EA FC is a game that many of us have a love-hate relationship with. Every year, EA does something that either makes you fall back in love with the franchise or completely turn you off to it. EA FC 25 followed the same tradition, where half the people refused to play it, while the other half couldn’t put the controller down.
Love it or hate it, though, it had a huge problem. The game played like a ping-pong simulator. Clean tackles used to bounce back to your opponent, and the keepers were a disaster, causing a ton of rebound goals. Fortunately, EA has promised to fix both of these issues in their latest iteration, EA FC 26. According to the gameplay deep dive, all gameplay fundamentals have been refined, so let’s take a look at how both of these mechanics have changed.
EA FC 26 Fixes Tackling And Rebound Goals — For Real This Time?
While the game hasn’t been released yet, EA has revealed a detailed deep dive and pitch notes, breaking down the gameplay of EA FC 26. In the notes, the developers mention and admit both of these problems. Since this year’s game is all about listening to the community, this is EA’s way of saying that we hear you, and we’re trying to make amends. Unfortunately, they say that every year, so we’ll be putting the claims to the test ourselves once the game is out.
That said, the pitch notes contain all the details about the new refinements. According to EA, they’ve trained the keepers in thousands of different scenarios using machine learning. Now, the keepers will be able to position themselves better and deflect the ball away in intense attacking scenarios. This translates to fewer rebound goals. They want the game to feel as real as possible, and perfectly simulating the skill of world-class keepers is a part of that.
Secondly, the developers admitted that the ping-pong simulator, or EA FC 25, had a problem with tackles. So, they’ve spent hundreds of hours fixing the tackling mechanic. In EA FC 26, tackling will feel more realistic, and if you make a clean tackle, you’ll gain possession instead of the ball bouncing back to your opponent. The game is supposed to reward clean tackles and good timing, so if you have the skill, you’ll retain possession.
Can EA FC 26’s Gameplay Fixes Survive The First Patch?
While all this sounds great to hear, let’s come back to reality. EA FC isn’t the type of game that releases and remains the same for its entire duration. That’s far from the truth. Instead, as soon as the game releases, FUT players start complaining about multiple aspects of the game. This causes EA to revamp the game through patch updates. We saw this in EA FC 25. When the game came out, headers became the meta, since scoring them was so easy. However, soon after people started complaining, EA nerfed headers to the ground.
This doesn’t mean that patch updates are necessarily bad. If something is too overpowered and becomes meta, releasing a patch is a valid move. However, EA doesn’t just put a bandage on the problem; it starts performing surgery, which worsens it even more.
All of this leads us to EA FC 26. Even though the game seems to be in great condition as of now, there’s no guarantee of how it will look post-launch. Maybe the tackling will really be fixed this time around, maybe EA won’t ruin everything with a patch update, or maybe all this is wishful thinking.
In any case, fans will probably end up buying it, because the love-hate relationship is too strong with this franchise. If you’re looking to grab a copy, though, I’d recommend waiting a week or two after launch to see if EA’s claims hold up. We’ll be at the front line reporting everything, so hang around till the launch.
