The Worst Game EA Has Ever Made: My Full Opinion on FC 25
The gameplay is missing the following:
Goalkeeper Decision-Making Improvements:
In some scenarios, when the goalkeeper makes a save, he performs an extra movement and deliberately pushes the ball into the net in a dramatic way.
In certain situations, the goalkeeper makes a save, but the ball rebounds directly to the opponent’s feet, leading to many easy goals.
In one-on-one situations, if you bring the goalkeeper slightly forward and the opponent attempts a lob shot, the goalkeeper freezes in place on purpose and reacts too late instead of quickly retreating. This results in easy lob goals with no real response from the goalkeeper. Even if the goalkeeper does move backward, he sometimes pushes the ball into his own net instead of properly saving it.
Manual goalkeeper movement (right stick control) is extremely poor this year. If you move the goalkeeper in one direction and then change your mind, the goalkeeper freezes in place, making him completely unresponsive and allowing for easy goals.
In previous versions of the game, pressing the triangle/Y button twice made the goalkeeper step forward into the middle of the penalty area to intercept crosses or curling through balls. Currently, pressing the button twice does nothing; the goalkeeper just moves directly toward the ball as if you had only pressed it once.
Lastly, when a player dribbles past the goalkeeper, the game artificially slows down the dribbler while speeding up the goalkeeper, allowing him to reach out and grab both the ball and the dribbler’s leg at the same time. The goalkeeper's hands seem to pass through the player's legs, but somehow, the ball ends up in the goalkeeper’s hands, and the dribbler suddenly loses control, even though the goalkeeper hasn’t made a realistic ball-winning tackle.
This summarizes the goalkeeper issues.
Defense:
Defense abilities need improvement, and some automatic defensive interventions should be reduced.
Regarding defense, we notice that players make automatic interventions from the game, whether they are AI-controlled players or real players. You can observe that when a player has a certain playstyle, such as the "block" playstyle, the game automatically pulls the player towards the shot without the player predicting where the shot will go. Also, with the "anticipate" playstyle (Anticipate) and others, in general, we notice unrealistic interventions in the game, where the ball is intercepted from behind the player or the defenders' feet go through the dribbling player's feet, forcibly pulling the ball from them. In this version of the game, defensive interventions are overpowered (OP) and completely illogical, with significant support for defenders. Even with the jockey speed, defenders can still easily catch up with attackers. We notice that while using the jockey, the defenders' body posture is strange. They move backward with their backs turned and cut the ball, or they perform a quick turn to intercept the ball. Therefore, it’s impossible to dribble past the defense as they always anticipate everything. Even when they are slower than some attackers, they can catch up easily. Worse, when jumping for high balls, the taller player can use his hands on the shorter player's shoulders to leap and take the ball, which would be considered a foul in real football.
In some situations, defenders collide with each other when trying to defend a ball close to the goal, causing the ball to be deflected between them and then rebound into their own goal.
Finally, the amount of pressure exerted by defensive players, especially AI players, is really annoying. They constantly pressure the ball carrier or even players without the ball, cutting off passing lanes and intercepting passes. They take advantage of the game's automatic interventions and benefit from slowing down the ball carrier’s speed while pushing the ball forward, making it difficult to dribble past the defenders.
This is what concerns defense.
For Midfielders:
Midfielders are the most disadvantaged group in this version.
The passing is very bad and inaccurate. Even the through balls go in strange directions contrary to the inputs. Sometimes the pass goes to another player instead of the intended player, sometimes it goes to the nearby player instead of the far player, and sometimes it goes to the winger on the side of the pitch instead of the forward in front of you.
Also, strong through balls with a powerful bar do not go to the distant player but to the nearby player, no matter how hard the pass is. For example, when there is a striker in front of you and you want to play the ball to the winger who is running alongside the striker, the ball will go to the forward ahead of you instead of the winger. The passing power is weak. You always feel that using the triangle button for a through ball feels like a regular pass (X button).
What makes things worse is that the accuracy of long through balls (long ball pass) has been significantly reduced, as they always fail to reach the target and are intercepted by the defender, making them completely useless when used from a distance. Also, the ground through balls (incisive pass) have been greatly slowed down, with less speed and less curvature, and the distance the ball travels has decreased.
Additionally, the regular long pass (circle button) is very poor, as the ball spends too much time in the air before reaching the intended player, making it useless because all the opposing players have already positioned themselves correctly.
Crosses have also become bad compared to previous versions. They also spend too much time in the air, and their accuracy is very weak.
Flair passes have become completely inaccurate and useless; once used, the ball will miss and rebound back towards your own goal.
Dribbling and sprinting are another story, as both have become very weak. You can’t sprint because the player always slows down at the start or during the run in a strange way, as if waiting for the defenders to catch up and intercept the ball.
In addition, the dribbling is poor, with the player being slow and unable to dribble quickly, especially when using the left stick. It has become useless, and what makes things worse is the automatic interventions from defenders, which make it impossible to dribble past them. As soon as you move the left stick, the defenders will intercept the ball from behind the player or from the side in any way, even when you can clearly see that the defender’s movement has teleported. This makes dribbling impossible in this version.
Finally, skills have also become slow. When using them, they will delay the tempo of the match. This is why you don’t see many players using skill moves, as they have become more of a burden than useful. This is due to the gameplay style, the slow and heavy player movements, and their inability to sprint quickly. Additionally, many skills have problems, as they don't respond to cancellations, and sometimes the skill doesn’t respond to inputs, or the player gets tired quickly when performing two or more skills, causing them to become very slow.
All these issues have caused midfielders to suffer a lot in this version of the game, and the running, movement, and heaviness of the players affect all positions, whether midfield, defense, or attack. However, the other issues are more specific to midfielders than others.
Forwards/Attackers:
Unfortunately, forwards (or attackers) also suffer in this version, but to a lesser extent than midfielders. You can see that they also struggle with running and getting past defenders, in addition to the fact that the acrobatic playstyle (for aerial game) is useless. The forward player cannot score goals like a bicycle kick or other similar moves, and their accuracy is always poor, in addition to the poor dribbling I mentioned earlier.
I also have a note about finesse shots. Previously, finesse shots depended more on technique rather than the playstyle. However, now you see that any player with this playstyle can take a finesse shot with no technique involved, and the game assists them. I'm not saying the accuracy of finesse shots should be reduced, but it should be dependent on the player's technique. In the past versions, even the outside foot shots relied on the player's technique, but now there is no technique involved, no matter the player's position—just press R2 to shoot, and the game does everything. Also, players who don't have this playstyle experience a significant reduction in shot accuracy, but in my opinion, they should be rewarded at least for their technique. When the player takes the correct body angle and the right shooting position, the game should reward the shot accuracy.
Lastly, forwards (or attackers) take longer than usual when shooting, as they slow down when changing direction or when taking a shot. There is a clear delay before the player shoots, and sometimes they don't even respond to the shot input. These are important things for forwards that need to be fixed.
Additionally, the accuracy of headers and aerial balls also needs to be fixed.
This concerns forwards.
My General Opinion on the Gameplay (Summarized as Quick Points):
1- Fix the slowdown of players while "running with the ball."
2. Fix the slowness of players without the ball when retreating during defense or counter-attacks.
3. Improve dribbling with the left stick and make it better.
4. Fix header shots and aerial shots (acrobatic) and increase their accuracy.
5. Fix high through passes and increase their speed and accuracy.
6. Fix high balls with the circle button and increase their speed and accuracy.
7. Fix crosses and increase their speed and accuracy.
8. Fix ground through passes and increase their speed, the distance they can cover, and the angle of deviation—improve this more.
9. Fix flair passes and increase their accuracy and power.
10. Fix skills and some skill moves that don't work correctly or are ignored. Speed up their execution and reduce player fatigue when performing more than one skill move—players should not slow down, especially if their stamina is not fully depleted.
11. Fix the goalkeeper's freeze-frame on lob shots and make him quickly retreat to the goal to save them instead of standing still.
12. Fix the goalkeeper’s reaction after saving, as sometimes they perform an extra move, pushing the ball into their own net, or saving it weakly, letting it go into the goal or directly passing it to the opponent's foot. All these issues need to be fixed.
13. Fix the goalkeeper's movement during crosses—when pressing the triangle button for the first time and then pressing it again for a long time, the goalkeeper should move to the center of the penalty area to catch crosses or save bending through balls.
14. Fix the goalkeeper movement with the right stick—when you move the goalkeeper for the first time and then try to move him again, he freezes and does nothing.
15. Increase the speed boost for players.
16. Reduce the pressure and congestion in midfield, especially from AI players.
17. Reduce automatic defensive interventions where defenders intercept the ball automatically without pressing any button.
18. Reduce unnecessary physical contacts and player clustering.
19. Reduce defensive interventions and ball interceptions from behind.
20. Remove the mechanic that synchronizes the defender with the ball carrier, where you can see a scenario where the ball carrier clearly slows down, and the defender speeds up, making the ball carrier feel pressured, almost as if attracted by a magnet. This mechanic should be removed so that the game becomes fair, relying on player skills and anticipation rather than game-assisted automation.
21. Reduce the distance when players collide—players are sometimes thrown far from their position when trying to avoid collisions. This distance should be reduced at least.
22. Fix referee decisions in general, especially when announcing offside, as the referee blows the whistle before the ball reaches the player.
23. Fix some referee decisions in rare situations, like when the ball is shot in the last second of the match, where the referee blows the whistle while the ball is still in the air and the goal doesn't count. Also, in some scenarios, when the defender returns the ball to the goalkeeper, and he catches it with his hands, the referee doesn't call a foul.
24. Fix the direction for passes and the mechanism of selecting the correct player. The ball always goes to unintended players.
25. Fix the delay that happens to the player when taking a shot.
26. Fix the turning speed of players, as they become slow when changing direction or turning.
27. Improve overall player control, whether with the ball or without it.
28. Fix the free-kick camera in skill games.
29. Fix the preferred foot setting in skill games.
30. Fix strong ball rebounds during slides, especially in Ultimate Mode.
31. Fix the issue with throw-ins—sometimes the player freezes during the throw-in.
32. Find a solution for cheaters in the game.
33- Fix the mechanic of pushing the ball forward while running, as it causes player slowdown and loss of ball control, reducing the player's ability to dribble quickly due to the player not reaching the ball yet.
General Suggestions for the Game:
1. Reinstate the relegation, promotion, and staying in the same division system as it was before, where everything depends on the player’s level and results, and these determine whether they stay, get relegated, or promoted, instead of the game interfering at the end of each season and resetting them to the previous division.
2. Bring back the old communication system. The new communication system is terrible, with players putting their hands over their heads while running or passing in a ridiculous way. I didn’t like it at all; it’s far from realistic. The old communication system is a million times better.
3. Remove the playoff system from Pro Clubs and bring back the previous division system and title, as it was much more exciting. When you reached Division 1, everyone was motivated to play and win the title and see the team's cutscenes holding the trophy. Now, the playoffs completely eliminate that enjoyment.
4. Bring back the special modes like the Long Shots Cup and No Rules Cup to Club Modes. They were fun, and everyone wanted to win more titles.
5. Remove the Rush mode. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the new Rush mode; it's very childish, and there’s no fun in it. I suggest adding a mode other than Rush, like FIFA Street, focusing on street play and playing with stars in street matches. It could have a story mode and something similar to Ultimate Team, where you can recruit players and icons and face other players in street matches. This would be a fantastic idea, and everyone would love it, in my opinion.
6. Bring back the club museum or the trophy room to Club Modes.
This is my full opinion on the game.
Thank you.
Videos that support my point if you'd like to watch:
https://youtu.be/fA7xkOgzdis?si=TiKPWtedybNh40_Q
https://youtu.be/9DIifPRBHZc?si=Wfh_XeX2OuAPliBQ
https://youtu.be/9NLN0ouIwN0?si=Y_aQjEtrl8uttmY1
https://youtu.be/IKfMj3OQKys?si=TZcn42a74R3hFGx1
https://youtu.be/8DAP4x7NvFc?si=UF-TITuYtV4BSZDL
https://youtu.be/mV2cKeK6eaw?si=TY6oLQ1tjMjpfBJ3
https://youtu.be/ooUGLd6vzmA?si=SqZLrtcr_l5kYREr
https://youtu.be/VqtOa2C9m1s?si=BIhzCFfEeNAkWXOx
https://youtu.be/1ZnzJwC1Bk4?si=EYDzYAKXV1ZvYaGa
https://youtu.be/e89iBrxZCeg?si=bZxp56yMrDus9bHB
https://youtu.be/OS-s23NqcFY?si=gtEKmA0716EjJ1_y
https://youtu.be/CYaFrbNW8LA?si=HKVXaXRsylnDD6wh
https://youtu.be/bUvy_ldKCx4?si=xVzG_24cP0cyDXVy
https://youtu.be/kA_Me6_gZF4?si=xzjEvo7f462VEkCv
https://youtu.be/0TreBKGOWJQ?si=8rlOI8tIMnak4PKN
https://youtu.be/K4cgPb5-Izg?si=XQsvS0zN2X_Xxtyl
https://youtu.be/Y-MkDhBKJ7M?si=_rMWfU8sNyrHmQ1m
https://youtu.be/2Ef3frqCwB8?si=TuuvH1eYZovW1Jq7
https://youtu.be/1GWuOWK4J88?si=_EZNHisgCj_2pJWj
https://youtu.be/G38l8UE-BWA?si=S0NyFKAh0a0jCN3K
https://youtu.be/rYpGo2OZX30?si=ULpp1eYOO8koLLu1
https://youtu.be/X7RVdRDYNOA?si=FUSi4XX2MUNnSRm_
https://youtu.be/NrHtquf97b8?si=kn-3DsAm3kHnbQN_
https://youtu.be/dZDQI3k1Jt8?si=a5lc6g_FkXO1tJ_e
