you would expect.
The most notable change to Pro Clubs is the way you develop your pro. There is the Archetype system. This system allows you to model your pro’s development on some of the greats of the game, which is a fun change of pace, but if you are anything like me, this might be ignored while you recreate some of the classic Barclaysmen from the golden era of the Premier League.
Other Modes and Tweaks
There is the addition of Career Mode scenarios, where you have specific objectives to achieve in each scenario, like being top of the league at Christmas, for example. Think the GM scenarios in the NBA 2K series, and you are on the right lines.
Where EA Sports FC 26 Goes Wrong
While this game is a marked improvement, there are still areas where it falls short.
The pay-to-win aspects of Ultimate Team are as prevalent as ever, and I do worry that by the time Team of the Year comes around in January, EA will abandon the promise to keep the power curve down to sell packs.
In terms of graphics, and again, similar to what I said in my NBA 2K26 review, they are as good as they are ever going to get, until the PS6 or Xbox (whatever it’s called) comes around.
The nearly identical menus don’t really help, and it’s telling that when my partner watched me play FC 26, she didn’t even know the new one had been released.
Conclusion
There are probably enough tweaks in this game to make it worthy of a purchase for those die-hard football fans out there.
The annual Ultimate Team reset is likely to last longer with EA’s promises, but that remains to be seen as time passes.
The split between the two styles of gameplay, I think, is the best for the game and hopefully will keep both camps happy going forward.
The cynic will say that this game does not do anything revolutionary to convert non-fans, and I have to agree, but if you have not picked up one of these games since the rebrand to FC a few years back, then this is the best time to jump on board.
Developer: EA Romania, EA Vancouver
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Platforms: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PC, Amazon Luna
Release Date: 26th September 2025
