EA SPORTS FC™ 26

I went into FC 26 hoping for the yearly polish and a few smart additions. On consoles it can shine; on many PCs it sadly stumbles — and when your game stumbles, so does the fun.

Core gameplay will feel familiar if you’ve played recent FIFA/FC titles: passing, dribbling and build-up are largely the same, with some new tune-ups like low-driven shots and PlayStyles that change player tendencies. Career Mode has small but welcome improvements — matches feel playable and the progression loop works, though some contract and social features feel half-baked. Ultimate Team is still the cash cow: plenty of bundles, microtransactions and new consumables for archetypes and XP boosts. Pro Clubs and online modes show the biggest rift: many PC players report severe input delay, controller dropouts and matchmaking hiccups that kill the experience. Technical problems dominate the chatter — Javelin anti-cheat corruption, random FPS drops, settings not saving and post-match freezes appear frequently in user reports. Presentation, animations and soundtrack are typically polished EA — when the game runs, it can look great and offer fun moments. If you play locally with friends or focus on Career Mode, you’ll find enjoyable stretches; if you rely on competitive online modes on PC, patience (and future patches) are mandatory.

EA SPORTS FC 26 has genuine ideas and moments of fun, but the rocky PC launch and persistent online issues make it hard to fully recommend at full price. Buy on sale or stick to offline modes until patches land.