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What we want from FIFA 16 career mode
After so few changes, career mode needs whipping into shape or we’re dropping it from the squad.
Despite being one of the core tenets of EA Sports' FIFA, along with Ultimate Team, the career mode hasn't undergone any major changes for nearly three years. The redesign for FIFA 13 was welcome, of course, but with FIFA 16 being the third new generation game, there's an enormous audience (as of FIFA 14, there were 450,000 games being played every 90 minutes) crying out for some love to be poured into the mode.
But what should developer EA Canada do? Just how could it make our beloved career mode something truly special? Ahead of any official unveiling, that's what we're here to explore.
Where is the interaction?
Setting up a career mode takes quite a while. It's not just a case of having a quick game, as you need to organise your team and get the many systems just how you want them. But then, after that it's very much business as usual. You're potentially managing one of the biggest names in the world of sport, yet you never take the spotlight, and there are no press conferences of note.
Football has become a drama on and off the pitch, and FIFA is one of the most dry experiences out there, removing all the charisma from the off-field action. Wouldn't it be fantastic if EA took a leaf out of Football Manager's book, and pitted you against the press in a conference pre- and post-match? Imagine how interesting this could be, with the budget and graphical grunt EA has for its titles. If players could control more of the club's output (sponsors, fan interaction) then there would be a far great feeling of immersion: you are the manager of this club, and you can stamp your authority on it.
Elsewhere, players are emailing you to discuss their future, which always results in a cold, disconnected outcome. There's no conversation between parties, and as such, after a while, you stop caring. 2K's NBA series has cutscenes now, depicting the goings-on. That may not work for FIFA, but then again, with all the licenses and access to the stars of the game, why shouldn't it?
Look to the youth
There's a definite lack of care and attention toward the youth teams of FIFA. Such is the heavy focus on the Premier League and the licensing (as well as the Sky Sports/ESPN like presentation), that much like in real life, we don't get to explore a vital side of football. Why aren't there any ways to get involved in your squad's burgeoning young talents? In a mode that is all about you becoming the ultimate manager, shouldn't that at least be a factor?
FIFA 16
© EA Sports
While the scouting systems have seen attention over the years, this is an area that has been all but ignored, yet the two really do need tying together. Surely part of scouting and signing a tremendous young player is in how he then fits into your squad? What's the point of managing Real Madrid and finding a wunderkind at AFC Bournemouth, if you can only bed him in by forcing him into the first team at 17-years-old? The best you'll get these days is an email from one of the players asking for a game. The outcome is either you play him and he thanks you, or you don't, he gets grumpy and eventually asks for a transfer.
It seems doubly odd that EA doesn't address this, given how many kids play FIFA. Instead of creating a 15-year-old young man, kids put themselves into Man United's squad at 25 because there's just no point in even trying to come up through the ranks properly, which is a pity considering there could even be an international U19s set-up within the game to play around with.
Reward players for their time
In other genres (many shooters do this now) you'll be rewarded for playing one mode, by being given treats and incentives to go and play the others. With Ultimate Team being such a huge draw, why not offer players a reason to keep playing career mode? Imagine if you got given a special loan card, or even just coins for playing through a season in FIFA as a manager. It'd certainly stop the slow fade that it currently has, because we certainly get bored of career mode long before the second season has started these days.
Of course, EA may not want to give away its most prized currency to people who play an on-disc free game mode. So why not offer better unlockables? Levelling up in FIFA enables you to spend your points on things like boots, shirts, and career mode customisations. The problem is that they're all just so boring. FIFA 15 was a step in the right direction, and levelling up allowed you to even unlock Ultimate Team loan players, but they were never replenished with a fresh list of new players, and after you'd grabbed them all (and anyone who plays a lot will be a high level, especially since it's persistent over the series, not the individual game) there was really nothing much to aspire to.
More depth
Transfers are the most exciting part of career mode, but the implementation in FIFA 15 could still be improved upon. The fact you can swap a player for another player is always an enticing one, but you're never going to get Ronaldo for Phil Jones, even if you're still allowed to propose such a deal. In fact, generally speaking, the negotiation system needs to be more flexible, and in some case, more instantaneous.
When the deadline day clock is counting down and you're frantically flicking through menus to try and get that last minute deal done, it's frustrating when nothing comes of it, or it happens too late. There's so much lacking in the dealings that you do in FIFA, and so many ridiculously unrealistic transfers happening around you, that it pulls you out of of the game.
FIFA 16
© EA Sports
It may be asking a lot, but bizarrely, EA's lack of a licensing deal over European football harms the career mode. PES has the Champions League deal, yet despite EA's dominance in the charts, and all its financial clout, it cannot hold a candle to the feeling you get when Champions League theme starts playing, with all its orchestral majesty. Worse still, cup competitions feel unimportant, and having a poorly done cut-scene of your players celebrating a generic cup with ticker-tape falling on them is just lame.
How about training, as well? As manager of a club, shouldn't you be in charge of how your team progresses behind the scenes, doubling down on fitness to make a stronger, faster attacking front three, or getting your lumbering defensive giant to work on his speed? The absurd notion that you can only make three substitutions in friendlies has to go, as well. Whatever the excuse may be, it needs to change. It's one of the basic things that any football fan knows, and not being able to switch out a large portion of your team at half-time in a friendly makes their existence completely pointless.
Of course, there are a plethora of other, minor changes and additions we'd like to see to the career mode in FIFA, but these are the big ones. Here's hoping EA has been hard at working on implementing some, if not all of these ideas. FIFA 16 is out in September, so we won't have long to wait until we find out.
