EA Sports FC 25 player roles drastically change the meta

The first question that comes with the release of a yearly sports game is usually, "What is different enough about this one that I should play it instead of last year’s?" While that is always a valid question, EA Sports FC 25 is nipping that issue in the bud by implementing many important changes.

First and foremost, Volta is being replaced by another fast-paced mode, Rush. While it is still a five-versus-five experience, Rush's gameplay is built with the existing 11-versus-11 experience in mind, just fine-tuned to a smaller and quicker game.

Alongside a smaller pitch size, Rush introduces a fair amount of interesting features that mirror modern futsal. For fouls, players now get blue cards instead of yellow or red. This card has the guilty party sent off for one minute, giving the opposition a man advantage.

Kick-offs and penalties are also a bit more exciting. The former starts out like a dodgeball match with each team's striker racing to get possession, with each team's striker racing to get possession, while the latter copies the old MLS style, letting both the penalty taker and goalie move around during it in a one-on-one.

While these may feel like small changes, Rush will definitely be much more grounded than VOLTA, which I prefer. A new gameplay mode is just the start, though, as EA Sports FC 25 introduces two new features that reshape how the game is played.

The first new feature is known as FC IQ. As the name suggests, players can deeply customize their playstyles and tactics to mirror their favorite teams and coaches. The two most important subsets of FC IQ are player roles and team tactics.

Player roles are something that fans have been looking forward to for a long time. With over 50 different variants, this new element uniquely guides how players will think and behave off the ball, which complements the on-the-ball PlayStyles mechanic that debuted in EA Sports FC 24 nicely. Let's take Jude Bellingham, for example.

While we all know that Bellingham is a fantastic shot on the ball, his off-the-ball traits are just as important. As a Shadow Striker, he is able to play in the hole behind the strikers, using well-timed runs into the box that result in many open shots and put-back attempts.

Just like in real life, though, there are also cons to each role and personality style of a player. In this case, the emphasis on being an attacking midfielder who likes to poach goals in the middle means that defense can easily overload, and the team is vulnerable to wing play.

There will be three to five roles per position, for a total of 31 unique roles. Getting a feel for roles might be tricky at first, especially based on the roster you build. That is exactly where team tactics come in.

Similar to player roles, this mechanic allows players to customize the style and gameplay of their teams. Depending on line-ups, this can vary from match to match and will replicate real-world styles. Barcelona will play more tiki toka, whereas a Jose Mourinho-led team will park the bus.

If you find yourself in a bind and need to switch up tactics mid-game, EA Sports FC 25 allows you to make general formation changes or even ones relevant to specific players. This can be seen and accomplished on the fly without needing to go into menus. To add to the ambiance, adjustments can be seen with AR overlays in the presentation, and commentators will even acknowledge when changes occur.

While only time will tell regarding how the meta will look with the introduction of FC IQ, there is no denying the impact it will have on the gameplay, regardless of whether you're playing a CPU or another person. Either way, change and experience are always welcome in sports games with yearly iterations, as it beats spending $60 on the same thing as last year.

Andrew McMahon

Contributing Editor

Andrew has wandered around with a Bachelor's Degree in Communications sitting in his back pocket for a while now, all the while wondering what he is going to do for a career. Luckily, video games have always been there, especially as his writing career progresses. He enjoys narrative-driven games like Mass Effect and Baldur’s Gate 3 and also getting angry while playing competitive sports titles like Madden and EA Sports FC.