What it's about the premise, without spoilers
It's the yearly football game from EA, under the EA Sports FC name since the series dropped the FIFA brand. You pick a team and play matches against the computer or a friend, or take on a longer Career as a manager or a player, including a create-your-own-player mode. There's also Ultimate Team, where you collect cards and build a squad.
On Switch it came out on 27 September 2024. There's no dedicated Switch 2 Edition, so on Switch 2 you play the Switch version through backward compatibility. That's what I played, and it's what I'm judging.
How I got into it my story with the game
I know the franchise, but I hadn't played since FIFA 11 or 12, so I was properly excited to come back. The create-your-own-player mode was the big draw for me, and I couldn't wait to start.
It didn't go well. The matches felt slow, the controls didn't listen, and I lost games I'm sure I shouldn't have. I never even touched the online mode, because I was too frustrated with the controls to want more.
I'm not going to dress it up. For me it was a total waste of money, and I'd rather say that plainly than hide it in the middle of a paragraph.
How it looks art style and atmosphere
Stand still and it looks fine: the players are recognisable, the stadiums are lively, and the crowd is a nice wall of colour. Then you start playing and it feels slow and constantly laggy, like the whole game is wading through water.
I know a still picture can't show that, which is a shame, so you'll have to take my word for it.
How it sounds music, sound effects and mood
It sounds like a football game: the crowd, the commentary and a pile of licensed songs in the menus. The crowd noise does a decent job of making a match feel alive.
For a game that frustrated me this much, the sound wasn't what was wrong. It's the one part I had no complaints about.
The story and the people characters and plot, spoiler-free
There isn't really a story. You get seasons, cups and transfers, and the Manager Live Challenges try to wrap a little plot around some matches. The people are real footballers and real clubs, which is the main draw if you follow the sport. But a bunch of leagues are missing. I wanted to play with a Brazilian team, and with a national team, and I couldn't do either.
The player mode, the one I was most looking forward to, turned out to be long, boring and repetitive. It's the same loop again and again, and it wore out its welcome fast.
After work: effort and challenge how much it asks of a tired brain
If you haven't played a football game in a while, the learning curve is steep. Run, pass and shoot are easy. Getting beyond them is another story: timing your tackles, finding the right pass, shooting well and defending as a team all take practice. That's fine if you love the series. It isn't a great deal after a day of work, when you want a game to ask very little of you.
The challenge didn't make sense to me either, and I rate it a 4 mostly because of the controls. The difficulty I picked never matched what I saw on the pitch: some matches were far too hard and others far too easy, whatever the setting. The computer players stayed dumb at every level, and that's frustrating in its own way, because you can't even enjoy winning.
Docked vs handheld TV or in your hands, and my pick
I didn't find either mode saved it. Docked or handheld, the lag and the controls were the same problem. Handheld is my usual way to play and it's still no better there.
The controls are the worst part. They don't work consistently: sometimes a button does what you asked, sometimes it doesn't, and in a football game that's what decides a match. That's why I say the bugs lose you matches. It isn't always a bad pass of mine, it's the game.
What gets in the way the real annoyances
- It's slow and constantly laggy.
- It's buggy to the point of costing you matches.
- The controls lag, freeze and sometimes register a press twice.
- A bunch of leagues and teams are missing, and the player mode is long, boring and repetitive.
- The difficulty you choose isn't really reflected on the pitch.
- The computer players stay dumb at every level.
- The learning curve is steep once you want to do more than run, pass and shoot.
On Switch 2 what changes and what it costs
There's no native Switch 2 version, so this is the Switch game running through backward compatibility. I'd hoped the newer hardware would smooth it out. It didn't: the lag and the controls were still there.
There's not much more to say. It's a football game and it's FC, so you know exactly what to expect. I paid €29.99 and for me it was a total waste of money. A single match is okay on its own, but that's not enough to carry a game.
Verdict should you play it?
A terrible one from me. It lags, it's buggy, the controls are unreliable and the difficulty never matched the pitch. It isn't a game to chill with after work, and I don't recommend it.
If you're very used to football games, you absolutely love them, and you're willing to learn to play with those controls, it might be for you. Otherwise let it go, or play it on a different console if you have one.
