Review: EA Sports FC 26 (PS5) – Flexible Football for Two Types of Players

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We suppose you could say EA Sports FC 26 is a game of two halves.

For a long time, virtual football fans have been divided: some want realistic gameplay that closely mirrors the real sport, while others prefer a quicker, more action-packed, arcade-style experience.

EA Sports’ solution? Authentic and Competitive presets which do genuinely change the game.

It’s great to see the publisher really understands who loves the older game – us hardcore players! We’re the ones who get completely lost in Manager mode, spending hours developing young players and searching for hidden gems in South America. They clearly know what we want!

The second option is designed for dedicated Ultimate Team players – those who constantly open packs and get frustrated when they just miss out on ranking up in Rivals.

You can play with the Competitive settings even when you’re offline if you like. However, the Authentic mode isn’t available online. While it might make sense to add Authentic to online play in the future, it’s not an option at this time.

We know that in past games, offline and online play have always been balanced separately. However, in this game, the Authentic and Competitive modes really do feel noticeably different – even for players who aren’t experts.

Competitive mode is significantly faster-paced than other game modes, and players are much quicker and can perform incredible actions.

Authentic FIFA features a more realistic pace of play and makes scoring chances harder to come by. The game is designed to reflect actual soccer data, so you can’t rely on unrealistic goals – even a great player like Harry Kane won’t score every header.

The Authentic preset is great because it makes each game feel a little different and unpredictable. Just like in real football, you’ll encounter challenging conditions like a slippery field or strong wind. This preset simulates those factors, which can force you to adapt your game plan.

As a fan, I’m really enjoying how much this year’s game encourages you to get hands-on and experiment. I decided to manage a random team from the South Korean K-League, and it’s been a blast trying to build something special with a team that isn’t necessarily full of superstars. It really makes you think and strategize!

Beyond the new preset options, the game’s developers have reworked how goalkeepers move, aiming to fix frustrating mistakes and unpredictable reactions. It will likely take several months of playing to see if these changes truly work, but so far, we haven’t experienced any major issues – which is a good sign!

Career mode plays much like it always has, but now includes unpredictable events happening off the field. While we don’t love dealing with things like vague social media updates and players being late to practice, these challenges are part of being a real manager, so they do make the experience more realistic.

The addition of a Season Pass is likely to be the most debated change this year, especially considering the game already features a lot of in-game purchases.

We’re disappointed that some popular Icons and Heroes, which can be used in Career mode, are now only available through the Premium Pass. This is especially frustrating because it costs money and currently forces players to play Ultimate Team to actually get anywhere with it.

Okay, so this game is part of a series that’s really pushing to make more money, and honestly, it feels kinda bad – like NBA 2K26. Basically, all the stuff I expect – the gacha mechanics and loot boxes – are back in Ultimate Team. You probably already know if you’re okay with that kind of thing or not.

This year’s Ultimate Team introduces Live Events, a new feature intended to encourage more strategic team building. The idea is to foster creativity throughout the season, moving away from the usual pattern of simply upgrading to more powerful players. However, we’ll have to wait and see how well it actually works in practice over the course of the year.

Gauntlets challenge you to really explore the variety in your card collection. You’ll play up to five separate matches, each using a different team composition. This encourages more thoughtful team building, and we appreciate the idea behind it.

Beyond the major updates, EA Sports FC 26 includes many smaller improvements across the game. These changes will likely be most appreciated by players who are already very familiar with the previous version.

The latest update introduces new Archetypes to enhance Player Careers and Clubs. While we don’t often play the Clubs mode ourselves, we expect our fans will enjoy these improvements.

Overall, the presentation is still excellent. Although the commentary needs improvement, the exciting atmosphere of each match really draws you in. Our main issue with this version is that the menus for Ultimate Team seem less user-friendly than before.

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2025-09-24 02:07