If you’ve played at least two EA Sports-made football games in the past 10 years, you’d be forgiven for thinking the developer routinely wheels out the same basic product in a fresh lick of paint. New kits, up-to-date transfers, and minor gameplay tweaks have been enough to keep millions of players coming back to the same core FC experience, but in FC 27, EA Sports is introducing something truly, genuinely new (no, really this time).
The Grounds is basically the developer’s take on NBA 2K’s The City — an open-world reimagining of its Clubs mode in which players can compete with friends or randoms in both stadium- and street-based challenges.
In EA Sports’ own words, the fantasy of The Grounds is as follows: “You create your footballer, explore a football world, play football, and progress your footballer to the very top. From casual drop-ins with other players in the parks to the heights of competitive Clubs play in the stadiums, The Grounds is your destination for avatar- and Clubs-based social football […] It’s a football playground built for you and your friends.”
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Remember those halcyon days when you used to meet your mates for a kickabout after school? That’s the vibe EA Sports is attempting to capture here.
The Grounds themselves are three distinct districts, each representing a different “cultural hub of football.” There’s Parkside, whose grass pitches and terraced brick houses are reminiscent of small-town England; Zeiza, a colorful, Argentina-inspired suburban hub; and Montclair, a Parisian-style metropolitan area featuring 4G turf and hard surfaces.
These areas will be populated by other online players and NPC ‘mentors’ including Kylian Mbappé, Paulo Dybala, Chloe Kelly, and Alex Hunter (yes, the Alex Hunter), who will initially teach you the mechanics of The Grounds and later task you with specific challenges outside of competitive matches.
Speaking of competitive matches, you can choose to engage in traditional, stadium-based 11v11 matches in The Grounds, or jump into more casual, small-scale modes like 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4. There are also new party-style Kickabout modes to try, including dribbling-based obstacle courses and the basketball-inspired Bucket Ball.
And if you’d rather not play against anyone at all, then Drop Kick Targets are your friend. These randomly spawning neon circles are essentially floating goals to be targeted while you walk down the street — think Odin’s Ravens in God of War. Or Riddler Trophies, but less rage-inducing to snag.
Completing matches, Kickabouts, or Drop Kick Targets earns you Coins and Archetype XP, which can be used — surprise! — to level up your virtual pro in The Grounds. As well as new Playstyles and stat boots, you’ll also be able to buy fully licensed virtual clothing from brands like Nike, Puma, and New Balance, which sounds a little icky (the Metaverse died for a reason, guys!), but virtual currency has been a feature of every EA Sports game for the last two decades, so its inclusion again here was a given.
I’ve never been much of a Clubs player, but I’m glad EA Sports is finally giving this long-neglected mode the attention it deserves in FC 27. Sure, The Grounds looks like a blatant copy of NBA 2K’s The City mode, but it’s undoubtedly a breath of fresh air for the FC franchise specifically, which has thus far struggled to establish its own post-FIFA identity.
I’m less convinced about The Grounds’ staying power alongside tried-and-tested modes like Ultimate Team and Career. Its three districts and minigames look like they’ll be fun to explore for a time, but will players really keep returning to the streets to complete Mbappé-issued challenges, kick balls into a basketball hoop, or visit a virtual clothing store long after the game’s initial release?
That, of course, will be the developer’s problem to solve — but hey, if there’s one thing EA Sports knows how to do, it’s how to keep players coming back.
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axel.metz@futurenet.com (Axel Metz)
