EA Sports FC 27 Preview: Our complete hands-on thoughts after visiting EA Vancouver

Many of the players interested in what EA Sports FC 27 has to offer have no doubt already seen one of the trailers that have been released. If you're one of those who haven't, or if you'd like to know even more, I'll be summarising all the news the developers have shared here. You'll also find quotes taken directly from the interviews I conducted with the developers during the preview event we attended in Vancouver, as well as my impressions of the gameplay from the roughly two hours I spent playing the game.

Gameplay

Let's start with the most important aspect of a football game: how it feels to play football. I was one of those who enjoyed the feel of the game when EA Sports FC 26 was released. For example, it was harder to defend as you couldn't just let the computer-controlled defenders do the work, and the ball didn't bounce back to the attackers after tackles. After just a week or so, EA had "listened to feedback" and patched everything that was good, reverting to how it was in previous editions, and suddenly it wasn't the same experience anymore. That's why I don't want to be too optimistic about what they've announced for this year. What's there is good, and during the hour I spent playing against the computer I could see the difference, but I'm reminded of the English saying: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." Am I supposed to get excited again, only to have it snatched away a few weeks after launch?

Well then, let me outline the changes we'll actually see when the game is released. They've once again "listened to players" and made the AI defence weaker, whilst manual defence has become stronger. What this essentially means is AI-controlled players won't make certain tackles and have a shorter reach when it comes to intercepting passes. Manually controlled defenders, on the other hand, will make stronger tackles and have a better chance of intercepting passes. The AI will still win the ball if you run straight into them, but will almost never make tackles of its own accord. That's good, as it became very tiresome playing against people who just controlled the defensive midfielder and then let the computer control all the defenders.

On the flip side, we have improved running patterns in the attacking play. The developers seem to have grown tired of so-called "trigger runs", where you press L1/LB to make a teammate run straight ahead. Whilst these are still possible, the player will now only run 10-15 metres instead of running straight ahead indefinitely. This was precisely something that producer Sam Rivera mentioned in our interview.

"There's one thing you shouldn't do. That's trigger runs. Many players are used to doing these, but now you'll see the different types of runs. Just wait for the AI, just watch the AI, see what runs they make and then try to focus on that..."

The developers have made AI-controlled forwards smarter at finding open spaces, and they make runs of their own even if you don't press any buttons, plus they take more curved running paths to find space and avoid running offside, rather than just running straight ahead. During my brief test period, this actually worked quite well. The difference compared to before is you now need to be more patient and hold onto the ball longer for your teammates to find space. It remains to be seen, however, just how significant the difference in success is against other players compared to computer-controlled teams. The question that immediately springs to mind for many is something along the lines of this: "If defensive play deteriorates and attacking play improves, isn't there a high risk that we'll see basketball-style scores in every match?" This is something I asked.

"We're making AI defence less powerful, but we're making manual defence more powerful. It's a way for us to strike a balance when creating a new game. Another thing that's changing is cut-ins. They're now more manual, so this also benefits defenders as they can see where to intercept cut-ins that aren't perfect or aren't aimed correctly. We're also making jockeying - which is on the defensive side - faster. The new balance is something we'll be keeping an eye on. It's very difficult to predict what will happen, because, as you say, it's not good if there are too many goals, but if there are too few goals, that's also a problem. So finding the balance in the middle is what we're looking at right now", said designer Gilliard Lopes.

Another new feature is a two-part corner routine. Previously, you simply pressed one button to kick the ball and another to head it with a player who ran automatically. Now you take the corner as normal, but before the ball is kicked, you switch to a striker and run with that player to get to the ball before the opposition. It's not as easy as it sounds to get the timing right, although I did manage to pull off a volley with Harry Kane.

Other changes we'll see include defenders holding onto the ball after winning it rather than it bouncing back, improved one-two play, crosses finding open spaces, and a mechanic where players with the best ball control can retain possession even if they lose their balance, as well as player attribute scores now having a greater impact compared to Playstyles. I'm cautiously optimistic about these changes. From the little I've tested, it looked good, but it'll surely make a big difference once I've clocked up hundreds of hours playing against other, real players. Now I'm keeping my fingers crossed EA doesn't release a major patch and revert everything to FC 26 again.

The Grounds: The new open-world game mode focused on Clubs

I've already written a more detailed preview of The Grounds, which you can (and should) read, but I'll go through it briefly here as well.

If you've played the NBA 2K series at any point in recent years, you'll recognise the concept straight away. Put simply, it's an online hub designed as an open-world where you can run around, use emotes, show off your newly purchased outfits, and above all, find your way to different match types. The idea from EA Sports is this will also become the new way you experience Clubs, the game mode where you team up with friends to form your own club and play against other clubs online. You'll now be able to represent your club colours in various types of matches where you don't even need to play alongside your teammates. You'll be able to jump into, for example, a 3v3 match with unknown teammates via drop-in, whilst still contributing to the goals required for various missions. You'll also be able to play 11v11 matches.

You can also jump straight in as a solo player in various types of 1-on-1, 2-on-2, 3-on-3 matches, and the Rush mode from recent years. During our hour (which is a very short time to form any opinions) we got to try out a 2-on-2 mode with different rules for scoring goals. Each rule lasts one minute, and I noticed, amongst other things, that you have to score whilst the ball is in the air, with a direct shot where the ball must hit a target inside the goal to count, or where the ball must pass through a slalom gate, and so on. It gets particularly tricky as you have to aim the shots manually, so don't expect any help from the game.

During my hour with the mode, which is far too short to properly evaluate it, I managed to try out 2-on-2 with specific rules for scoring goals (such as the ball having to be in the air when the shot is taken, one of the goalposts having to be hit, or the shot having to pass through a slalom gate), 3-on-3 with smaller goals (the sort you can buy to put in the garden for your children), Balloon Ball (which is somewhat like dodgeball) where it's everyone against everyone with four players. If you hit a player with a shot, they lose one of their three lives (balloons). I also got to try out a basketball-style game mode where you score by lob-shooting the ball into a basket, as well as a sort of obstacle course. The thought I had during my previous preview, and still have, is how the developers intend to keep players interested in this. It's obviously a really fun addition and many will enjoy it, but how long will it be before players find it repetitive?

"The intention is to rotate the 'party games', as you call them (Balloon Ball, obstacle course, etc.). The current plan is to do this every season, but we'll have to see how quickly players want new content. We'll also be tweaking the levels, scoring, and rules of the existing ones - such as introducing new obstacle courses. We want to keep 2v2, 3v3, and Rush as constant as possible."

The player upgrade system works by you choosing an archetype and then unlocking stat bonuses by levelling up or by equipping a special boost. You can have three of these at the same time. These can be general or based on specific real-life players. They are then available for a certain number of matches before they disappear, however, the bonus for levelling up remains permanently across all archetypes. So if you start as a "finisher" and reach level ten, you'll unlock a +1 in "finishing" and a +1 in "composure", which will remain even if you switch to a different archetype. The temporary boosters can be earned through various missions or simply by purchasing them.

Ultimate Team

Always controversial, always popular. Ultimate Team has been a feature of FIFA and EA Sports FC for many years now and is a staple of every annual release, but what has actually been done to improve the experience? Quite a bit, it turns out. Whether you personally think it's for you or not is another matter entirely.

To begin with, something they call the FUT Gallery is one of the major new features. This is a sort of card collection where all the player cards you've ever owned will be stored. The idea is you can then create collections with these cards to unlock various items. Let's say you've got Alexander Isak from a card pack. He can then be included in all three collections: Sweden, Liverpool, and the Premier League. A player can be used multiple times, and you don't even need to have that player in your squad anymore, as players you've sold or redeemed in an SBC are still in your collection. You can then use these to unlock club badges, shirts, and other items. Unfortunately, there are no specific players linked to each collection, but these provide tokens that can then be redeemed for new Hall of FUT players. This is a completely new category of players comprising old FUT favourites who haven't reached the level of a Hero or Legend, where some examples include Marouane Fellaini, Adebayo Akinfenwa, and Loïc Rémy.

Good news for players who don't enjoy playing online is live events can now also be played solo against the AI. These will mirror events played against other players or even stand alone. They may include tournaments where you get to play against real team line-ups and tactics in a tournament format. Some events will also require specific themes so that you can use more players from your club rather than just the same starting eleven all the time.

The other three features they're highlighting are designed to make the experience more accessible. Tokens, which were introduced in the final phase of FC 26, are back and now available right from the start, and can be earned from most game modes. The SBC system has been revamped, and you can now complete a challenge by reaching a specific points total. The way this works is that each player is worth a certain number of points, with better cards being worth more; Mbappé's gold card is worth 10,000 points, whilst Kenan Yıldız is worth 85 points. Each challenge then has a target you must reach, so you can now choose between redeeming a few high-quality players or a whole host of, for example, bronze cards. They have therefore moved away from the requirement to redeem X number of cards with 83, 84, 85, etc. in attribute points. However, the old system will remain in place for certain puzzle SBCs, whilst the new one is being introduced to, for example, Player of the Month and event SBCs.

Finally, we come to the system that many love and others hate: Evolutions. Personally, I'm in the former camp, as I can create my own Swedish team that's actually of a decent standard. At the same time, EA acknowledges they may have got it a bit wrong with FC 26. Many feel most Evolutions were too powerful that new players introduced in events didn't seem interesting, as they simply wouldn't fit into your team (there will be five fewer weeks of campaigns this year).

"It's an important issue because there are many different preferences. There are players for whom Evolutions are, sort of, the reason they play Ultimate Team. It's a very popular feature, and we want to make sure that for these players there will still be an enticing and exciting hunt, but we want to ensure we recalibrate the balance. We believe that what happened in FC 26 was that evolutions were consistently producing very powerful players, to the extent that you could essentially build an entire team from them. So what's going to happen is evolutions will be toned down in terms of power overall, but that doesn't mean evolutions can't produce powerful players", said product manager Jamey Cane.

Some evolutions will now also be split into different branches, meaning instead of being locked into the same upgrade as everyone else, you'll be able to choose which upgrade you want. We've seen an example where you can choose between the position of left-wing midfielder, with +5 in dribbling, +3 in running speed, and a technical playing style; or the position of left-back, with +5 in defensive awareness, +3 in acceleration, and the "jockey" playing style. This will hopefully lead to more varied team builds.

Career Mode

Finally, we've reached Career Mode, the feature that used to reign supreme in sports games before Ultimate Team came along. Unfortunately, there isn't quite as much news to report here, but there are still a few things worth mentioning.

The first is a revamped transfer system where EA has teamed up with TransferRoom, the player valuation platform used by real clubs for transfers. This means players' values evolve over the course of their careers and are adjusted based on market changes across multiple seasons, rather than being static. The value is derived from factors such as a player's form and the strength of their current league. Transfers themselves will also no longer be finalised in a single conversation but will unfold over a longer period. It begins with an enquiry to the other club; after a short wait, a reply will arrive, and you can then start negotiating a contract with the player. But it's not over just because you've sent a contract proposal as interest from other clubs may mean the club or the player wants better terms from you. It's now also possible to include bonuses and clauses in the contract, along with the option to loan the player back to the selling club or to pay the player in instalments rather than the full amount at once.

Gone are the tedious cutscenes when talking to players and managers as instead, everything is handled on a single screen. Transfers will be easier between clubs with a good relationship, such as Chelsea and Strasbourg, but may be refused if they're between rivals, such as Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid.

The other major new feature is dynamic player attribute scores. Instead of having fixed attribute scores, these can fluctuate throughout the season depending on current form, injuries, playing time, confidence, fitness, and other factors. Furthermore, specific player attributes are affected. A striker who has scored many goals will receive a bonus to their shooting attributes, whilst a player who has just returned from a leg injury will have penalties applied to both speed and fitness. Players can have both positive and negative modifiers to different attributes at the same time, for example, a player might be in good form and generally happy with their situation, which gives a boost to finishing and strength, but at the same time, the player might have played too many matches and is tired, and this results in a negative modifier to, for example, strength.

It's also possible to have both positive and negative modifiers on the same attribute. Take the example above: the player is in good form, which gives, for example, +4 in reactions, but at the same time the player is tired, which gives -9 in reactions, so the total for reactions is therefore -5. According to the developers, this is the biggest change they have ever made regarding player attributes in Career Mode, since players can now also have one of six different growth profiles. These are designed to reflect the fact different players develop in different ways. Some are at their best when they're young, others maintain a consistent level of quality throughout their career, whilst others peak briefly before declining. This will affect how players' attributes develop.

Is this enough interesting news to make you feel tempted to buy EA Sports FC 27? You've still got a while to think about it, as the game is due for release on September 25, and we'll be reviewing it and sharing our impressions with you. My two hours with the game were promising, but as I said, there's a big difference between playing for an hour or so against computer-controlled opponents and playing for hundreds of hours against other players.