EA FC 25's new Rush format is better than Volta – but where's FIFA Street when you need it?

Alongside the many changes coming to FC 25, a big new addition is Rush, a format – EA Sports was keen to specify this is not technically a – playable across every actual mode within the game.

Rush is a 5v5 “gameplay experience” which replaces Volta, the old 5v5 mode that was ultimately a little underplayed. “The feedback we got from the community in Volta is that they felt like they were missing out on Ultimate Team, on Clubs, when they were going to Volta,” senior producer Sam Rivera said. “People were not engaging as much as we initially thought, so we did a big exercise of ‘learnings’: what’s happening with Volta, what are the numbers telling us, what’s the community telling us?”

EA Sports FC 25 reviewDeveloper: EA SportsPublisher: EAPlatform: Played on PS5Availability: Out 27th September (20th September in Early Access) on PC (PLATFORM), PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

The result is Rush, and the change in how it’s described by EA – as a “gameplay experience” rather than standalone mode – is the big hint here: Rush is available, in different forms, across Career Mode, Ultimate Team, Clubs (formerly Pro Clubs), and good old Kick Off, rather than being a separate thing on its own. In Career Mode that’s primarily as a training ground experience for youth players, as we detailed in our big FC 25 preview earlier on; in Ultimate Team it’s something you can play as an alternative means of earning rewards while still using your own FUT squad players; in Clubs, it’s an way of playing as well as 11v11 matches – crucially, it doesn’t replace the ability to play full-sized games.

To play it you’ll need a team of four human players – the goalkeeper is always controlled by AI, penalties aside – with any additional slots matchmade if you’re playing solo or short of a full squad. It’s all “one pool” in matchmaking, as Clubs associate producer Tim Able told us, but you’ll get a special match intro when you’re up against a full opposing Club online to let you know you’re in for a tougher match.

With Clubs in particular feeling quite closely linked to Rush, it’s worth running through a few of the big changes coming there before getting into how it plays. First up, Clubs in general has gone through a bit of a spruce-up. It’s now more of a “social hub”, with a “clubhouse” decorated in your club’s colours, mainly depicted as a changing room for your custom player, as well as for the players of your clubmates who drop in and out as they join you.