FC 26: EA FC 26 Gameplay Deep Dive, Realism and Competitiveness

The FC 26 Gameplay Deep Dive has been revealed for the first time, and contains everything players need to know about the gameplay changes announced in the trailer. It also showcases some new gameplay features and major improvements. According to the leaked information, most of the gameplay features of FC 26 have been improved, modified, or at least slightly modified. As a result, the game aims to enhance competitiveness and realism, as well as the basic elements of the game. The gameplay has undergone major changes from passing to dribbling.

What are the biggest changes to FC 26's gameplay?

The biggest improvements to FC 26 are its Competitive Mode and Realistic Mode presets, which provide players with two different game experiences. Competitive Mode focuses on online game modes, giving players better control over players and faster response times. In contrast, Realistic Mode is more realistic, with the rhythm and speed of the game similar to the actual situation.

EA developers call it a "fundamental change" because it affects both presets of FC 26's gameplay. Thanks to improvements to dribbling and overall movement, players are more responsive and agile both with and without the ball.

Goalkeepers have become more stable to a large extent, which makes the way they handle situations more reasonable and they are closer to real goalkeepers. In addition, the positioning of defenders has been improved, and players are now able to provide more assistance, with fewer balls bouncing to the feet of opponents. Shooting and passing have also been improved in a similar way, becoming more responsive, giving players more shooting and passing options. Since players' ball protection has been greatly improved, FC 26's games will be affected by physical confrontations. Players' ball control and first touch have also been improved.

Will the improvements to animations satisfy players?

Animation is an important part of FC 26, but many fans think that there are too many animations in the game, and there have been many complaints about animations in EA's previous FC series games. Therefore, the developers have made improvements in FC 26 to make animations more accurate and consistent in certain gameplay, such as the trajectory of the ball, exit speed, and touch time. In addition, many animations have been remade to make the game start faster. Meanwhile, the volumetric animations introduced in FC 26 make goalkeeper movements look and feel more realistic and fluid. The developers say this improvement "ensures goalkeepers react more accurately to different types of shots and animations" because it is based on real motion capture data.

All in all, FC 26 looks like it will bring a huge gameplay change, enough to rank it as one of the best works in the history of the EA FC series. However, we can only wait until FC 26 is officially released to know whether it really lives up to its promise.

What is the competitive game in FC 26?

Competitive mode is the only gameplay designed for online modes (such as Ultimate Team and Club) in FC 26, and career mode and kick-off mode are also available if players like these two modes. Its main goal is to create a more skill-oriented experience, reduce randomness and assistance in the game, and let players really show their talents or lack thereof. Its three pillars are responsiveness, consistency and control. However, there are many differences between real games and competitive games, such as goalkeepers blocking the ball away from danger, robot defense and automatic tackles and blocks are significantly reduced.

Faster and smoother animations, quicker and more responsive passes, more control and dribbling speed, faster execution of skill moves, more crosses with changes of direction, more header misses, more set-piece changes of direction and faster recovery of players after tackles or falls are all signs of fatigue in competitive games. Therefore, this is a game configuration designed for competitive games; it is not deliberately pursuing the ultimate realism, nor is it deliberately replicating all the scenes on the real football field. Instead, it is more inclined to let players show their abilities and participate in the game in a fast-paced and responsive way.

How realistic is the game experience in FC 26?

For many years, the biggest complaint about career mode was that the gameplay was not realistic enough, which led many players to abandon the mode. Therefore, realistic gameplay aims to provide an immersive and realistic experience for players who seek a more realistic experience, and the game settings also include three pillars: immersion, realism and less predictability. As mentioned above, our goal is to provide a field experience that is as realistic as possible. To achieve this, EA has introduced realistic sliders, added weather effects, and the goalkeeper's rebounds, bounces, and blocks are all based on the physics engine.

In real games, tackle accuracy is more realistic, AI defense is much better than competitive games, defenders react as they would in real life when the ball is close, midfielder positioning is more realistic, set-piece success rates match real-life success rates, animation transitions are more realistic, and all animations are more realistic and humane. New sliders for this include: Heading Errors, Heading Pass Errors, Interception Errors, Ball Deflection Errors, and Tackle Assists.

In defense, the CPU will be more cautious in choosing to press, lower blocking height, and foul. Each team adopts a different defensive strategy; some teams like to wait for their opponents to make mistakes in the backcourt, while others like to press high and force their opponents to make mistakes.

EA FC 26 will bring a major change to the gameplay, enough to rank it as one of the best projects in the EA FC series. We can only wait until FC 26 is officially released to find out whether it really lives up to its promise.

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