If you've been following the history of the FIFA series on Switch, you'll know there was a massive plot twist last year. After delivering exactly the same FIFA game for six years in a row and getting progressively more frustrated Nintendo Life reviews in the process, EA finally stepped up its game with EA Sports FC 24 and delivered, for the first time on Nintendo's console, full feature parity with all other versions of the game.
Now that this new honeymoon period for the series is over, does EA Sports FC 25 continue this bold new strategy of treating Switch owners as well as everyone else, or has EA gone back to its old ways and just delivered last year's game with updated rosters?
Thankfully, in this case, it's the former. EA Sports FC 25 on Switch does indeed include the new features added to the other versions of the game this year, meaning Nintendo players will again get the exact same feature set as those playing on more powerful systems.
The most notable of these new additions is Rush, a brand new 5v5 mode named after Mega Man’s dog (citation needed) which puts teams on a smaller pitch and focuses on faster, more close-quarters gameplay. Rush is a brilliant new way to play the game, and feels like the sort of thing that was only made possible following EA’s split from FIFA.
This is partly because it essentially rewrites the rules of football in a way that would likely make the official bearers of the rules squirm in their suits. Kick-off is replaced with a mad dash for the ball, the pitch is split into thirds instead of halves (so you can only be offside in the final third) and red cards are replaced with blue cards, which take a leaf from ice hockey’s book and send players to a sin bin for a minute.
EA’s dabbled with something similar in the past with the Volta mode (which was only just added to the Switch version for the first time last year), but Volta has now been ditched on all formats and Rush is its replacement. It’s for the best too, because while Volta – with its emphasis on tricks and its wall-based arena – was maybe a few steps too far away from core FIFA gameplay, Rush feels like a more natural extension and as such playing it will help you to improve your dribbling and short passing in the main 11v11 mode.
The other main change in this year's game is a complete revamp of the season rewards structure. In previous games, seasons – which tend to last around five-to-six weeks – were restricted to the popular Ultimate Team mode, but now each season spans the entirety of the game. This means you can gain experience by ticking off certain weekly and season-long tasks in Manager, Player and Clubs modes, and use these to unlock rewards across all modes, not just Ultimate Team.
This is particularly useful on Switch because it means that even when Ultimate Team is a ghost town – which it can be on Switch at times – and you’re struggling to find a match, this no longer prevents you from gaining experience because you can now focus on other modes that don’t require online multiplayer, while in turn still earning Ultimate Team rewards.
While all of this new focus on feature parity is undoubtedly a great thing for the series on Nintendo's console, the two major issues we had with last year's game remain and it doesn't feel like a suitable solution is possible any time soon, at least not on the current hardware as it stands.
The most immediately noticeable of these is the performance. When EA was shamelessly churning out the same FIFA game on Switch for six years in a row, it was based on a legacy Xbox 360 version of the game, and as such ran at 60 frames per second with ease. Last year, however, EA’s decision to bring the Switch series in line with other versions included a graphical upgrade, and a move to the Frostbite engine. While this resulted in a visual upgrade in terms of player and stadium detail, it did have an impact on frame rate and that remains the case here.
You’re once again looking at a frame rate of 30fps on Switch (maybe even a little lower while docked), so if you were hoping that last year’s game was a temporary teething problem while EA optimises the new engine on Switch, it’s still the same situation this season. To be clear, the game remains perfectly playable at 30fps, and players who don’t own it on other systems probably won’t even care, but if you’re used to playing the game on Xbox or PlayStation then you jump over to Switch, it can feel a little jarring and you’ll take a while to adapt to the change.
The other main issue – and it’s another one that EA probably can’t do much about now – is perhaps partly a result of its years of negligence on Switch. Ultimate Team continues to have a far smaller player base on Switch than on other systems, and with crossplay impossible (because the other versions run on a different engine) finding a match at certain times of the day can be a very time-consuming process.
The Transfer Market remains a perfect indication of how few players are engaging with Ultimate Team on the Switch version. At the time of writing, there are around 30,000 items on sale in the Transfer Market on Switch, compared to millions on Xbox and PlayStation. As we said last year, it's a shame that each system has its own transfer market instead of EA bringing them all together: as it stands, it’s much harder to build a team on Switch when there are fewer opportunities to play online and earn coins, and the players you want to spend those coins on are in far shorter supply.
Both of these issues — the performance in particular — feel like the sort of thing that should be remedied with the introduction of the Switch’s successor, so we can only hope that EA plans to continue its recent form, chooses not to make the same mistake it did with Switch, and this time hits the ground running by supporting the next console with a full feature-complete version of EA Sports FC 26 next year.
For now, however, FC 25 is proof that last year's game was no fluke and that EA is still all-in on ensuring Switch owners are no longer being treated like an afterthought. The addition of Rush mode and the tweaks to the season pass make FC 25 the new best football game on Switch, but if you have last year's game and are still thoroughly enjoying it, do bear in mind that the leap here is nowhere near as large as the one from 23 to 24.
Conclusion
EA finally treated Switch owners to a feature-parity football game last year and EA Sports FC 25 continues this by adding the new modes also available on other systems. Rush, in particular, is a great new way to play a tighter, more action-packed version of football, and the expanded season rewards system means the game is less reliant on Ultimate Team – which is typically under-populated on Switch – to give players new tasks throughout the year. Performance is still underwhelming but this is otherwise the second solid entry in a row from EA.
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Comments 41
As someone who refuse to move away from Legacy Defending, I hated last year's game as the mechanic is useless now. I would like to know more about the mechanics of the game and less about the modes.
Is 1 NHL game too much to ask for on Switch? They can just do like they do with this series and change the boxart on a 10 year old game and pretend its a new game, im down with that.
Does it finally have Celtic Park ,Ibrox or even Hampden in it?
You forgot to mention you can play as a selection of Icons in the off line Player Career mode! I am doing one with Henry at Arsenal and it’s fun being an icon. This is great addition for me, just a shame you can’t use these icons in Manager Career mode, something I hope they add next year.
edit - plus ultimate addition lets you pick, Beckham, Zidane or Ronaldo (R9)
I only have fifa 19 on the Switch but I think I will wait for Fifa on the Switch 2. Or or two games every decade in the Fifa series is fine with me as I only care for the gameplay.
It's a classic waiting until a sale at the business end of the season for me.
Hard pass no thanks to EA skimping on the cartridge... again.
What's even more annoying is that the Switch version retails for AU$20 less than the other versions. Why the hell aren't they charging the extra AU$20 and throwing in a higher capacity cartridge?! Nobody asked for this. Even when FC 24 was on sale, it was too expensive considering that I'd have to essentially allocate 60GB of space across my three Switches. Yeah, nah.
I'll consider the inevitable launch title/port for the Switch 2, but only if it's all on the cart.
And it's such a shame too as it looks great otherwise.
Admittedly quite tempted to pick this one up if only to applaud them for making a good subsequent attempt at making this series viable on Nintendo again, aside from not having a proper footie on the system yet personally. I don't plan to play this online at all so the offline modes should keep me invested well enough I think.
I'll probably pick it up at a later date though, I have too much on my backlog as it is!
@OorWullie More importantly, Tannadice?
I cant imagine noticing 30 fps vs 60fps in a soccer game where 10 to 20 tiny people run around..lol.
@WiltonRoots Tannadice should be in there as well ,along with Starks Park.
Back in the 90's and early 2000's ,I bought every FIFA and each year, hoped this would be the year they'd add Scottish stadiums. But nope. And I'll assume that's still the case.
@ChHa oh man I would love a new NHL game, last NHL game I played was NHL Hitz 2002 on the Gamecube.
I dunno, the PS5 edition is shockingly terrible. Maybe this being an older version works in its favour.
FIFA play in Switch OLED is suprisingly fun
Played last years version on Switch and found it ran too poorly to enjoy. So sadly it's a no from me.
Normally I don't have much of an issue if a game is 30fps, 60fps, or something in between...
But FC24, man, that feels sluggish to play.
Nintendo Life has kinda fixated on feature parity when reviewing these EA football games, but the basic football gameplay is surely by far the most significant aspect of the game. It is for me anyway. The players just take so long to change direction. I don't know how much of that might be due to them trying to be overly realistic with the physics engine, or whether it's just due to the 30fps, but I tend to favour playing FIFA 23 over FC 24. Maybe I need to give it more time so I adjust, IDK.
@OorWullie Dundee Utd since I was tiny...only saw them once in the 70s and they done Partick Thistle 5-2. Lived in Dundee until 1976.
I feel like UT being quieter should be a positive.
Thanks for the review, while I'm not particularly interested in this myself I'm glad to hear it's overall great for those who are and that the nonsense of pre-FC 24 has seemingly stopped for good - fingers crossed the issues due to the hardware will be gone in the next game if it comes out on the successor (and potentially even this one when it comes to performance if it has backward compatibility as it should)!
still not going to give ea any of my money.
@gcunit
Couldn’t agree more. I’d love for the game to run at 60 fps, but the 30 fps isn’t the issue. The game on the new engine just isn’t response. It can take multiple seconds to transition between menus. It can take 0.5-1.0 seconds to respond to your button press on the field. Passes are always late or sometimes never happen, causing you to feel the need to button mash, which then sets up a string of passes among multiple players. I couldn’t keep playing FC 24. I don’t own a PS5 or XBox, so I don’t know if the sluggishness is a Switch issue or a game engine issue. Regardless, this game is very frustrating to play on the Switch.
Ultimate Team will pick on Switch. Once people realise its not a legacy game. As for 30fps amazing on old Hardware. Switch 2 will maybe see higher fps
@Arkay Maybe will be on Switch 2. I doubt this late stage of Switch 1 it would come. The same with Madden
I can’t believe the 60fps game used to constantly get 3/10 reviews and here we are with 30fps review at 8/10. Who cares how many extra modes there are if the actual gameplay is sacrificed.
Realistic sports games always look boring and too complicated. Give me the Mario alternative any day.
This the greatest FIFA-sorry, FC game ever simply because Ashton Gate is finally included
@ChHa I really wish there was a way to strip older sports games of any team licensing/player associations and re-release them. I played the hell out of Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey and NFL Blitz/2000 during the N64 era. Sucks due to those licensing issues those games will never see the light of day again.
will the game benefit from the better hardware of the Switch 2 or in general is a game only adapted to one platform ?
in general, if the new switch is compatible with former games, will they get improved thanks to the new hardware ?
@macaron35 there’s no way ea is patching this game. They want you to buy the newest model.
@Borderlineland High framerates are essential for esports titles like these, when you're essentially forced to make split second decisions throughout every game, whether that be a defence splitting pass or first time shot etc.
It's not that different from FPS games in that respect, in that it can turn what may be an extremely frustrating 30fps experience into something very enjoyable, assuming this happens to be your genre.. which I accept in your case it almost certainly isn't.
@ChHa Honestly I am surprised with the license change that EA didn’t drop switch entirely. But hey maybe they will put all the sports games on the successor since they A) have an engine that works B) have sales that they can track C) can’t blame install base.
Is Mia Hamm playable in this game? That’s all I care about.
@Game_Boi Me too, Legacy Defending is must for me when play FIFA. EA FC 24 really a pain with that option. Gameplay is very sluggish and defender not response to your input, alway slower than opposite team and 30FPS make gameplay worst.
After play EA FC 25, I can say Legacy Defending option is better now. No Game Speed option anymore but gameplay is faster and more enjoyable. Defender response to your input perfectly and yes, they can pressing and tackle, better than FC24. But when I play with Legendary Level, AI still play like 'script', always dribbling like Messi. You need to combine both pressing with B and jockey with ZR/ZL for better defence.
@sixrings So i guess only Nintendo games will be patched (if i buy Mario Kart, Mario Wonder...) ?
They're actually trying with this game on the Switch now? Wow. Probably the only game I'd prefer to play sat on my PS4 or 5
@RenYuMakoto Thanks, that's really good to know. Although I only play on the highest difficulty and it sounds like the same issues exist as last year. I can have two players hold up an attacker and they'll walk thought them with ease, and that's while pressing and jockeying. Am I the only one who thinks defending is way too complicated and boring now?
@macaron35 no one can answer that mate, we will have to wait for more info in that matter
@OorWullie Seems like a rather expensive way to find out when you could just have asked somebody! (I'm still waiting on Fir Park...)
@OorWullie Also my dad worked at DC Thomson there, which meant I grew up on Beano, Dandy, Oor Wullie, the Broons and Desperate Dan! If Dudley D Watkins drew it I read it...
@scottishwildcat I wasn't actually buying it each year just to see if it had Celtic Park. I bought it t because back in the day ,that's what me and my mates played. But with each one ,I hoped it would be the one that would add Scottish stadiums.
Wow. What? Is this a dream? A miracle!?
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