Audio
Another eclectic mix of tracks, mostly from artists I've never heard of. The commentary is perfectly fine, and the match day atmosphere is about as good as it gets.
Visuals
Everything from the player likenesses to the blades of grass on the pitch are rendered in intricate detail. Some player faces are a mite iffy, however, and the fans in the stands behave like dead-eyed androids.
Playability
Have you played a FIFA game recently? Then you'll doubtless be well acquainted with the nuances of FC 24. This is much the same on a fundamental level, which is no bad thing. Authenticity takes a hit whenever Wolves win a match, though, and I say that as a wounded fan.
Delivery
To put it bluntly, on Xbox, Volta Football mode is fucked. Ultimate Team still has the capacity to leech away countless hours of your life, though, and while we can take or leave many of the other modes, there's a lot to be said for the simple pleasures of FC 24's Kick Off mode.
Achievements
Another lazy, mostly copy and paste job from FIFA games gone by. Seriously, this is a rubbish, sloppily reheated list that smacks of zero effort. Must try harder.
September 29, 2023
What does the FIFA name really mean to EA? Brand recognition is clearly the most significant thing, and it's a damn sight simpler to just say 'FIFA' than it is to say 'EA Sports FC'. For thirty years, FIFA has been FIFA, a name synonymous with EA's licensed football series, but this time around, FIFA is dead. Long live EA Sports FC. The name might have changed, but the game remains the same. EA Sports FC 24 is still recognisably FIFA, from Ultimate Team to Volta, to the usual Player and Manager Career modes, Clubs, and whatnot. Nothing here is really all that different.
But then, did anyone expect EA to tear down the established formula and start from scratch for EA Sports FC 24? Think of this as FIFA 24, the same iterative game of football, with those buzz-phrase back-of-the-box features, like HyperMotionV technology and PlayStyle+. While I'm sure that features like these mean something to someone, in real terms they do little to shake things up. Fundamentally, FC 24 plays much the same as FIFA has for the last few years, bringing nothing particularly new or noteworthy to the pitch.
If it sounds like I'm down on this year's not-FIFA, rest assured, I'm not. While the name change and ditching of the FIFA license could have represented the chance for a clean slate, EA Sports FC 24 nonetheless remains eminently playable, offering a slick and immediate game of football. Ultimate Team, for many, will be the go-to mode, and, as ever, there's hours of enjoyment to be had, building your squad and combining players to boost their chemistry. Once you've forged your ideal team, you can then take it online to engage in Squad Battles or Rivals Season matches, or play against AI teams.
You could conceivably spend most of your time in Ultimate Team, earning enough FIFA Coins to spend on opening pack after pack, so you can flesh out your team with the best players possible. But, equally, the Player and Manager Career modes have plenty to offer, even if EA has done little to push either mode forward in any hugely significant way, unless you include the new, self-explanatory 'Play As Player' camera. Clubs, meanwhile, continues to share progression with Volta Football, so you'll create your own 'Pro', deck them out in whatever gear you see fit, then connect with other players for a competitive kickabout. At time of writing, however, we could get neither Volta nor Clubs to work properly on Xbox, and a rudimentary look at EA's support forums indicates that a vast number of players have been experiencing the same issue, with no solution in sight.
In the case of FC 24's Volta mode, connecting to the mode in any way, shape, or form is currently impossible on Xbox, greeting you with a server error message before kicking you out. For one of the game's core modes, it's not a great look, and really, EA needs to do much better. You can still play Volta matches in Kick Off mode, like 3v3 and 4v4 Rush, 5v5, or Futsal, but if you're on Xbox, that's your lot as far as Volta is concerned, until EA comes up with a fix (or, rather, if EA comes up with a fix). Kick Off is about the most reliable part of FC 24, offering straightforward football with no waiting around or being stuck navigating menus.
Seasons, Co-op Seasons, Tournaments, and Online Friendlies round out FC 24's suite of multiplayer modes, ensuring that players with a penchant for the more competitive side of the game have plenty to sink their teeth into. Predictably, FC 24 also still boasts all of the licensed teams, kits, stadiums, and players from almost all of the biggest leagues around the world, spanning the men's and women's game, so the Premier League, EFL Championship, Women's Super League, Bundesliga, La Liga, and numerous others remain present and correct, much as you'd expect.
There's no questioning EA's commitment to providing another wholly authentic football game, then, even if it is in essence much the same as last year's entry. And the one before that. PlayStyles might make players seem more unique, but that doesn't really translate into any sort of truly noticeable, sweeping change when you're sat in front of your TV, controller in-hand, playing a match. EA Sports FC 24 upholds the series' reputation as a football game that continues to deliver on authenticity, with a smooth simulation of the beautiful game, but if you were hoping for a big leap forward, then you might be disappointed.
Iterative it may be, but EA Sports FC 24, in spite of its flaws (and in the case of the Xbox version, despite the complete inaccessibility of one of the game's key modes), retains its place as the best game of football money can buy – not that there's much in the way of competition these days. It's slightly better than FIFA 23, and it at least seems like the enhanced Frostbite Engine and HyperMotionV doodads make for a slightly better on-pitch experience. That said, how about next year we make sure that all of EA Sports FC 25's modes work like they're supposed to, yeah?