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Like almost every annual sports game, EA Sports FC 26 is exactly what you would expect it to be: an iterative upgrade on last year’s game. To EA’s credit, it’s a pretty good upgrade, all things considered. This is partly due to how off the mark EA FC 25 was, but also because of a concerted effort to solve some of the series’ longstanding issues by focusing on player feedback. The end result is an interesting attempt to appeal to every type of player. It’s not wholly successful in this ambition, but EA FC 26 is at least a step in the right direction.

The headlining change is a shift to two distinct playstyles. The series has always felt somewhat different when played online compared to offline, but the feeling is now much more pronounced and extends beyond the foibles of online netcode. Competitive and Authentic gameplay presets make a marked difference in how the match engine handles. You can choose between either one when playing offline, but online modes, such as Ultimate Team, are locked into the Competitive playstyle (even when playing Squad Battles against the CPU).

The Competitive preset is all about player skill. The pace of the game is rapid, with passes ping-ponging between players’ feet, and the spotlight is on dribbling, skill moves, and consistently high-scoring matches. Despite this proclivity for attacking football, defending has also been improved. Successful tackles actually regain possession, rather than knocking the ball right back to the attacking player’s feet, so a lot of the frustration from previous entries has been exorcised.

That’s not to say you won’t feel outmatched, though. The midfield in online games is practically nonexistent when defending. There’s so much space, passes are so fast, and it feels so responsive that it only takes a couple of passes to reach the edge of the opposition’s box. This, then, is where the vast majority of tackling occurs. I’ve tried preventing this by playing two defensive midfielders and setting instructions for them to stay back, but it makes no difference; players off the ball are too static. With so much of the game spent near the boxes, it only takes one missed tackle or a burst of speed for the attacking team to go clean through on goal. As a result, games are typically high scoring, with scorelines like 5-4, 6-2, and 8-7 being the norm.

Goalkeepers are marginally better–less likely to parry the ball back into dangerous areas–but keeping a clean sheet (or limiting your opponent to fewer than two goals) is still a miracle. There’s a significant element of skill involved in defending, mainly because you can’t just rely on the AI to do it for you, but the odds are still heavily stacked against you. If there were more of a midfield battle, tackling wouldn’t be as risky, and this would lead to fewer chances for each team overall. In its current state, Competitive matches are enjoyable when you have the ball, but mostly overwhelming when you don’t. It’s still an improvement on last year’s game, where frustration was the prevailing feeling when playing online, but it’s not without issues.

The Authentic preset, on the other hand, can be enabled when playing offline, altering the gameplay to provide a closer approximation of real football. The pace is significantly slower, placing a greater emphasis on each individual phase of play, with tactical midfield battles, physical defending, and methodical build-up play. Other variables can also affect matches, such as wind altering the trajectory of crosses and a wet pitch causing the ball to either skid across the surface or slow down. Authentic offers a more considered way of playing, although, like previous games in the series, the CPU isn’t the most appealing opponent. It’s either too easy to play against or slightly overpowered and able to keep possession of the ball for long stretches of time, so you’ll likely need to tinker with the sliders to find a suitable balance.

It’s a shame there’s no way to use the Authentic preset online, but the single-player Manager Career is at least more interesting this time around. A new Manager Live feature lets you play out different scenarios and challenge yourself beyond the norm. There’s one that tasks you with avoiding relegation after beginning the season with a 20-point deduction, and another that asks you to lead Real Madrid to a domestic double while starting Jude Bellingham in at least 25 matches. Others are centered on being top of the table at Christmas or earning a certain amount of money in transfer fees. It’s a different way to play that freshens up the experience for those who enjoy playing through multiple careers, especially if you fancy an extra challenge.

Unexpected Events is another new feature that throws a few curveballs at you throughout a season. These random scenarios inject some personality into the off-field aspect of Manager Career, breaking up the drudgery of simulating from one match to the next. This can result in your plans being disrupted by losing two players for the next game because they clashed in training and injured one another, or ate some dodgy food the night before. Another player might come to you feeling homesick, forcing you to make a decision, or the club might get taken over by new owners, altering your expectations and increasing the transfer budget. Football Manager players are no strangers to events like this, but they bring some of the unpredictability of real-world football to EA FC’s career mode, forcing you to adapt to an ever-changing landscape.

Ultimate Team has also undergone some adjustments, introducing new features while course-correcting with others. In the latter’s case, I’m referring to Rivals and the reintroduction of relegation, which banishes the days of being stuck in a division you’re clearly not good enough for. Progression in Rivals has also been improved by adding bonus objectives that can net you in-game coins and extra points for the weekly rewards. In one game, I earned 2,000 coins by starting a Team of the Week player in my team, then added more points by scoring two consecutive goals, fulfilling two of the objectives.

Doing this feels crucial because there are fewer rewards in general, and most of those you do receive are untradeable. This is part of EA’s attempt to slow the game’s power curve, which even replaces Ultimate Team’s previous season pass with a game-wide pass, allowing you to earn XP in career mode, Ultimate Team, and Clubs for rewards in all three modes. I’m not a fan. If I’m playing Ultimate Team, I don’t particularly care about unlocking FIFA 15 legend Seydou Doumbia as a manager in career mode; I’d rather have more packs and players to upgrade my team.

To compound the issue, the season pass has also been gutted to make room for a premium version that requires real money to purchase. This always feels like an egregious practice outside of free-to-play games, but especially when the series has featured a free season pass for the previous few years. It’s commendable that EA wants to slow down the power curve, but it remains to be seen how effective this will be, given that people willing to spend real money can earn more rewards from the season pass and purchase numerous packs in the in-game store.

This is one of the legacy issues that will, unfortunately, never go away, simply because it makes money. Others, such as inconsistent tackling, inaccurate passing, and a stale career mode, have thankfully been addressed in positive ways. The Competitive preset still favors the attacking team a little too much, and in an attempt to appease every type of football fan, EA Sports FC 26 misses the target. It’s close, though. There are flaws on and off the pitch, yet this is the best the series has been for a short while. It might not walk away with a trophy this year, but it’s getting closer to glory.

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