EA Sports FC 27 arrives with the familiar annual question: Is there enough in here to justify a new purchase?
After spending plenty of time with this year’s game across its full suite of modes, my answer is somewhere in the middle. There are some genuinely meaningful changes here, particularly to defending, attacking movement, and Career Mode, while The Grounds finally gives the series something fresh after so long.
However, there is another side to FC27 that is hard to ignore. For every excellent gameplay moment, there seems to be a weird animation, questionable decision, or glitch waiting around the corner.
And some of these bugs are quite bizarre.
Graphics and Gameplay
As always, the visuals are fantastic. Stadiums are packed with detail, lighting is excellent, and the broadcast presentation remains one of the strongest parts of the package.
Player likenesses aren’t universally perfect- erm, look at Antonin Kinsky and tell me that is an accurate face scan- however, on the whole, they are pretty well done (I still haven’t checked to see if Brennan Johnson still has an afro, something he hasn’t had in about 5 years).
The atmosphere is also excellent. Chants, tifos, crowd reactions, and matchday presentation help make big fixtures feel genuinely important.
The biggest improvement is on the pitch, though. Defending feels considerably more manual than before. Rather than relying heavily on the AI to cover gaps, I found myself having to concentrate on positioning, switching, and anticipating passes.
That makes mistakes feel more self-inflicted. When I switched a defender half a second too late, the opposition could punish me. When I anticipated a through ball spot on, there was a sense of satisfaction in that moment.
Attacking has also benefited from improved teammate movement, more control over set pieces, and changes to passing. Through balls in particular require more precision, while the improved attacking runs encourage you to actually build attacks rather than simply looking for the fastest route to goal.
It is not perfect, though. There are still moments where players seem strangely slow to react, particularly when changing direction, and I experienced occasional input delay that made passing and shooting feel a fraction behind the controller.
Career Mode
Career Mode has seen the biggest revamp in EA Sports FC 27. The new transfer system is a significant improvement, with negotiations feeling more involved and player values, form, and development having greater importance. Dynamic ratings give players more of a sense of progression, while the new challenges and events help break up the routine of simply playing match after match.
There is more to manage, but it doesn’t feel like needless busywork.
The problem is that Career Mode is also where some of FC 27‘s launch issues become particularly obvious.
I encountered players behaving strangely around squad selection and morale, with the community also reporting players requesting transfers despite regular game time, unexpected transfer requests, inconsistent loan behaviour, and players remaining in squads despite completing moves away.
The Grounds
The Grounds is EA’s big new addition and is the equivalent to what NBA 2K have with The City.
It is essentially a social football playground, combining different locations, mini-games, rush matches, and clubs into one open-world environment.
There is something quite fun about simply wandering around, jumping into a different activity, and playing football without the pressure of a traditional match.
The problem is that the novelty wears off.
Once you’ve seen the environments and played the mini-games a few times, there isn’t quite enough depth to keep bringing you back. This feels like a good foundation for something more that is either to come later in this game’s lifecycle or in next year’s title.
Ultimate Team
Ultimate Team will always remain at the heart of any FC title.
The new gallery mode is a nice addition, giving the collecting of these virtual cards a little more purpose beyond simply building the strongest possible squad. Squad-building challenges are also easier to understand, while the additional objectives give you more reasons to keep playing.
The fundamental issue hasn’t changed, though. In my first game of Rivals and in Division 6, I faced a team that already had Virgil Van Dijk, Allison, and Jude Bellingham, compared to me who had Pedro Porro, Murillo, and Savio. Ultimate Team will always benefit those that can pump silly amounts of real world money into the game. When you see the amount of FC Points that streamers are spending and normalising that behaviour, you fear for how much the average person spends.
What I will say is that the promised slower power curve from last year seems to have finally been implemented, as we have promo cards that aren’t much better than the normal versions without a silly amount of PS+, and there aren’t wild evolutions available that break the game early on.
If you already love Ultimate Team, then FC 27 gives you plenty of reasons to keep playing. If you are tired of the grind, packs, and constant pursuit of better cards, very little here fundamentally changes that relationship.
It remains hugely addictive, hugely polished, and incredibly difficult to ignore if Ultimate Team is your preferred mode.
Glitches Galore
This is where my FC 27 experience became genuinely strange.
I’ve encountered the usual collection of football-game oddities: Players getting caught in animations, strange collisions, questionable goalkeeper reactions, and moments where players simply don’t seem to know what they are supposed to be doing.
But the most ridiculous glitches involve character models.
At various points, I encountered female managers appearing in just their bra and pants rather than their intended managerial outfit.
It sounds like something that couldn’t have passed testing, yet it happened. This isn’t just something I’ve noticed either. Players have reported female players and managers appearing in their underwear during dressing room scenes, on the pitch, and during celebrations. EA has acknowledged an issue involving manager outfits failing to appear correctly during certain match cinematics and said it would be fixed soon.
The commentary has its own issues. I’ve had instances where commentary referred to female players using male pronouns, with lines calling a female player “him” despite the player clearly being a woman.
Again, it’s not something that ruins a match, but it does destroy the immersion that EA has worked so hard to create.
Conclusion
EA Sports FC 27 is frustrating because I can see how good it could be.
The football itself is better. Defending rewards actual control, attacking movement feels more intelligent, and Career Mode has received some of the most meaningful attention the series has had in years.
The Grounds is a promising experiment rather than an essential new mode, while Ultimate Team continues doing exactly what it has always done.
But FC 27 also feels like a game that needed another month in the oven. The glitches aren’t simply funny one-off moments. The bizarre female manager outfit issue, incorrect commentary pronouns, broken animations, Career Mode quirks, and some other technical issues chip away at the immersion.
And that’s the strange thing about FC 27, when everything works, it is probably the best football EA has produced in several years.
When it doesn’t, you can find yourself laughing at a manager walking into a post-match scene wearing nothing but their underwear model while the commentator calls your female striker “him”.
That’s EA Sports FC 27 in a nutshell: brilliant football surrounded by a surprising amount of chaos.
Developer: EA Vancouver
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Platforms: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PC, Amazon Luna
Release Date: 25th September 2026
