The wait for EA Sports FC 27 is nearly over for those of you who have purchased early access, and it’s only a little over a week away for the rest of us. We’vebeen keeping a very close eye on it ahead of its release and noticed it does several things differently from its predecessor.
Of course, our first thoughts were of all of you waiting to learn more about the game, and whether it’s going to be worth diving in from day one. We figured knowing about some of the gameplay changes that stood out to us is going to help with that decision one way or another, so let’s get right to it!
1. Keep Control With Off-Balance Dribbling
While FC 26 placed a welcome emphasis on shielding and responsive play when dribbling, things could get a tad dicey when physical contact sent us into stumbling animations that soon became a sure-fire way to lose possession.
Well, that’s changing now with players who are sufficiently specced into Balance, Agility, and Dribbling able to enter an off-balance state in which a bump, collision, or shoulder charge lets them retain directional control and take an additional dribble touch even as they stumble. That immediately makes physical contact an opportunity to compete for control of the ball instead of a punishment for not avoiding contact altogether.
2. Teammate Contain
We liked what this one was meant to do in FC 26, the idea being that a defender always has backup when trying to block an opponent’s effort to slip past them and score; prevention being better than a cure and all that. However, that second defender could often get too close and even interfere with our own plans from time to time, or in the case of our own defenders, often create a scoring opportunity in the effort.
That’s different now, as FC 27 makes that second defender hang back, waiting for you to take control and get to pinning attackers on your own, a change that’s immediately more palatable than the previous solution.
3. Changes To Shoulder Challenging
FC 26 made spamming your shoulder challenges a little too viable for our tastes, a sentiment that seemingly echoed across the board as they were changed to reduce challenges coming from directly behind your opponent.
FC 27 has taken that a step further to make shoulder challenges work best when you’re side-by-side with your opponent, while merely spamming it now slows down your defender as they stick out an arm for balance. That’s a nice way to ensure players use the game’s mechanics with intent rather than simply wishing for things to click on their own.
4. Restrictions To Team Press
The previous game had already taken things down a notch as far as Team Press was concerned, reducing marking and pressure in the defensive half. But the AI could still be quite troublesome if you were in possession, getting even more aggressive higher up the field.
In FC 27, Team Press isn’t in effect when the ball’s in your defensive third, and it does still function as you go further up the pitch, but with changes. Defenders aren’t going to be as aggressive as midfielders and forwards, and the defense becomes more vulnerable to a ball behind the line the more defenders step up to the ball. That could make quite the difference in practice, requiring more manual switching and defensive positioning.
5. More Conservative Lower Defence Positions
Defenders could keep pushing too high up the pitch in FC 26, a facet of the experience that needed a patch to low-depth positioning.
That’s been taken a bit further this year, with defenders retreating sooner and trying to minimize available space behind the line. That immediately changes how low blocks play out in a match, and it could mean more meaningful defensive lines that help sell the simulation much better than what was on offer before.
6. Separating Running Speed from AcceleRATE
The three core categories in the AcceleRATE system brought distinct acceleration types in FC 26 alongside the Acceleration and Sprint Speed ratings, but that’s changed this year to reduce its influence on running performance.
That automatically makes Explosive, Controlled, and Lengthy feel less disparate, while raw pace attribute ratings now better influence running speeds for a player on the pitch. It makes AcceleRATE feel like its own movement classification system without letting it interfere with how fast you perform in a match.
7. Changed Lengthy Requirements For Female Players
The requirement for a female player to fit into the Lengthy category, provided she meets Strength, Acceleration, and Agility requirements, was at 165cm/5’5″ in FC 26 but is now increased to 172cm/5’8″ this year.
That’s immediately going to change which female athletes on your roster can fit into the Lengthy category, which in turn influences your team compositions based on the kind of strategies you’re adopting.
8. Riskier Player Lock Implementation
Switching away from whoever was controlling the ball last year would let the CPU maintain possession while you lined up your off-ball runner. That’s changed now, and the CPU carrier doesn’t automatically evade defenders and is going to continue in the direction you left them going. Passing error margins on a CPU-controlled ball carrier also get an increase, making it risky to switch in tight situations.
That automatically makes Player Lock feel more like a deliberate choice that you use sparingly to set up a good offense instead of a mechanic that you could use to let the CPU do the heavy lifting whenever you wanted it to.
9. Deliberately Heavier Player Movement
The movement overhaul that FC 26 brought to the table was definitely welcome, bringing a more agile roster of players who could turn faster and were generally more responsive, while Authentic Gameplay slowed that down in relation to what you could expect from Competitive.
Well, version 2.0 now brings a more physical weight to touches, turns, and sprints, especially when you’re under pressure, which can definitely help make things feel very real on the pitch. That it happens whether you’re on or off the ball is a really nice touch in our opinion, as it can make the experience feel consistent and authentic when you experience it in action.
10. More Authentic Weather Effects
The rain, snow, and wind from last year’s title were great additions to give us a feeling of being in the thick of the action while bringing meaningful twists to the gameplay, but they’re more potent this year around.
The weather isn’t just influencing the atmosphere in the stadium, but is going to have a direct impact on the flow of a match as players struggle to retain their footing after sharp turns in wet or snowy conditions. It’s a great way to expand on the new system and is definitely a step in the right direction as far as Authentic Gameplay is concerned.
11. More Variety In Physical Interactions
While there was a focus on making physical interactions more reliable with the intention of enabling better shielding and protecting possession in the previous game, FC 27 is changing things up by making physical interactions feel stronger and more varied.
Expect frequent stumbles if you come into contact with other players too often, as the broader physical collision system makes its presence felt right off the bat with this one.
12. A More Aggressive CPU
Remember how tackle accuracy and physical play felt quite realistic last year? That’s now been improved with CPU players committing more fouls as they try to get the ball away from you, and it immediately creates the scope for more realistic physical confrontations in a match.
That’s not to mention the positive effect it has on free kicks and set pieces that occur within games, with the added benefit of making CPU aggression feel like a more influential factor in Career Mode.
13. Expansions To Authentic Gameplay Customization
We were quite pleased with the addition of controls for margins of error on headed shots, headed passes, interceptions, and ball-deflections last year, and that’s now been expanded from FC 26’s five new gameplay sliders from last year to twenty-five new ones, alongside ten CPU sliders that are also brand new in FC 27.
The latter includes separate controls for CPU Opponents and Teammates, so you get to tune the behaviour of both playing sides in Player Career and other compatible modes.
14. Stronger Tactical Identities For CPU Teams
Last year brought tighter midfield positioning and better defensive organizing from CPU-controlled teams, and this year is building on that with more distinct playing styles, improved decision-making, and a wider gamut of tactical approaches for your opponents.
EA is also tuning areas such as CPU 1v1 finishing and defensive responses, which should further distinguish opponent behaviour. You’re going to have to work for your wins, and that’s exactly how it should be!
15. More Distinction between Difficulty Levels
The Professional, World Class, and Legendary difficulties from last year are getting a bit of tweaking to make them feel more distinct.
That’s been recalibrated this year to make for clearer jumps between the three categories and different slider thresholds on parameters like Sliding Tackle Frequency and the like to allow more dynamic tactical behavior from AI opponents for when you’re playing solo. It could help change how they behave to present a more tangible difference between them
And that’s it for this one. FC 27 is certainly shaping up to be a fun addition to the long and prestigious line-up that the franchise now enjoys. You can bet you’re going to be seeing us on the pitch once you join in on the action.
