EA SPORTS FC 25 Focus: FC IQ, Gameplay, Career and more

Welcome to another edition of EA SPORTS FC 25 Focus, which delivers the most interesting details about the next instalment of EA’s annual football game. Thanks to a Virtual Producer Showcase, we had the opportunity to see what EA FC 25 is aiming to deliver this year.

Our previous article, ‘EA SPORTS FC 25 Focus: Rush, Ultimate Team and Clubs’, covered the ideas implemented across the most popular game modes.

Now it’s time to delve into the gameplay and presentation side of proceedings, with a little bit of Career mode to round it off. So, without further ado, let’s get all technical and see what fresh delights are being introduced.

FC IQ

FC IQ, in a nutshell, is a complete revamp of both the tactical and positional systems in EA FC 25. You’ll bear witness to its influence in every game, creating more gameplay variety and authenticity. In possession and without the ball, it’s going to have an effect on how you defend and attack. 

There are new player roles, dictating what they do off the ball with very specific positive and negative aspects accompanying them. Using data from the last few football seasons, EA have determined the most suitable roles for players. For example, Real Madrid’s Bellingham has more familiarity mainly as a half-winger at CAM, Bayern’s Muller is thriving as a Shadow Striker, while Arsenal’s Havertz is okay at both as well as playmaker. 

Familiarity is different for each player, with four role-related levels, seeing the best of the best showcasing a better work rate in matches.The simple base Role means the particular player can do it, while those fairly accomplished at carrying out the responsibilities have a Role+ tag. The elite world class players meanwhile are blessed with Role++. The worst case scenario is when a player is out of position and out of their depth because it’ll provide limited benefits for the role they’re meant to play. 

You may wonder how noticeable such roles are when playing the game and the footage shown made it abundantly clear that it could be a real game-changer. The RB tucked into midfield as a false-back like Trent Alexander-Arnold does often, while the CDM dropped between the defenders to offer extra protection as a third CB. That’s not all, as the LB stayed high up the pitch, in line with the forwards, using the attacking wing-back role and the CM ended up on the right flank acting as a half-winger. With over fifty role combinations, it’s quite exciting to consider the possibilities and variety it may bring.

In regards to team tactics, a decent amount of presets are available which represent systems favoured by real-world clubs and managers. For those who like to go a bit deeper, you can tweak them to suit your style or alter things according to the dynamic feedback, which analyses the team setup and roles for you. It might suggest you’ll be more likely to win the ball back and succeed in patient build-up play, however it could be easier to defend against and expend more energy. With that knowledge at hand, you can implement changes.

Other tactical features include custom tactics that are shared easily with friends, or followers, no matter which platform they play on. On set pieces you are able to nominate the players attacking the back-post and near-post Experience smart tactics mid-game with recommendations given in real-time and modify the setup with ease.

Gameplay and Presentation

Hypermotion V is ready to enhance EA FC 25. Numerous fresh animations have been added via the latest volumetric capture technology. More players have authentic personalities with their signature skills, set piece approach and celebrations, with Chloe Kelly’s now iconic penalty taking style as an example. Through the technology, EA have harnessed the ability to recreate full body animations during runs, delivering authentic representation for roughly 1800 men and 200 women using match data from the likes of the Champions League. 

Remember the PlayStyles from last year? Well there is a selection of new goalkeeper-only PlayStyles. Footwork means they are dynamic and nimble, while often sticking a foot out to stop those low shots akin to what David De Gea used to do. The Ederson-like Rush Out PlayStyle  is the fearless type that’s always on the frontfoot to confront attackers one-on-one. Others include the Deflector, who tries to make sure to parry the ball away from dangerous areas; the Cross Claimer that gets into the mix to punch or catch those high balls; the Far Throw keepers who launch the ball fifty yards from their arm; and Far Reach, essentially being the human highlight reels who manage to reach just that extra bit to stop what would be a definite goal.

If you enjoy a good professional foul, then you’ll be glad to know you can purposefully foul to prevent dangerous attacks. It’s an instant yellow, but surely worth it to avoid conceding a goal. There are new skill moves on the horizon, but the standouts are the heel nutmeg, which is seriously humiliating, and the big feint to psych out your opponent before driving past them.

At stadiums you can see authentic mascots that you can celebrate with, enjoy more sideline moments, and hear authentic crowd reactions based on what’s happening. That means you can go mad with Bridget the Lioness, or watch the manager arguing with the fourth official, adding that extra realism. The players should look more like themselves too due to the EA Sports Cranium technology, which lets likeness be machine learned through the use of photos. 

Career Mode

Finally, women’s football has a place to call home in the Career mode. They’ve got the licensing for the Women’s Super League, National Women’s Soccer League, the D1 Feminine (soon to be Première Ligue, Liga F, the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga, and the Women’s Champions League. It’ll be quite different to the usual Career with tighter budgets, shorter contracts, different salary structures, and a smaller player pool for transfers. 

Post-launch, Live Start Points will come in to ensure there’s fresh content all year round. There’ll be updates throughout the season across some of the biggest leagues such as the Premier League, La Liga, Champions league men and women. A Career can be started from different points of the campaign, taking into account the current points totals, injuries transfers, suspensions, and top scorers. Get ready to change the narrative.

Player Careers will incorporate origin stories, where you can follow the path of a legend’s child, a player coming back from a serious injury, or even a kid that grew up balling on the streets. Alternatively, decide your own story by picking the age, skill level, personality and such things. Another idea is to use an ICON instead as four are available at launch – Andrea Pirlo, Kelly Smith, Ruud van Nistelrooy, and Thierry Henry.

The youth prospects of the Manager Career are going to become more involved in EA FC 25, with regular tournaments in place to help boost their development. These tournaments will be Rush style, which seems a great idea to add variety to the Career. 

And there we have it. That’s the end of our EA FC 25 deep dive, and now you just have to wait until 27th September, when it arrives for Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Nintendo Switch and PC. If you’re partaking in the early access however, that begins a week sooner on 20th September. 

Should you wish to get a pre-order in, the Xbox Store’s EA SPORTS FC 25 page is up.

Feel free to drop a comment below with your thoughts and share what fresh features you can’t wait to experience for yourself.