The new EA Sports title: two opposing game styles to satisfy all needs, but the Serie A remains aside. Yet some fans have been satisfied …
Reinventing the wheel has never been a prerogative of sports video games, annual productions launched after a few real months of development. They are titles that live on generational renewals and increasingly thin shades, added with the dropper to return the impression that, yes, this year there is that new thing that you just can’t miss. EA Sports FC 26 does not constitute an exception to the rule, and works of creativity to respond to some of the most lasting and so far unheard of the players’ requests.
competitive gameplay
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The largest innovation of EA Sports FC 26 is the possibility of choosing between two opposite game styles: competitive and realistic. The competitive mode is designed for those who play at Ultimate Team or Pro Clubs. Here the rhythm is fast, perhaps even beating the past editions, and rewards those who can hold it for longer. The impression is always that, if not signs on the counterattack, it does not signs: it is a continuous ping pong with imponderable results, in which the player who manages to put two consecutive attack actions wins. This year the feeling of sliding on the grass seems to be further acuit, instead of running in search of the lost friction. Especially in the first meetings there is a real need to train to stay behind the pass of others, something that not everyone evidently has time to do.
some more complexities
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FC 26 seems to propose some new nuances of complexity in the control, however: when you try to stop while you are running, it often happens to make that extra touch with the ball that parades away and ends up in the opponent’s availability. Despite a less realistic way it is a “human” control and, above all, disincentive the turns, historical plague of the series in which it has always seemed to prevail over any other move. And, speaking of humanity, the CPU seems more inclined to make mistakes in the door, where previously it was a sentence. In the current destination (but we expect changes already close to the launch), no matter how many arguments they impose themselves, how many physical medians line and how many defenses to three are proven. Sooner or later you always find yourself in the middle of an infirmable avalanche that arrives on you and you can’t give us anything: you will take goals. So, to date, the offensive game seems even more than usual on FUT. Structurally speaking, FUT is roughly the same, with the only significant introduction of the tournaments, which seem a bit of a return to the origins of the mode. Certainly, another step towards the “live service” component that aims to make us play all year round. From the first taste we had, it is still a high profile content, and it is therefore appropriate to arrive with a ready rose and a good minute in the legs.
realistic gameplay
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In contrast, the realistic mode is the basis of the career mode. The difference is palpable, and there is not necessarily a better or a worse. For a game with a friend we would use the competitive style, fresher and funny, but to start a career alone, realistic is a sensible choice (and similar to the target, moreover, to which the mode points). Breaking the defensive box of the opponents and finding the right key to be able to penetrate the defenses is always a delight. It is a type of experience that clearly recalls efootball or the era pes, but in this case we are not only talking about a slowdown in the action, which can be a little frustrating and was in the Konami title. Here is the whole package of players’ animations and the ball to support the new rhythm, which is consistent with the movements on the field and does not seem to fight with an artificial gravity. With the new way of playing every goal it matters, and even a very sweaty 1 to 0 gives satisfaction. And above all: it is no longer just a matter of speed, it is no longer Gervinho against everyone. The teams seem to be able to deploy and get back to the field, and to be able to neutralize threats giving value to multiple attributes (physical, geometries …). The cons is that sometimes you have the feeling of climbing along the field: when there is a sequence of passages and controls behind the door, the flow of action can become monotonous.
a challenging career
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The main novelty is that the career mode now has a subdivision to challenges, scenarios that have short, medium and long term objectives. A concept that we like because it gives a sense of purpose to a way that, over time, had become a simple “game until I bore”. The rewards are also appreciated: historical kits for your club, in addition to the points of the unified pass for all modes. At the interface level, the streamlining is evident, with a consequent improvement of navigation times. However, some strangeness remains. In the market, for example, by entering a player’s card we cannot make offers directly: we must follow it. And, when we follow a player, he does not enter a shortlist, but he must be added to the favorite list, under penalty of losing it forever. As if that were not enough, we are not even warned in real time when the observation bears fruit, showing us the attributes of our star. Negotiations can also be confused: the English standard requires weekly salaries, not annual, and so it was that for Lookman we burn the entire Juventus budget …
EA Sports FC 26, the verdict
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Whatever the mode chosen, you feel quite quickly how the game penalizes us strongly as soon as you detect a stronger team than the other: we felt almost helpless when we happened to arrange to get out of our half of the field, with the opponent ready to turn off our every attempt in the bud. A new era for the iconic momentum? Bizarre of the goal? To posterity … but it is right to close with a small positive note for Italian fans. A new Serie A plant was introduced, a little surprise, on the list of FC 26: the Diego Armando Maradona stadium, colored not only of ad hoc architecture and graphics, but even of the historic anthem of Napoli. If something gradually moves on the faces, the treatment of our maximum division remains, however, they compared the foreign championships: just three stages with the Allianz Stadium in Turin and the Bluenergy Stadium in Udine.
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