EA FC 26 has a lot to offer, and it’s been enough time since release that even casual players are starting to figure out the meta. There are quite a lot of new mechanics and quirks, with archetypes in player career mode, as well as manager live events to spice things up in your career mode saves. On top of that, the choice between competitive and authentic presets gives you a dynamic and almost personalized feel.
Returning players who only buy an FC game will certainly enjoy the new changes, and they might even be surprised by how objectively better it is in many regards. However, avid players and those who enjoy competition have noticed some serious issues that the casual audience may not notice. Like any sports game, this one isn’t perfect either, and we’ll be discussing some of the more glaring issues, particularly with the current meta.
Broken Dribbling Mechanics In EA FC 26
FC games have never been about just dribbling and doing tricks with the ball. Yes, it gives you an advantage if you’re in a 1v1 situation, but football has always been more focused on making key passes. That is not the case at all with FC 26. The game has such a broken dribbling mechanic that it’s making players frustrated. The essence of this game looks to be only spinning around with the ball to confuse defenders. Every player is capable of doing it, and that’s what makes it overpowered, but in a bad way.
It looks like the only way to win in this game is to keep spinning around with the ball because playing normally will most certainly result in a loss. The way the game works is that the players with the ball are significantly quicker and more agile than players off the ball. It gets to a point where it’s just frustrating if you’re on the receiving end of it. The moment you take the bait and attack the player who’s spinning around like a Beyblade, you lose the challenge. Of course, experienced players will know better not to fall for these tactics, but it’s frustrating nonetheless. This just beats the realism of the game because that is never the case in an actual football match; a player would never go the whole match just spinning the ball around for the whole 90 minutes.
Defending Seems Useless
Majorly linked with the dribbling problem discussed above, midfielders do not track back even if they are set as defensive midfielders. They watch on as the opponent dribbles past them, not intervening in the slightest. Defending is a crucial part of the game, and if defense feels limiting, the game starts to fall apart. The game has become too perfect in the sense that there are barely any fouls during the matches. There’s also very limited physicality to the game, and shoulder-to-shoulder challenges feel especially lacking.
It would be okay if this were just a problem with defensive midfielders, but full-backs aren’t any better at initiating 1v1 challenges. They stay back in their own box as the opponent spins around in circles and eventually takes a shot at the goal. This problem seems to continue into corners, as when you face a corner, any defenders in the box will leave you on your own to deal with 1v1 or 2v1 situations.
As for when you take a corner yourself, any defenders who have come up to attack will immediately ditch you to go back to defense, leaving you with minimal support in attack.
Misplaced Passes
As if broken dribbling and limited defensive abilities weren’t enough pain, FC 26 is lacking in another fundamental aspect: passing. Any player knows passing is a vital part of the game, and it seems to be highly inconsistent this time around. Now, it’s common to pass in one direction and slightly miss; to a small extent, that’s acceptable. But it’s the fact that passes often seem to be inconsistent and go in different directions, even with some highly rated players!
The only saving grace for passing seems to be player lock, but you now run into a completely different problem with that. You start to make passes that you feel like you shouldn’t be making. This breaks the immersion a lot and constantly reminds you that this is a video game, not a fully fleshed-out simulator. This broken passing mechanic forces players to switch to just dribbling, which again is broken with all the spinning. So this all becomes a nightmare for anybody defending.
Is There Light At The End Of The Tunnel?
One area where I do have to give EA credit is that they seem to be responding to feedback. Just last week (at the time of writing this), patch 1.0.3 fixed kick-off goals, provided better optimization to PC, and squashed some bugs with Ultimate Team. If enough people complain and provide feedback, there is a chance that a lot of these issues will be addressed.
