EA Sports FC 25 First Impressions: How will Rush and FC IQ improve the EA Sports FC formula?

The FIFA series made the move last year to become EA Sports FC after the developers and the football organisation went their separate ways. But EA Sports FC 24 wasn't quite the revolution that many gamers had hoped for. The feeling has been that not much has happened in a few years and that the series is mostly stuck in the same place. This is something that EA now wants to change. At the FC 25 Producer Showcase in Vancouver, we heard a lot about what this year's title will be about and the hopes are that two main developments will kickstart the series for real: Rush and FC IQ.

According to producer Sam Rivera, EA wanted to introduce a new social experience in EA Sports FC 25, something that made games like Fortnite so popular. In the past there hasn't really been anything like that to be found, except in Clubs where it's 11v11. The result is Rush. It is 4v4 with a computer controlled goalkeeper and will be available in all game modes. Online there will always be four real players whether you play with your friends or end up with a random group, and it is also possible to play by yourself offline. They call this "the most exciting and engaging social experience that we have ever created". But this sounds a lot like Volta. EA has chosen to completely remove Volta this year, but this is not a replacement but a completely new experience.

"I want to clarify this right away. The Rush experience is not like Volta. After community feedback, we've decided to remove Volta from FC 25. But we know we want a social gaming experience and that's why we're introducing Rush. It's built on key principles that create a unique experience," said Rivera, who also added that the reason it's being added to all current game modes is that they want to breathe new life into the game modes with a new gameplay experience.

Unlike Volta, which offered flashy street football similar to the FIFA Street series, Rush is built on existing 11v11 gameplay. Basically, it's full-size football scaled down to 4v4 (plus goalkeeper) with the same movements and behaviours.

"Why? We want to keep the depth and balance that we have achieved over the last 15 years. It takes time to polish and balance the experience to create a fun environment, so we're not going to try to reinvent the wheel. This applies to basic mechanics like passing, dribbling, shooting, and goalkeeping."

If you've played any online sports game in a team, you know that you're almost always forced to choose a position. Do you want to be a centre back? Or maybe outside midfielder? In Rush, this is gone and everyone can be exactly where they want on the pitch. Communication is the key to success. If you don't have a microphone and headphones there are instant messages to send that only your team sees. For example, if you want the ball, you can press the pass button and a speech bubble with "Pass" will appear above your player.

Of course, with a new game mode comes special features. Rush offers blue cards instead of red and a sprint to be first to the ball on kick-off. If you play badly enough to get a blue card, you will be sent off for one minute. You will then have to kindly stand on the sidelines until that minute is up. Should you also incur a penalty, it is similar to a hockey penalty. It's 1v1 against the goalkeeper, but all other players start further back and can start running when the penalty taker does. There are also offsides, but instead of applying from the centre line, these now apply from the final third. On the kick-off, everyone starts from this offside line and the ball is rolled in from the touchline, and it's important to communicate who is sprinting to the ball and who is staying and defending. Matches are seven minutes long with time stopping each time the ball is not in play. We got to play two matches and the feeling is that it's definitely an improvement from Volta and it's something that the series has really been missing.

The other word EA really wants to hammer into players is FC IQ. After introducing Hypermotion V in FIFA 22 to improve the realism and movement of players and Playstyles last year to make players feel special with specific traits and personalities, this year the focus is on tactics. It's supposed to be "the most significant change to tactics in over a decade". Part of this is player roles. This will guide how each player thinks and behaves on the pitch, resulting in more genuine tactical intelligence and movement without the ball. There are 50 roles and each player has one, and to assign roles to players, EA created an AI model that has analysed real data from sports analytics company Opta from recent seasons. Some positions share player roles, such as central midfielders and attacking midfielders who both have 'playmaker'. However, these will work completely differently when the player does not have the ball.

In one clip shown, one team had control of the ball. In attack, a fullback with the role of 'falseback' had positioned himself quite centrally on the pitch. Behind him, between the centre backs, was a defensive midfielder with the role of 'centre half'. In the position where the full-back usually is, there was an inside midfielder with the role of 'half-winger'. The other full-back was almost in line with the forwards with his attacking wingback. And in the centre, an attacking midfielder with a shadow striker flew into the attacking penalty area. After the static line-ups of recent years, it's exciting to see how this will affect the game experience and a meta that tends to be locked into one thing, something we asked Rivera about.

Every year there seems to be some kind of meta. Last year there was a lot of running down the line, passing diagonally backwards, and shooting. How do you now try to make a game that doesn't just fit one style of play?

"When we designed FC IQ, we had in mind a lot of this feedback. And that's why there will be a lot more tactical variation, so you can prevent this with the new FC IQ. So, we wanted to give you guys more control over how this meta will be during the year. So, that was one of the goals. Even with the FC IQ, there's still an opportunity for us to continue to develop and give you guys maybe more roles, more tools to do more things in these situations. There's more that can be done, but that's the basis, a new approach to tactics."

Each player role will have one to three focuses and players may have different familiarity with these, but it's the base role that means they can play in that position. An example is Vini Jr. with "winger". Everyone also has a Role+, Vini Jr. has "poacher" here. Then there are also Role++ that only the absolute best players have. Vini Jr. has this as "inside forward".

All of this sounds great, of course, but it wouldn't matter if the different game modes weren't improved. Take Career Mode for example, one of the most classic game modes in sports games. For a long time, it has hardly been updated at all, something that finally seems to be changing. "The biggest update in years", as they call it. The first thing that was brought up was that there will now be something called "live start points". This means you can go into Career Mode at any point during the year and jump straight into how the standings are in the league at that moment. For example, you can take over a top club in the hectic final weeks of the season. Or play as a striker just back from injury and save your team from relegation.

"Fresh content throughout the year, that's the key. Historically, the Career Mode has been launched on day one and then doesn't change. Now we're going to look at the world of football for all 12 months and see the stories that take place in the real world," said Pete O'Donnell, the game's design director.

The second part of the live updated seasons is something called "Snapshots". These are scenarios that take place during the season and will be added throughout the year. It could be that a team has sacked its coach and you are now trying to keep the ship afloat. Examples from last season could have been Jadon Sancho going back to Dortmund, so you could have played as him for the rest of the season and tried to win the Champions League and Bundesliga with him. If you just want to play the classic game mode, there are new things there too, and one of the biggest is that you can now play with female teams and players. Last year they were added to Ultimate Team and now to Career Mode. So far there are only five leagues, something that will hopefully be expanded next year. But if you want to pretend to be Arsenal coach Jonas Eidevall, you can.

The next is a new system for the Youth Academy. Here you can see how your players grow physically every year and actually look like teenagers, meaning no more 14-year-olds with full-grown beards. When they're called up to the senior team, they'll get their adult look and this is where Rush comes back into the equation. Every two months there will be youth tournaments where you can play three games in this 4v4 mode. Win and the players get a boost. You can play with their current ability or with a potential ability as an adult player, and if you feel you'd rather play as a customised player, there's the option to use background stories as a starting point. For example, you may have grown up in a successful football family or you may be trying to recover from an injury that threatened to end your career. This affects the personality and characteristics of your player.

Over in the cash cow Ultimate Team there are changes, but perhaps not as many as we would have liked to see. Most of the game modes are largely unchanged with the major difference being that you now unlock prizes for both Ultimate Team and Clubs as you progress past the various milestones throughout the seasons. Rush is available here as a game mode, but without a specific ranking system. You will be able to select a player you have in your set of player cards and play with others doing the same. Some events may have restrictions, like only having players from LaLiga. Following feedback, there will now be storage for up to 100 duplicates that you get from your purchased card packs and the evolution system will be expanded.

"We've heard from fans that they've been clamouring for FUT to be more social. And we think Rush is the perfect solution," said producer Karthik Venkateshan.

In the last major game mode, Clubs, probably the biggest news is that relegation is back. Lose enough games and you'll be forced to play a relegation match against another team. Win and stay up, lose and go down a division. A new social hub called the Clubhouse has been added and the club owner can decorate the stadium, changing room, and more. In addition, there is a facilities budget that provides various bonuses. Do you think your team is too weak? Spend all your money on a gym that will give you a big boost in strength. All teams start with the same budget, but successful clubs naturally earn more.

But none of this matters if it doesn't work on the pitch. To make sure it does, EA has looked to improve players' running styles. Last year they were only matched to the upper body, but in EA Sports FC 25 the whole body has now been included in players' running, which is obviously a big improvement. This will be used on around 1,800 players, including 200 women. Feel like a player is running a little too fast? Then you're in luck, because something that's been added is a so-called tactical cancellation. You often see this in real football and it's when you need to cause havoc for your opponent by simply pulling them down by their shirt or simply extending your leg, resulting in a yellow card. This can be useful when the opponent uses the improved dribbling control with the left stick, as a 180-degree turn looked much smoother in one example they showed.

The passing mechanics are also something they've looked at and tried to redo. For example, when you hit a blind pass 180-degrees to where you are facing, in FC 24 this was no problem at all regardless of player. This year, there will be a significantly greater risk that this pass will not end up where you wanted to hit it at all. Better players, like Luka Modrić, will have more success hitting passes under pressure than a beefy centre back. If you're a dribbler rather than a passer, five new dribbles have been added specifically for you.

When it comes to the graphics, there will be a new weather system when playing offline with different wind speeds and weather conditions. This affects how the ball flies, how hair blows, and that a player can slip if it's wet. The latter is something that fans in the improved stadiums will certainly enjoy, as they'll react dynamically to what's happening on the pitch and, if you're lucky, you might see some of the added mascots. And this will be done in 4K at 60 FPS. A new graphics mode is introduced where you can choose between "enhanced visuals" with improved graphics and lighting in upscaled 4K. In addition, Ray-Tracing will be available in the series for the first time, as will dynamic light for the time of day. The first half might be played on a bright afternoon while the sun starts to set during the second half.

"This is the most innovative, most ambitious title yet," said Rivera.

If it lives up to this, we will be able to see on September 27 when EA Sports FC 25 is released. Early Access will be a week earlier for players who purchased any of the versions that include this.