EA's annual football simulation series is like Apple's take on the iPhone. For years, the team has managed to keep its flagship product selling like hotcakes with only minor improvements, regardless of how much those upgrades improve the product. While EA Sports FC 24 is a big change in naming, it's essentially just FIFA 23 with slightly improved graphics and a new logo. That's not a criticism, it's just a statement of fact.

Similarly, EA Sports FC 25 continues this trend to some extent, but this year it seems to have reached a point where the overall experience is so good that it's hard to fault EA for minor improvements. Just like the iPhone 16 Pro Max isn't a huge upgrade over the iPhone 15 Pro Max, but it's still the best iPhone. In the same way, EA Sports FC 25 is undoubtedly the best football game ever, and these small improvements gradually add up.

While playing the latest FC version, I kept thinking, "What more do I want from a football game?" Yes, many elements in FC 25 are still strikingly similar to FC 24, even the color scheme has not changed, and the main menu makes people wonder if they have launched the right game, but some subtle adjustments to the graphics and gameplay make the overall experience almost perfect.

Let's take a look at "what's new" first. There are two major new additions to FC this year: FC IQ and Rush. FC IQ is what EA calls "the most important change in tactics in more than a decade", while Rush is a new 5v5 mode that can be played in Ultimate Team, Career Mode, Club Mode and Quick Match.

Designed for football purists, FC IQ is designed to allow players to break free from the constraints of traditional formations and implement game strategies that are closer to real coaches. For example, you can reproduce or innovate flexible formation transitions like Ancelotti's Real Madrid in FC 25, such as switching between 4-3-3 and 4-5-1.

A lot of tactical setup is done in the pre-match menu, which can make it a little complicated for new or non-tactical players, but FC IQ also introduces a more accessible on-field tactical suggestion tool. Pressing a button during the game will display recommended tactics (such as Tiki Taka, defensive counterattacks, etc.), and after selecting a tactic, the minimap will briefly zoom in to show the impact of the tactics on the player positions, and the commentator will also react to the tactical changes, making it feel more realistic.

Another new highlight of FC IQ is the new player role system. Players can set free-range hybrid roles for players, such as reverse full-back, deep midfielder and attacking full-back, etc. This feature can even be used in Ultimate Team. Although many players may ignore this new mechanic, it is always a good thing to have more tactical options.

As for Rush mode, this is a new gameplay this year, which is unnecessary but completely harmless and even very fun at times. It is essentially a 5-a-side variant of Ultimate Team, Career Mode, Club Mode and Quick Match, with a smaller field and full of basketball-style vitality. I guess this is what football would look like if FIFA were run by American sports executives (see the glowing Nike-sponsored stadiums), and while most gamers won't be playing it again and again, it's still a fun way to spend a few hours.

My mother used to mistake old FIFA games for real people ("Who's playing?" she'd say), and I can almost forgive her for making the same mistake with FC 25. This really is the best graphics ever for a sports game, and while it's hard to pinpoint specific differences, FC 25 looks better than FC 24.

It could be the detail on the players' faces. Sweat and hair look more realistic than ever, and the players' in-game expressions are more vivid, like anger, swearing, etc., making them full of personality. While there have been similar improvements every year, FC 25 takes it to another level, with star players like Haaland, Bellingham and Mbappe looking lifelike.

The gameplay feels fast and responsive, without the "sluggish" issues that plagued previous games in the series. To be honest, I'm not sure how much more EA can improve in terms of gameplay and graphics.

In my EA Sports FC 25 preview, I mentioned several times that it could be a career mode fan's dream game. Although I was quite satisfied with FC 24's career mode, EA has made some more welcome tweaks to this favorite mode.

Before you start a new career save, you'll find more options for customization. For example, if you're like me and don't like regular team training, you can now choose to complete training automatically (if you're really lazy, you can also set your players' stamina and sharpness to stay at 100%). You can also set a transfer ban, and decide how strong wind and weather effects are and how they affect the ball (I recommend setting it to "high").

Once you enter career mode, the interface has become much simpler. The home screen has a task list and an interactive social media feed, where you can see fans' reactions to club announcements and updates from well-known transfer accounts such as The Athletic and Romano. This new feature adds to the realism, and while the task list may oversimplify things, at least you don't have to go into your inbox repeatedly to clear notifications.

Other career mode updates include playable youth tournaments - developing young players in Rush mode, and real-time starting points, which allow you to jump into real club situations at any time during the season. These youth tournament games cannot be skipped or partially simulated, which is probably their purpose: to force you to get familiar with unknown young players. It's very rewarding to see these young people finally appear in a first-team game.

As for Ultimate Team mode, it no longer seemed too "pay-to-win" in FC 24 - it was able to compete with top-up players even through SBC alone, and this trend continues in FC 25. The new Duplicate SBC storage mechanism allows players to keep non-tradable duplicate items for future SBCs, which greatly improves the experience of SBC players, and the wide variety of cards also makes high-rated gold cards relatively easy to get at the beginning.

EA Sports FC 25 also provides a comprehensive set of accessibility options, including color blind settings, subtitles, button remapping and increasing the size of player logos. These options can be found in the Accessibility Settings tab. The game has six difficulty levels - Beginner, Amateur, Semi-Professional, Professional, World Class, Legendary and Ultimate - and supports 21 languages.

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