EA Sports FC 27 review: tighter defending and smarter runs, but it's still mostly the same game with the serial numbers filed off

[HHH_Gold]

EA Sports FC 27, released on September 24, 2026, lands as a solid but largely incremental update on last year's game, earning a 7.25 out of 10 from Game Informer's review. The headline gameplay changes centre on defending, with reduced CPU assistance in competitive mode forcing players to rely more on genuine manual defending skill, alongside new teammate running patterns designed to keep strikers onside, more precise through ball aiming, and improved player control during corner kicks.

On the features side, the game introduces The Grounds, a new instanced open world mode built around avatar customisation, Rush matches and small sided competitions, alongside Gallery, a themed card collection system in Ultimate Team that rewards squad building with re-gradable card sets. Career Mode also gets a refined negotiation system built around tension meters and a new Dynamic OVR system that tracks a player's form and morale over time, while overall player progression has been tweaked to give users more starting coins and tradeable items.

The review praised how the new defensive mechanics genuinely reward player skill and specifically enjoyed triggering the new curved attacking runs, with Ultimate Team's Gallery mechanics remaining the game's primary draw. On the downside, player switching glitches persist during hectic defensive sequences, CPU teammates still occasionally make poor decisions, The Grounds mode was criticised for lacking compelling gameplay and feeling disconnected from the main Player Career experience, and the Career Mode improvements were described as more granular than genuinely impactful. The overall verdict summed the game up as a familiar experience that doesn't change too much from its predecessor.

EA Sports FC 27 Review - The Grounds is Shaky, But the Tactics System Shows Promisewww.ign.com