EA Sports FC 27 Review: Is It Really Better Than FC 26?

Okay. I’ll start this review with an honest admission.

I haven’t been playing the FC series of games all that much over the past five or so years. The last version I got into was FC 25.

So, when I was asked to review EA Sports FC 27, I thought I’d start by doing what everyone else seems to be doing, and that is to ask AI what I should write.

I asked for a basic rundown of what’s different between EA SPORTS FCTM 27 and its predecessor, FC 26. This is what it came up with:

EA Sports FC 27 shifts the franchise’s focus from incremental graphical polish to giving players raw control, most notably by stripping away the safety nets of AI defending so that match outcomes rely entirely on individual user timing and positioning. While FC 26 leaned heavily on automated interceptions and wide defensive support, FC 27 forces players into tighter manual control while tightening attacking runs to curb unrealistic exploitation. Beyond the pitch, FC 27 fleshes out its ecosystem with The Grounds as an expanded social hub for small-sided play, deeper archetype-driven player progression in Career mode, and tweaked chemistry rules in Ultimate Team—all combining to deliver a much faster, higher-stakes, and demanding football sim than its predecessor.

So; with that in mind, I loaded up EA Sports FC 27 and went in ready for what it could deliver.

Now, it’s time for honest admission number 2. I didn’t really dig this game initially. Like I said, I hadn’t played the game in a while and from what I saw in this “new” version, I hadn’t seen that much of a change.

So, I did what you do and gave a few game modes a go.

I started with Ultimate Teams. It felt the same as always, as far as I could tell. I do bloody love how you have a mixed team, I think that’s awesome. It’s a good chance for someone like me who’s a bit time-poor to keep abreast of who the major stars are in both men’s and women’s s̶o̶c̶c̶e̶r̶ football.

So not a bad start. I did find that whole process of managing the team a little clunky as well, but that could very well be because I’m that old that my first s̶o̶c̶c̶e̶r̶ football game was way back on the Commodore 64 with International Soccer.

Yes, I’m that old.

So, I moved on from Virtual Teams and gave a few of the other modes a go.

I’ve always loved a s̶o̶c̶c̶e̶r̶ football game where you can play as a team in a league, and also run the backend operations like the transfer market at the like. One of my favourite memories is taking the default team you used to get in PES and take them all the way to glory.

I tried finding this within EA Sports FC 27 and there are numerous modes there, although nothing really blew my mind.

I ended up navigating towards simply “Kick Off” and just had a game. Now we’re talking. I didn’t manage to play the ol’ traditional coach versus against a human opponent, but I would reckon that would be an epic afternoon of fun. I will say, within that section was a game mode called “Mystery Ball” which was lots of fun. Basically, every time the ball goes out, a different multiplier is active on the ball. Scoring a goal suddenly becomes two goals, and so on and so forth. That would be EPIC as a couch versus.

I mucked around with a few different game modes, spending about three hours within the game. And this is where honest admission #3 comes into play.

I was going to bag out EA Sports FC 27. I’d spent enough time in there to come up with an opinion that it was a fairly lame step forward for the franchise.

However, before I sat down and started typing, I thought I’d better give Career Mode a go, focusing on building my own player.

Well, what can I say? I’m HOOKED!

It’s awesome. As a frustrated player of sports who always had dreams of making it professionally, this mode is literally the closest I will get to that dream and I’m ALL IN!

You ride the highs and lows of playing as a professional. I started out in the A-League as a striker with Perth Glory, and almost a full season in, I’ve had it all. From starring as a starter through to barely getting a game as a late sub.

It’s a roller coaster and you can’t help but be invested.

Funnily enough, I’ve found that your player doesn’t perform nearly as well when you play the game as the “team”, rather than your individual player. It feels to me that when you’re just controlling your own player, the AI controlling the rest of the team prioritise passes and the like to you… so you get a lot of the ball.

So – all in all, I’m really enjoying EA Sports FC 27, but I have a few suggestions that I’d like to offer up to EA Sports in the 0.01% chance an EP rep reads this.

Suggestion #1

I don’t know why EA Sports doesn’t put more emphasis on differentiating the competing teams with a clash strip. Look at this screen grab. The keeper is wearing exactly the same kit as the opposition team, confusing as the most confusing thing in the world.

Suggestion #2

This random glitch used to happen in FC 25 and two years later, they clearly haven’t fixed it. A gigantic scoreboard in the middle of the pitch.

Suggestion #3

I know s̶o̶c̶c̶e̶r̶ football is “the beautiful game” but this version is just too bloody nice. I played a whole season and saw, in total:

– 1 red card
– 3 yellow cards
– 1 penalty

That’s it.

Back in the day, there was a game called Kick Off and Kick Off 2 on the Amiga. Literally a game changer in the realm of s̶o̶c̶c̶e̶r̶ football games as from memory, it was the first game I’d seen with the action coming at you from the top down.

From memory, you’d go into a game and they’d tell you who the ref was. Each ref had their own personality and each one had a different likelihood of calling fouls on you. I LOVED THAT! It meant that in some games, you could take a few more risks and slide tackle, and in others, you wouldn’t dare. That’s personality in games and I’d love to see that in EA Sports FC 27.

They’re just three suggestions. I have a lot more if you’re interested EA Sports 😉

All in all, EA Sports FC 27 is a bloody good instalment in the ever running series. The graphics and presentation are solid, and there’s still plenty to keep football fans entertained.

But if you’re coming straight from FC 26, don’t expect a dramatically different experience.