FC 25 promises to offer the most realistic simulation of the Scottish Premiership yet. Thanks to a number of recently announced features by developer Electronic Arts the game is set to provide more realistic looking players than ever before.
Even though Electronic Arts got rid of its FIFA partnership last year, it has secured licenses for the majority of football clubs, leagues, and competitions in world football. This means the US game developer can create realistic club and player likenesses of over 40 leagues, including the Scottish Premiership.
Unlike older editions in which some players looked less like their real selves, EA recently announced something called Cranium technology that should change all that. The new feature will not only generate more realistic players, but can also be used to create and edit players in game modes like pro player career mode.
The football simulator creates faces in four different ways, through scans (the highest quality likeness), Starhead (when multiple pictures are used to generate a 3D likeness), Custom (when designed by a developer), Generic (modelled without great detail). It’s especially that last type of face capture method that applies to most players and should benefit most from the Cranium face modelling technology improvements.
Just like last year’s edition, both Celtic Park and Ibrox will be playable stadiums in FC 25. The Scottish top division will remain the only football competition in Scotland featuring in the game. The only Scottish women team playable in the football simulator will be Glasgow City FC, much thanks to their Champions League prominence last year.
Other new features
Aside technology and tools to create better player likenesses, EA announced dozens of other new features for FC 25 past weeks. Key announcements include a 5 versus 5 game mode, story driven manager and player career game modes, realistic collective movement based on a real-world data AI model, and a highlighter tool.
The latter allows players to edit match highlights and create short videos of in-game goals and moves. This will allow players to create their own cinematic in-game football content that can be shared on social media.
To boost visuals EA also announced two graphic options called Enhanced Visuals and Favour Resolution. Enhanced Visuals will offer augmented lighting and graphic details in upscaled 4K resolution. On the other hand Favour Resolution will provide standard lighting in native 4K. The game will be set to Enhanced Visuals by default. Both graphic modes come with 60 frames per second during gameplay to maintain responsiveness.
FC 25 will release in the UK on September 27, 2024. The game will be playable on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Windows PC.
