For our eagle eyed readers, you will notice that this is my third column in a row. Save State columnist Vincent Mahoney was feeling a bit under the weather last week, so I happily wrote his Save State column for him, although I admit that I was not nearly as good as him with uncovering interesting and underplayed games. He is a master of that.

In any case, all that work has got me a little tired too, so I decided to ease into the latest soccer title, something that I have been meaning to do for a few months now. EA Sports FC 25 replaced the older FIFA titles, and I was very curious about how that transition would go. And because the new soccer season (MLS specifically) starts on February 22nd, I thought now would be a great time to finally dig into FC 25. I will, of course, eventually write a review, but my reviews queue is incredibly full at the moment. So, this will not be a comprehensive review, just my experiences with playing it so far.

Also, you should note that I am a huge soccer fan. I follow the local team in my area, and I also play the game every chance that I get. So, my impressions of FC 25 will at least be somewhat influenced by that.

For FC 25, I started out in career mode and made my character a striker. In real life I normally play goalkeeper, but I have found that in titles like these playing a goalkeeper is actually a lot harder than it would be in real life. I guess if they made the goalie character really easy to play nobody would ever score, which would kind of make it a lot less exciting.

In addition to becoming a striker, I also joined my local team, the Columbus Crew. That was awesome, although I wish MLS had an option where you can be selected in the Superdraft. This is the first time I have played a soccer game since it changed over from FIFA, and some things apparently haven’t changed.

Most notably, the artificial intelligence for FC 25 makes weird lineup selections, and players can’t make adjustments. Even after downloading current rosters, the AI just couldn’t get the basics right. For example, for some reason the AI started our fourth string goalkeeper and benched the reigning defender of the year. But I suppose at the end of the day, it hasn’t mattered during my playthrough so far. It’s just a little bit frustrating.

Now, one thing that is amazing is the graphics. They are incredible, and I’m not usually impressed by that anymore. During corners, substitutions, and cards, FC 25 switches to a first-person point of view and the players look like real people. The character modeling is very well done.

In terms of gameplay, everything seems a lot smoother. So far, I am enjoying the general flow of the game much more than I did with previous FIFA titles. It feels more free flowing than the FIFA ones, and even better, the attacking styles of each team is unique and accurate.

In between matches, you can actively manage your player’s money and spend your weekly salary. For example, you can invest it for a chance to make more, or you can use it for personal items like a nice suit or fancy headphones. FC25 has succeeded where others have failed in making your character’s contract relevant to your day-to-day existence. The more successful you are, the more money you will have to buy fun things just like in real life. So far, I am close to finishing my first season in Columbus. I did well, so I asked my agent to try and get me a spot on the Belgian side Standard Liege.

EA Sports FC 25 is really fun to play. Hopefully, I will be able to dive in much deeper during a full review. Right now, I am working on a review of Dynasty Warriors: Origins, and that turned out to be much more in-depth than I imagined. I also want to thank my readers for your patience as my review output has slowed down recently. You all help keep me going, and I look forward to reviewing many more awesome titles for you in the near future.