EA Sports FC 26 review: A solid, if skippable, entry let down by ridiculous monetisation

In another, it must be a reflection of how much the game has changed since last year's iteration, how worthwhile it is to upgrade to.

Sadly, while the few tweaks EA Sports has made for this year's game are a step in the right direction, I can't help but feel that FC 26 is the most 'same as last year's game' the series has seen in many years.

Perhaps the biggest change is the introduction of Authentic and Competitive gameplay, two modes of play for two different audiences.

The always-online FUT maniacs get Competitive, a free-flowing, fast-paced mode that allows for the traditionally massive scorelines of 6-7 and the like.

Offline play, such as Career Mode, gets Authentic. This is slower, more realistic, and more calculated. Beyond the higher difficulty, you are forced to contend with variables such as a wet pitch or heavy wind.

On the face of it, this is an excellent idea – and it is – but its implementation fails to solve an issue that has plagued the game for many years, which is that pace means everything.

Whether I'm playing FUT, Career Mode or Kick-Off against my flatmate, the same strategy of hoofing through balls up to a pacy striker pays off in spades.

On the flip side, a rapid centre-back is almost a necessity to negate the same strategy when used by your opponents.

For all the talk of tactical fluidity and skill expression, it still feels as if no matter how you play, your best option is to load your team with speed, same as always. It's a good start, but needs some fundamental tweaks to really reach its potential.

In terms of smaller gameplay tweaks, the name of the game this year has been community feedback, though for much of these tweaks, I would argue the same has happened.

Dribbling and movement have been improved, as well as the accuracy of passing and shooting, all of which furthers the effectiveness of that through ball pacy striker routine from earlier.

My favourite change is to goalkeepers, who have been made more consistent. This is certainly something I've noticed more, with both my own and opposition keepers proving far more of a challenge to beat, and requiring a bit more thought – more of this please.

Now, as dour an evaluation as that may be, I do want to make clear that I still think the gameplay aspect of this year's game is pretty good. It's certainly an improvement on last year's game, and my only real gripe with it is that I wish some of the more fundamental issues had been dealt with.

Unfortunately, my main gripe with the game, as it is every year, is the money-grubbing FUT.

Again, there are a couple of nice tweaks to this year's game – Live Events add a new way to play that forces you to dig a bit deeper into your cards, using players you may not otherwise.

Thankfully, EA has finally also made some changes to disconnects, giving you a chance to earn a win if an opponent disconnects in more situations.

That is, unfortunately, the end of it, because beyond this, Ultimate Team remains a bit of a blight on the game.

In FUT, you are playing a game of catch-up unless you're willing to shell out quite frankly obscene amounts of money on Packs. It even feels as if Division Rivals and FUT Champs rewards have been slashed this year to facilitate this further.

I understand that this is the model that keeps the FC train rolling these days, but I can't help but feel that year on year, the actual quality of the mode and of the promos that were once so exciting falls, while the cost of competing rockets.

Even as recently as FIFA 19, I was able to comfortably compete right up to the end of the game's life span without spending a penny, handily making do with whatever players I had scrounged up from free packs.

In today's game, even from the very first day of early access, I am lagging behind, coming up against teams full of Mbappés, Bellinghams and ICONs – when the best way to improve at a game is by breaking out the credit card, that is a dire state of affairs.

So, what way to make an already bad situation even worse than with the introduction of a Season Pass?

That's right! In addition to the roughly £60 you spent on buying the game and any Packs you needed to get started, you also now have to shell out around £9 worth of FC Points to gain access to a new pass that includes unique player cards and even more of those Packs you need to play catch-up with.

It's a level of cost that would be hard to justify as an unobtrusive cosmetic-only addition – the likes of Overwatch and Call of Duty don't get away with it, after all.

But the fact that if you want to truly compete at the top of the game in FC, you have to repeatedly spend these large amounts of money on top of buying the game outright leaves a very bad taste in the mouth.

So, is FC 26 a good game? Well, as I said earlier, the very notion of working that out is a fruitless task.

As a standalone game, I do think FC 26 is pretty good. It builds upon the good foundations laid by last year's tactical overhaul, and the gameplay tweaks, however small, are positive. If you buy FC 26, you will enjoy FC 26.

But as a yearly sports release, I cannot in good faith say that FC 26 is a worthwhile improvement on last year's game. The changes really are so small that if you're only looking for a game to play with your mates or to dip in and out of Career Mode with, this certainly feels like a year worth skipping, and that's before even talking about the horrendous monetisation practices.

Unfortunately, the years of having faith that one day FC would return to its glorious early-to-mid-2010s heyday are over, and I do feel it's a shame that the hard work of many developers ends up tainted by these practices.

EA Sports FC in its current form is simply a machine that turns money into virtual cards, all of which will be gone next year anyway, and until something changes to curtail such a practice, we certainly aren't going to be getting anything else.

EA Sports FC 26 releases on 26th September 2025 for PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch consoles. We reviewed on PS5.

Check out more of our Gaming coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.