EA Sports FC 27: The good, the bad, and where EA still needs to improve

The latest entry in the EA Sports FC series is here, formerly known as FIFA. EA Sports FC 27 promises to be bigger and better than its predecessor, with improvements to graphics, gameplay, and AI, as well as popular modes including FUT, Career, and Manager. There’s also an all-new social hub called The Grounds.

Here at GAMINGbible, we've been testing out the title, so here's the good and bad of EA Sports FC 27 as we scout through its best modes and ultimately ask the question: is EA Sports FC 27 is worth buying this year?

EA Sports FC 27's gameplay and graphics only offer a subtle improvement

This may come as no surprise, but in terms of graphics, EA Sports FC 27 isn't a massive leap over EA Sports FC 26. Of course, it gets the new kits, user interface, and menu tweaks, but it’s hardly revolutionary. To be fair, the graphics of EA Sports FC 26 were fantastic, and if there was one area in which the game has improved in this department, other than looking a little nicer, it is that the player animations look and feel more lifelike and similar to their real-life counterparts.

In terms of what you can now do on the pitch, defending has been reworked so that you’re not relying as heavily on AI to do the work for you. Sure, players will still get in position and make runs, but for the most part, all the important runs and how you choose to defend on the pitch are on you.

EA Sports FC 27, Electronic Arts

Speaking of movement, the attacking AI has been improved off the ball, so that players can find better positions when they’re ready to receive the ball from you. Players will have more awareness, make curved runs, and will be more conscious of being offside. This means that you don’t have to rely on triggering a run manually off the ball as much as in EA Sports FC 26.

Dribbling has also been improved and is more responsive. For example, using a player that has a Technical PlayStyle+ just feels so much better as I try to take on an opponent with close dribbling with players such as Lionel Messi. Perhaps this year, more than most, it feels like the gameplay favours skilful players, rather than losing to random events, a central defender who appears faster than the stats suggest, or a goalkeeper on steroids.

One of my favourite improvements is when taking corners. Essentially, what happens is that as soon as you kick the ball from the corner, you have a brief gameplay window to time a player run, whether it’s attacking the ball or, as a defender, trying to prevent that attacker from scoring.

EA Sports FC 27's Manager Mode introduces fun new transfer negotiations

In the transfer market, club and player negotiations have been improved with additional stages to make it feel like you're conversing with an actual player. Players and clubs may even be more ruthless towards you when it comes to transfer fees, wages, bonuses, and clauses. Players will even consider the club’s philosophy and playstyle before signing.

Players’ OVRs are more dynamic than ever. Rather than simply increasing depending on the training regime and playing more games, or decreasing with age, form, confidence, fitness, morale, and more will now be factored in. Players also have more growth profiles, so not all players may develop in the same way with each new playthrough.

Manager Live Challenges were a popular feature in EA Sports FC 26; it’s a mode that allows you to jump into a season at a particular point to see if you can replicate a current team's form or competition run. In EA Sports FC 27, you can now create your own Live Challenges and share them with other players.

Transfers between other clubs are more realistic. As funny as it is, you probably won't see Erling Haaland join Ipswich Town just because they’ve gone on a surprise Premier League title-winning run, just as Leicester City did in 2016. That’s not to say that won’t happen, but for the most part, transfers between other clubs will be more realistic.

EA Sports FC 27's Player Career and Clubs modes lack notable differences

I’ll be honest, this mode has probably seen the least amount of attention in EA Sports FC 27. I’m not sure why that is; maybe it’s just not as popular as the other modes in the game.

That being said, player progression has improved with its Archetypes system, which opens up additional paths in which a player can develop, inspired by the Icons of the game. The dynamic OVRs make their way over from Manager Mode, as do the improved player AI and manual gameplay from EA Sports FC 27 as a whole.

EA Sports FC 27, Electronic Arts

It feels like Clubs is the least evolved mode in EA Sports FC 27, and depending on your perspective, that can be either a good or bad thing. Your created Clubs player is now integrated into The Grounds. There are more Club tournaments, more ways to develop your player (more so in The Grounds), and it shares many of the match types with EA’s new mode. It just feels too familiar to FC 26, and I’m not sure if players will allow Clubs to keep stagnating when EA Sports FC 28 arrives.

EA Sports FC 27 Ultimate Team refines the user experience

This is quite possibly the most popular mode in the EA Sports FC series, as it was when it was called FIFA. Hence why EA always finds new ways to monetise this mode.

A big part of FUT is squad building, and there’s probably no better way to build an ideal squad than with SBCs (Squad Building Challenges). In a nutshell, you can trade in players that meet the specific criteria of the challenge to be rewarded with players and packs. Previously, these criteria were often met by meeting an overall team OVR and, sometimes, making sure the team had a certain level of chemistry or nationality.

Overall OVR still exists, but it also has a new system that requires the squad to achieve a certain score. The higher the score, the better the rewards. Each player card you trade has a rating, which determines its value in SBCs or the Gallery. Thankfully, chemistry requirements are no more. Meeting SBC requirements in EA Sports FC 27 is much simpler.

EA Sports FC 27 FUT Gallery is a brand new mode - and here's how it works

This is a new mode introduced in EA Sports FC 27, and the best way to think of it is that it’s kind of like an enhanced digitalised version of the Panini sticker books. Each player card has a value in the Gallery; that value contributes towards levelling up and unlocking rewards for filling out squads.

In my case, I’d be particularly happy completing the Aston Villa section to see what rewards I’ll receive based on the football club I love. As you level up and meet objectives, you’ll earn Gallery Tokens, which can be used to purchase the new cards in the game, Hall of FUT. What’s more, even when you trade a card, it will still count towards your Gallery collection.

This is perhaps a good time to talk Season Points. In previous EA Sports FC titles, the way you’d earn Season Points felt limited, and only really was encouraged in a few of its modes in FUT, as well as other modes outside of it. However, in EA Sports FC 27, you now earn Season Points for simply playing matches in FUT, win or lose.

You can also net yourself some new rewards in Live Events. If you’re the kind of gamer who doesn't really fancy playing against others online, the rewards in previous releases felt very limited. Outside of Squad Battles and Rush, there weren't many other ways for single-player gamers to earn rewards through Objectives, at least anything decent. In EA Sports FC 27, there are a plethora of single-player PvE Live Events, which makes the game more accessible and more rewarding for all players.

EA Sports FC 27 (FUT Gallery), Electronic Arts

EA Sports FC 27 Evolutions offers new ways to upgrade players

Now there are more options for Evolutions this time around, with some having paths granting you more options for how you want to upgrade a player, not only with stats but also PlayStyles and Player Roles. There are even more Training Camp Evolutions for lower-rated players, so you can essentially level them up while you’re away from the game.

The maximum number of PlayStyles players can have has been reduced to three PlayStyle+’s instead of five. While this might feel like a negative, it’s beneficial. It makes each special player feel special for longer, rather than a player with lower stats arriving a week later who you'd swap because they have one more PlayStyle+.

When it comes to the game's Promo Squads, the campaigns are smaller but this isn't a bad thing. Campaign squads and weeks have been reduced to make every special card pull feel special for a little longer. Similar to when a lower-stat player arrives with one more PlayStyle+ that instantly gets in your squad, it’s always annoying when you pull a special card, then a week later it’s outdated.

EA Sports FC 27 FUT Champions has changed - here's how

When you qualify for a Champions weekend, it’s often reserved for the best EA Sports FC players, but now and again, it might be nice for a lower-skilled player to try their luck, even if it's just once. Sure, they might get battered, but by removing the Division 6 requirement and now earning qualification points through Rivals and Squad Battles, everyone might have a fighting chance.

EA Sports FC 27 (The Grounds), Electronic Arts

Again, FUT's reduction in PlayStyles+ and smaller Campaign squads might not be everyone’s cup of tea. Some players enjoy the chase of constantly hunting for that next special card, and those opportunities have been reduced, with EA confirming fewer Campaign Player Items and approximately five fewer Campaign weeks across FC 27.

Icon and Hero chemistry has also changed. Icons now provide +1 League and +1 Nation chemistry, down from +1 League and +2 Nation in FC 26. Heroes also provide +1 League and +1 Nation, down from +2 League and +1 Nation previously.

There are also quite a few currencies to content with in EA Sports FC 27. At launch, you have the standard coins earned in-game, the microtransaction-focused points, as well as the Season Pass. Now you have Gallery Tokens too. By the end of the game's life cycle, we could earn more Tokens, which might feel like overkill at that point. We’ll just have to see how that goes.

One major downside I noted, and this goes for the game as a whole, is that - my god - the commentary is so stale at this point. Some will say it’s been stale for years already, and that’s fair. Please EA, either hire some new commentators with new dialogue or get the existing commentators to say more dialogue. There are only so many times we can hear Derek Rae say, “That’s a save, you’re going to see it again and again.”

Also, please improve the character models. For obvious reasons, I’ve not gone through them all, but I swear John McGinn is still the same one created when he first signed for Aston Villa in 2018.

EA Sports FC 27 The Grounds has good potential but may lack longevity

The Grounds is an all-new mode introduced in EA Sports FC 27; at its core, it’s an open-world-style social hub, perhaps similar to the likes of The City and The Island in the NBA 2K and WWE 2K series.

You create a football player and acquire cosmetics, upgrade their skills, experiment with builds, complete world objectives, play mini-games, play matches with other players - including Clubs and Rush, as well as smaller-sized 1v1, 2v2 or 3v3 matches - and, of course, socialise with other players.

There’s plenty of exploration, with historic monuments and facts on famous footballers and events to discover. It’s broken into three districts inspired by different cultures: The Park (traditional English football with casual kick-about vibes), The Block (inspired by French culture and competitive gaming), and The Training Ground (inspired by Argentinian passion and improving your player).

You won't be short of activities in The Grounds. It has plenty of variety, and it’s probably a fun place to hang out with friends. At the moment, it doesn't feel like it's got a heavy focus on monetisation, but it has potential for that, so we’ll just have to see how this mode evolves in the coming months, leading up to EA Sports FC 28, assuming The Grounds makes a return. It has a lot of potential on either side of the coin.

EA Sports FC 27 final verdict: Is it worth buying?

If you’re a diehard fan, then the chances are that you’ve already ordered EA Sports FC 27. However, if you’re new to the series and have been away for one or two releases, this year’s entry could be the perfect opportunity to rekindle or spark your love for the beautiful game. EA Sports FC 27 doesn’t quite score the perfect hat-trick, but with the improved gameplay, FUT and, Manager Mode, we're still bagging three goals albeit not left foot, right foot, and headed in.

Pros: Gameplay relies more on skill, harnesses the match day spirit, loads of comprehensive modes, more ways to earn rewards

Cons: It feels like The Grounds lacks longevity at this stage, commentary feels even more outdated, many player modes are outdated

For fans of: EA Sports FC 26 and football fans in general

8/10: Excellent

EA Sports FC 27 is released in early access on September 18 and worldwide on 25 September 2026, on PlayStation 5 (version tested), PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch 2 and Nintendo Switch. A review code was provided by the publisher. Read a guide to our review scores here.