I’m looking forward to EA Sports FC 24, hoping that EA takes the rebrand as an opportunity to drastically change the FIFA experience. I don’t really care if the result turns out worse than FIFA 23, I just think the formula is getting a bit stale – especially in Ultimate Team, my preferred mode – and it could use shaking up.
This year’s new chemistry system for FUT was a big change, but the game is exactly the same as last year in the grand scheme of things. Power shots now have a cool slow-motion effect to really dial up the tension in the moments before posts shatter and nets are torn asunder, except the resulting effort is usually an anticlimax. No nets are broken, no posts splintered. You either score or you miss. Ultimate Team has been adding some more fun elements in recent weeks, with Shapeshifters putting goalies up front and Kyle Walker in goal (again), but a recent advertising campaign has got me thinking: what if EA FC 24 was a fantasy RPG?
The artwork in question is an image of Erling Haa-land, emphasis on the land. You can see it below, a giant face that vaguely resembles Manchester City’s star striker carved into a Norwegian cliff. It’s cool and all, but why would EA produce this if it wasn’t looking to make it a part of its football-based RPG?
I’m picturing Haaland as a being akin to the Great Deku Tree. He has great knowledge and wisdom, and you can trek through the fjords to gain a skill point in shooting or strength or hair or something. But an entire game does not a stone Haaland make. We need a fantasy world made up of Eden Hazard-ous castles, adventures that take us through forests thick with (Titus) Brambles as we descend to the depths of Hell for a boss battle against N’golo himself in Kante’s Inferno. It may all get a bit Messi, so make sure to stock up on health Gosens before you go.
Right, I’m all done with the terrible puns now, but my point still stands. I’d love to play a football game that wasn’t really about football. Or that threaded a real narrative between matches, like the story that goes on between Pokemon Gyms. Something more Captain Tsubasa than FIFA, especially as the Tsubasa games themselves are mostly football sims with cool cartoon effects. While I doubt EA has the cajones to pull a trick like this, adding in RPG elements could be just the refresher that its core football game needs.
I’ll admit I’ve been playing a lot of WrestleQuest recently, which does basically what I’m asking here except for wrestling. Instead of being a mediocre sports sim like AEW: Fight Forever or WWE 2K23, developer Mega Cat Studios eschews genre conventions to create a world of wrestling toys with turn-based battles and all those classic RPG trimmings you know and love. It’s brilliant for it, one of the best wrestling games I’ve played in years, and I’d love for football to get the same treatment.
Of course, adding in the fantastical elements of talking cliff faces and Kante’s Inferno creates another layer of confusion for people who thought they were buying FIFA 24 with a new name. Football and fantasy don’t often share a lot of fans – myself and TheGamer’s Editor-in-Chief Stacey Henley, who recently made a full set of football rules for D&D, excluded – so it might be a hard sell.
How about a game mode then? If EA doesn’t want to completely obliterate its Ultimate Team revenue, that can stay, as can regular career modes. It knows FUT needs some fun, though, how else would you explain the pirate version of Raul Jiménez that graced our objectives this week? Even if RPG Ultimate Team is off the cards, how about an extra menu option, a little secret between me and you, where you can embark on a quest set for you by the great Kingian Mbappe.
I know it’ll never happen, but a man can dream. Imagine the scenes, as they say, if EA unveils its masterpiece, its Ballon d’Or winner, and it was a fantasy RPG led by a giant cliff face Erling Haaland. Please, EA, make my dreams come true.