EA Sports FC 27 Xbox Series X Review – Pitch Perfect

Now, as beloved fans of the beautiful game, we look forward to two things. One, the kickoff of a new season, and two, the next release of FC. That time has arrived for both, and with the latter, this year EA Sports FC 27 brings back 2 popular leagues and gives us an open-world experience many have been wanting. With that said, I’m going to focus on some key standout features in this review.

The Grounds

Let’s start off right from the top with the most anticipated new mode, which is The Grounds. This is an open world consisting of 3 locations

• Parkside – England
• Montclair – France
• Zeiza – Argentina

These locations are beautifully designed to give that look and feel of the respective country. I think this was a creative way of making a unique open world instead of just having one big open area. I can see holiday themes being applied, maybe having it snow during the winter season or celebrating global events like New Year’s with fireworks.

You begin by creating a new character, NOT your career mode character, which is how NBA 2K Open World: The City handles this. However, this new character can be played in Pro Clubs. You will improve attributes and purchase or earn cosmetics to change your character’s appearance. EA said you can expect to see up to 100 players roaming around the 3 locations, which gives the feel of a vibrant community. And for the most part, it does. It definitely put a smile on my face jumping in and seeing all these real-world people running around looking for a match to play. We also see the return of Alex Hunter from the old “FIFA” Journey career mode. He guides you around and also points out that there are other pros in The Grounds that you can interact with. With that said, here are the match types you can play

• 1v1
• 2v2
• 3v3
• 4v4
• RUSH
• 11v11 Clubs
• Goal Control (you score on goals scattered around the area)
• Bucket Ball (2v2 basketball but kicking the ball in the basket)
• Big Race (dribbling obstacle course)
• Bocce Ball (classic bocce ball rules, but with a football)
• Attacking Scenarios – (2v2 with random scoring objectives)

So, as you can see, EA didn’t go light on the play options in this new mode. It’s clear this mode is designed to be a hangout spot with friends. And with games like Bocce Ball and Bucket Ball, I think it can achieve this goal, but time will tell. From my experience, I found those 2 games fun to play, especially after a tough loss in UT. It’s a good way to de-stress without rage quitting the game, and I think that’s the point, right? Since the game was just released, there are virtually no wait times for matches; even the 11v11 will pair up pretty quickly, which is great. Honestly, I would have also liked a bit more integration with Career and Ultimate Team. One of the main features people love about NBA 2K The City is how integrated it is with all the other modes. Your character (MP) is also progressing in his career while in The City; this includes cutscenes, story progress, etc. And who knows, maybe that will appear in FC 28, but overall, the gameplay experience provided in The Grounds produces a fun time.

Welcome back, A-League and Liga MX

One of the BEST features of FC is the amount of officially licensed leagues it has. And thankfully that list continues to grow with the return of Australia (A-League) and Mexico (Liga MX). These two additions are not only great for fans of the respective leagues but also those who play Ultimate Team which has received an influx of new players to flush out their squads. It’s also worth mentioning that EA has struck a multi-year deal with CBF to bring in the Brazil national team to FC 27. This is great news considering the Brazilian Serie A league is not in the game.

Key changes to Ultimate Team

Welcome to FUT Gallery, we now have a visual collection showing all the players we’ve collected, present or past. So, if you sell an item, it still shows in your collection as previously owned. There are goals for completing team collections that can earn you FUT packs, which is nice. As many of you know, I LIVE in UT, so this new gallery will just remind me how much time I invest in this mode every year.

Gone are Common / Rare items. We now just have Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Special. Honestly, the only time I paid much attention to the common cards is when I was gathering them up for an SBC.

Evolution Pathways

I think we can all agree the best new addition to FC in recent years has been with Evolutions. The ability to upgrade your existing player is fantastic, and now we have Evolution Pathways. So once you pick a qualified player/item, you will see multiple pathways to upgrade; maybe one is more on the defensive side, and the other is focused more on attack. I think it can work, I would like to see player positions added to pathways, maybe upgrade an RB for more attack or adds a CB position with more defense. We also have single-player live events (offline). I’m all for more game modes in FUT, so the more, the merrier.

EA Sports FC 27 brings us the world of football in a single game. We have all the top leagues (sorry, Brazil) in one game, and it is constantly getting updated through their respective seasons. The Grounds is full of fun mini games to play around in with zero stress, and the overall gameplay experience is solid and has been for a while. Yes, people will complain about loose defense or some players being overpowered, but that will ALWAYS be an issue in any sports game. Which is why we have sliders; people…use the sliders. With that said, I’m satisfied with this year’s offering. I’m sure The Grounds will continue to evolve, but as of right now, there is literally something for everyone in FC 27.

This review was written based on a digital review copy of EA Sports FC 27 for the Xbox Series X provided by EA Sports.