Electronic Arts has officially removed the handcuffs from FIFA and has relaunched its own brand of worldwide soccer known as EA SPORTS FC 24, the FC standing for Football Club. Its ability to retain the top licensed leagues, teams and players from around the globe means that the series isn’t going to miss a step for football fans, and this also includes having Messi on Miami’s MLS club. This series, however, continues to be the technical benchmark that pushes the limits for EA’s sports titles, even though it doesn’t always translate to its other offerings. What changes have been implemented this year potentially puts EA SPORTS FC 24 as the company’s greatest gameplay achievement in its history.
I will be the first to admit that I am not an avid soccer fan, but do enjoy the gaming experience that is derived from the sport. I also know a great atmosphere when I see it, and EA has upped not only the broadcast experience for this game, but also the stadium experience. This may partly be due to the removal of FIFA, but this is the best broadcast experience that this series has seen. The development team has implemented Intelligent Broadcast Augmented Reality that is introduced on replays. These provide insights to specific shots or player ratings that come off as superbly professional. These cut aways are evenly spread out and help increase the immersion of experiencing a real life soccer broadcast.
The audio elements really help to increase the immersion of the stadium experience as well. Louder chants have been added along with blistering reactions, camera shakes, exciting commentary when a magnificent play happens, and a whole slew of other audio elements. A new default camera was also implemented known as the Tactical Cam that draws in the action more while still being far enough away to not need a magnifying glass to see the players. It also manages to capture the sidelines and the crowd at the stadium yet allows the ability to notice the finer details in view.
While the atmosphere is important, everyone is here to actually play the game. EA brought over the SAPIEN technology that was introduced in Madden NFL 24 to properly size each player more correctly in EA SPORTS FC 24. While there isn’t as much of a variation in size for soccer players, the player models are more precise and can be noticed in the height range. This also allows for smoother animations across the board, which is no doubt witnessed in the gameplay. EA continues to add more to its physics engine wither HyperMotionV volumetric data. The development team captured full 11v11 competitive matches to implement this data into the game, and it is fully felt in the gameplay with thousands of animations that create a wide variety of elements that has made the game more lifelike in motion.
Everything is so unique during gameplay and this combines with the AI. Physicality is more prevalent with all the volumetric data and animations brought to the game. Players will battle one-on-one to go after a header or with a group. Specific momentum will result in various collision animations. Even slightly brushing players will bring a reaction. The one thing that didn’t get improved was the lack of vibration in the controller. It would be nice to have more feedback with the physicality being as improved as it would add to even more immersion.
The most outstanding aspect is just the confidence that both passing and shooting provide. In the past, unless I completely knew how the shooting mechanics worked, it is much more confidence aspiring to make penalty kicks, corner kicks and whatnot. There are assists in the options that can be completely removed, but the development team made these kicks much more approachable. Dribbling offers a ton of advanced maneuvers and it’s fun to play around with these. There’s generally enough space to make one-on-one matchups work. This is thanks to the addition of PlayStyles, while the best in the world can go above and beyond with PlayStyles+. Speed kills in the game, as well, as having a burner to create separation is vital. If there’s a player that can be both fast and versatile with the ability to pull off amazing dribbles, it’s going to be hard to beat. The gameplay is so satisfying and with results when scoring a goal are undoubtedly unrivaled in any sports game. Set up a pooch kick for a distinct header or bicycle kick and the AI knows what to do in that situation while on offense? It’s simply fantastic.
These aspects are most noticed in the Player Career mode, as players will be on just one player if they so choose. The AI, as a whole, is some of the best there is in a sports game. Players do not stand around, they coordinate where they are supposed to be and attempt to get into open space to make plays. I know the series implemented machine learning AI a few years ago, and it seems to continue to pay off. AI Mimic instills more volumetric data to combine with that AI to make better decisions and recreate unique body movements. As the difficulty level is increased, the opposing AI is much more aggressive. Toning down the difficulty allows for a bit more room to play around with dribbles and get a feel for the game. Once adjusted, increasing the difficulty level will provide a much better defensive stance. The goalies are no slouch, either. The ball movement also sees the AI treatment with AI True Flight Ball Physics. Seeing some of these shots bend the way they do is amazing, and the ball reacts the way it should especially on rebounds.
HyperMotionV may enable the animations to be showcased, but EA SPORTS FC 24 still runs on the Frostbite Engine. This game showcases the capabilities of that engine and with improved facial captures and featured lighting on the player models, the game looks as real as it gets. Ambient Occlusion was added to boast even more detail to shading and shadows. Water kicks up from the grass during gameplay in the rain and slide tackles produce scrapes in the grass. Cloth ripple is even more realistic as stretching and rippling effects are prevalent. The crowd and player models all look distinct and lifelike, and Messi’s hair continues to grab everyone’s attention. All of this while the game runs at 4K and 60 FPS on current generation hardware. Playing on a cloudy rainy day brings the player into the game, while illuminating lights from around the stadium at night and sunlight reflections and shadows during the day all help create a separate feel for varying matches.
There aren’t any brand new modes that have been added to EA SPORTS FC 24, but all have received additions. Player Career allows for the creation of an avatar or to take over a current player on a team. Dynamic Moments allow players to celebrate championships and achievements, but these are few and far between experiencing. The Player Agent helps to streamline a transfer or recommend a path, but this is kind of surface level in depth. Players will unlock new PlayStyles over time with addressing three varying personalities. This is grown by allocating money towards off-the-field resources that include investments or charities. Training can also be done to help gain levels to achieve more PlayStyles.
For those in the more business-side or managerial-side of the sport, the Manager Career allows players to create an identity and build the team the way you desire. The Touchline Cam allows to watch the game playout in Spectate mode through the eyes of the manager. Training will provide PlayStyle boosts for players to use and the Dynamic Moments also carry over to this. These are a bit of additions to each of the main single player modes, so these are nice touches to the established modes. You won’t find a narrative mode as it seems EA has moved away from this almost across the board.
The other game mode options require an internet connection, and this is where the trouble rears its head. This can all be addressed, but whether if you play in VOLTA, Clubs or Ultimate Team, there’s currently a matchmaking issue. This is even with cross-play making an appearance. Teams will fill up and then it just errors out. Eventually, a connection can be made at some point to join, and the games where you’re not depending on the other person’s connection run perfectly fine. Clubs Season allows to grow an avatar and play with others in traditional soccer games. VOLTA remains the street soccer mode that’s fun, but doesn’t take any strides this year. Strangely, when playing a traditional 1v1 team match online, the input lag is horrendous but is absent from the Clubs and VOLTA which offer multiple players.
Closing Comments:
What EA has done with its relaunched soccer title is define the series going forward. EA SPORTS FC 24 shows off what sports games are capable of on the field by creating unique circumstances boiled down to an individualistic experience while adding even more stadium and broadcast atmosphere for a series that needed a change. The tech has always been there for this series, and this year what has been added has all been put together to create one of the best sports games in recent times. The gameplay is satisfying and it doesn’t get redundant. There are a good bit of modes to dive into, but besides more in-depth improvements to each mode, no major modes have been added. The current state of playing online is frustrating, and hopefully this can get resolved. From a gameplay perspective, the only improvement needs to come from controller vibration feedback being made on contact. I feel like the DualSense is being underutilized here and while I understand it’s not American football, some of these collisions deserve more than just a vague and light rumble.
EA Sports FC 24
EA Sports FC 24 is Electronic Arts' first modern football game to not use the FIFA license. The project expands on modes like Ultimate Team through the addition of Evolutions and mixed-gender teams, all the while striving to provide the most realistic gameplay yet through the Hypermotion V technology.
