The summer of football is upon us! From the Euros to Copa America and finally culminating with the Olympics, it will be a busy summer as club football fades into the background. With international showdowns taking center stage, folks like myself have had to dust off their digital copies of EA Sports FC 24 for the all-new Euro 2024 tournament hosted by Germany.
What I Like
Lead Your Country Mode
One of my favorite modes from yesteryear is back, and while it’s not quite “Captain Your Country” mode from FIFA World Cup 2010 or 2014 where you could lead your team through a full qualification scenario, it’s better than not having the mode. Carrying the weight of your nation on your shoulders is always a big responsibility but thankfully there’s a little more to do than just play games. Training mode is a part of Lead Your Country mode so the ability to learn some new PlayStyles can help give your player a temporary boost should you pick a player from a country that’s not expected to take home the Euro 2024 trophy.
The European Journey
For those glory hunters out there, the new European Journey should be right up your alley. EA describes the mode as:
Embark on the European Journey and earn rewards across your favourite game modes by completing challenges themed around the different ways to play UEFA EURO 2024. Completing all the challenges will earn you a reward to embark on a new journey. The final reward will be revealed after the tournament ends.
While I’m not too much of an accomplishment seeker when it comes to sports games, I do like the concept of working towards something even though I’m not too fussed by the mysterious reward that you’ll get at the end of the real-life tournament.
Stadiums
If there’s one aspect EA seems to nail for every major international tournament, it’s giving us the authentic stadiums. While the World Cup 2022 DLC failed to flatter in this respect as there were only a few host sites in Qatar, the 2018 World Cup in Russia had all of the stadiums, and much like this year’s Euro 2024 DLC, the stadiums are very well done. The intros leave a lot to be desired since you can only see so much, but once you get inside the game the atmosphere and visuals are top notch and what you would expect from a footy game in 2024.
What I Don’t Like
No Lineups Before Kickoff
Straight from the streets of Germany to the ref blowing the whistle at kickoff. That’s what you get with EA’s Euro 2024 DLC. I know most EAFC casuals skip over all the cutscenes, but it would be nice to know what lineup your manager throws in Lead Your Country mode or what the AI selects should you want to control an entire team. The inconsistent approach to these things always baffles me. I get why some might want to skip through thee lineups, especially after seeing the AI managerial selections, but just make all of the pre-match intros separate and skippable. The best of both worlds for all parties.
Still The Same Unbalanced Gameplay
Unfortunately, EAFC’s 2024 Euro DLC is cosmetic only in terms of what it brings this summer. That means for better or worse, the gameplay is still subject to the same overpowered attacking dumbed down football. Fans of simulation football will still be left wanting, despite sliders helping a tad. Scorelines are still heavily inflated due to the AI defenders acting foolish, taking poor angles, stumbling/jogging or just standing there admiring the action. Difficulty wise, you need to play on at least Legendary in order to get somewhat of a challenge but that opens you up to the dynamic difficulty, which means you’re going to see certain star players doing unnecessary stepovers and random tricks while your goalkeepers either make worldie saves or let in howlers.
Bottom Line
Considering the Euro 2024 DLC is free and the squads are now updated since the final rosters have been finalized there really isn’t too much to complain about. I personally don’t think we’ll ever get back to the point where solo games (i.e. World Cup 2010) will have enough to carry a standalone cost, but it’s still a welcome sight to know that EA, despite walking away from the FIFA license, still has love for its roots, international soccer.
