Preview: EA Sports FC 25 Promises a Different Kind of Rush on PS5, PS4

EA Sports FC 24’s transition away from FIFA did no harm to the Redwood juggernaut’s flagship football franchise, and you could argue the rebranding itself actually helped re-engage former fans who had previously fallen off. However, while the on-pitch action itself was fine, it wasn’t the revolution we were hoping for, delivering a solid enough soccer sim built on very familiar foundations.

After going hands-on with its successor EA Sports FC 25 on PS5, we’re feeling very much the same: refinement appears to be the order of the day this year, although there are some dramatic under-the-hood changes that could help shape the future of the franchise if they land. This is still FIFA 25 in all but name, then – but there are plenty of tweaks worth talking about.

Perhaps the biggest alteration this year is that street soccer mode Volta has been nixed, replaced by a new five-on-five format that spans the entire game. Rush is designed to be fast and expressive, where players are encouraged to get on the ball and use open space. Pitches have been rescaled to accommodate fewer players, giving you space to breakaway without feeling like you’ll get lost.

This comes with a variety of new rules, like the blue card which will see players sent to an ice hockey-esque sin bin for one minute if they commit a particularly egregious foul. Offside has also been adjusted to accommodate for the smaller pitch, with the rule only applying in the final thirds of the field, closest to each team’s goal.

EA Sports often insinuated that governing body FIFA’s obsession with 11-on-11 was restricting what it could do with the series, and this is perhaps the first example yet of it breaking away. We weren’t able to test Rush against other real-life opponents, but we can already see how online games will force you to work as a team, dynamically changing positions and using the ball effectively.

You’ll be able to play Rush across a multitude of different modes, from Kick Off through Ultimate Team. In the latter, it’s being pitched as a way to showcase the talent you’ve packed; you’re probably going to want to show off that spangly new Team of the Week Mo Salah you’ve got, for example, and now you’ll be able to in five-on-five matches with friends.

Rush also appears quite creatively in Career Mode, where you’ll now be able to play as your youth talent in smaller five-on-five matches. The idea, as pitched by the publisher, is to build a greater connection with your younger players. We suppose it’s going to feel that little bit more meaningful when 17-year-old Joe Bloggs makes his debut if you’ve been using him since he was 14.

The big change, though, is to tactics. A new system named FC IQ hopes to make you the armchair coach you’ve always aspired to be. This functions in conjunction with the PlayStyles mechanic introduced last year, which effectively augments standout athletes like Real Madrid’s Vini Jr and Manchester City’s Erling Haaland with perks, elevating them above the pack.

FC IQ is a complicated beast, but to boil it down into its fundamentals, it assigns tactical roles to players based on real-world Opta data which determines how they position themselves off-the-ball. An example would be Jude Bellingham’s ability to break into the box late and operate as a second striker, something he had success with during his debut season in La Liga.

The idea is to give greater depth and authenticity to the tactical side of the game. For instance, Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold is technically a right-back, but he’s deployed differently to, say, Paris Saint-Germain’s Achraf Hakimi. Alexander-Arnold will often join the midfield, spraying balls about with his outstanding passing; Hakimi, meanwhile, will try to stretch the defence by attacking down the side.

Both of these are viable ways of playing right-back, but they change the composition of their respective teams, and now EA Sports FC 25 is able to better represent that. Of course, all of this functionality and flexibility will also apply in Career Mode and Ultimate Team, where your team-building capabilities will be greatly enhanced as a result. You’ll even be able to share tactics online.

This push for realism is expanding to other areas of the release, too, where a new simulation mode is being added. This optional feature will only be available offline, but it’ll incorporate random elements such as wind speed, rain fall, and more. This will force you to think more strategically, as you perhaps consider playing hoof-ball when a soggy pitch is making it difficult to keep possession on the ground.

A new graphics option will also incorporate ray-tracing, self-shadowing, rim lighting, and more. You’ll be able to toggle off the Enhanced Visuals if you prefer, but all modes will target 60 frames-per-second, so you’re not missing anything by trying it out. An extra graphical flourish expanding on last year will also incorporate more first-person moments, like when a player steps up to take a free-kick.

We should mention that Career Mode is also adding in women’s football this year, and you’ll able to transition between jobs in both the men’s and women’s game as a manager. A new feature will also allow you to start Player Careers as Icons, although you’ll need to pre-order to lace up as David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, and R9.

Elsewhere, there’s a lot of refinement. Social media snoopster Fabrizio Romano has, perhaps unexpectedly, signed on to announce transfers you make in Career Mode, while Ultimate Team now includes some quality of life features, like the ability to send untradeable duplicates to their own folder for use in Squad Building Challenges.

But the core moment-to-moment football, from our admittedly slender hands-on, feels largely familiar. It’s that FC IQ, along with Rush mode, that’s going to deliver the biggest changes this year – and we’ll need to test out the full product before we can truly speak to how meaningful they are.

EA Sports FC 25 will officially launch on 27th September for PS5 and PS4, with Early Access available from 20th September. How’s your appetite for the soccer sim series these days? Will you be trying out the latest instalment? Do the Bellingham celebration in the comments section below.