There is a line in Tron Legacy when Encom is debuting its latest operating system. When one of the board members asks what has been done to improve the OS, the CEO replies, “We put a 12 on the box.”

That is what recent FIFA games have felt like. Each new version released every year felt like an all too similar iterative edition, and the only differences being updated team squads, new kits, and young players getting their digital likenesses added to the game.

As such, innovation in the franchise seemed to be all but missing, as FIFA Ultimate Team and its microtransactions were prioritised over making a football game that feels more realistic.

That was FIFA though, and for this year’s edition, EA Sports has been left to its own devices as licensing has resulted in a new name – FC 24.

So now that EA Sports is doing things itself sans FIFA, is anything different? Having played every FIFA game since 1998 (the one that featured Blur’s Song 2), we have to unfortunately report that it’s much the same as FIFA 23.

With this in mind, is this iteration worth picking up? We share our thoughts on that below.

Same old, same old

The first thing that strikes you when booting up FIFA 24 EA Sports FC 24, is that almost every menu screen and layout is the same as it was in the previous title. The only exception is the main menu, which has gone for a cleaner aesthetic.

To be fair, we prefer the look that’s been applied now, but it does not permeate through to every element of the game, featuring mostly in the pre-match options, and some of the standalone modes. The same animations and screens feature in the manager career mode, team management, player transfer negotiations, so there is still plenty that has been left untouched.

As such, it feels like an aesthetic in transition, than one that’s overhauled top to toe.

In terms of first impressions, it leaves a lot to be desired.

Looking at the actual gameplay and the presentation has changed slightly, but after the first few games of checking out what’s new, you’ll quickly be pressing and holding down X in order to skip.

As for actually playing, everything feels familiar.

We have noticed that defending, dribbling, and ball retention have been tweaked a bit. When it comes to defending, the normal jockeying with opposition players until the ball is all but gone.

Instead you’ll need to time your tackles a bit better, as simple running in the direction of a player in possession is not going to cut it. This takes a bit of getting used to, but feels like a more intuitive method than what has been used previously.

As for dribbling, there are closer controls than before. This is great while you’re on attack, but does make defending more difficult. That said, the experience is far less frustrating than previous iterations, when players were doing Cruyff turns in the box and scoring while being surrounded by three or four opposition players.

One element of the presentation in-game we did like is how data visualisation is utilised, with aspects like shots on target, possession in different parts of the field, win/loss predictions, and more being overlaid on the pitch to provide a bit more insight.

That is it really. They may say if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, but recent FIFA games were far from perfect.

We won’t be touching on Ultimate Team, especially as the microtransactions involved are highly divisive, but we will say it is the only aspect of the game that constantly gets refined between iterations, namely as it earns EA a lot of money following the release of a new game.

Final verdict

EA Sports has a formula when it comes to making football games, with licensing in particular being a core part of the experience. While it has lost the FIFA aspect, most leagues, teams, brands, stadiums, and players remain. For that reason, EA Sports does not really have to innovate, especially as Konami’s e-Football is no longer a threat to the crown of best football game.

That lack of innovation, or indeed a desire to give its gameplay a serious overhaul, not to mention Ultimate Team being the only thing getting serious attention, means EA Sports FC 24 may as well be called FIFA 24.

While the game is serviceable, without any serious competition or challenger, expect EA Sports to keep doing this for future FC titles.

FINAL SCORE: 6.5 OUT OF 10.

FULL DISCLOSURE: EA SPORTS FC 24 WAS REVIEWED WITH A DIGITAL DOWNLOAD OF THE GAME PURCHASED BY HYPERTEXT.