The FIFA series has come under a ton of scrutiny lately. Many fans believe that the franchise has been ignoring single-player modes like Career Mode for some time now, with the microtransaction-heavy Ultimate Team now being EA's priority with the series. Unfortunately for fans of FIFA's single-player modes, it's easy to see why Ultimate Team is being prioritized, as according to EA's annual report in 2020, the mode made an eye-watering $1.62bn across EA's many sports games.
Despite this, fans shouldn't give up hope that FIFA's Career Mode can be revitalized one day, especially with the predominantly single-player Football Manager series showing how successful single-player sports games can be. If EA does decide to give Career Mode some much-needed TLC, then we would love to see the following features added to the managerial mode.
5 Performance-Based Growth
One of the most notable changes to FIFA's career mode over the years is how a player's attribute growth is handled. In older games, players would develop based on how they performed on the pitch. For example, if a striker who was rated around 75 overall had a great season scoring 20+ goals, they would be rewarded with a sizeable increase to their stats. In theory, any young player could potentially go on to become one of the world's best players through this method. In FIFA 22, however, player growth is largely predetermined.
The issue with the FIFA 22 method is that it makes the gamer feel largely irrelevant to their players' development. Moreover, a particular player having a great season and getting a significant rating increase used to be one of the most rewarding aspects of the older games, and it encouraged gamers to buy young players that they felt they could get the most out of. On the flip side, a player could have an excellent season but stay on the same rating because of a predetermined ceiling placed on them, which is frustrating.
4 U21 Teams
FIFA 22, like a handful of its predecessors, lets managers assign scouts to various countries around the world and sign talented young players to their youth team. These players will sit in a menu, waiting for the manager to either promote them to the first team or release them. To make this decision, the manager can see each player's current ability and an estimation of their stats and potential.
To put it bluntly, this feature is just as unengaging as it sounds. Instead, it would be great if Under 21 teams were added. The manager could have the option to play as this team, which would let them try the players for themselves and make a decision on their future based on actual gameplay. If this was combined with the aforementioned performance-based growth feature, it could make for some exciting times if the manager finds a player that they feel would work well for their team and playstyle.
3 More Stats And Analysis
Aside from a few key details like goals and assists, FIFA games have always had a notoriously minimal amount of stats and analysis for managers to judge their players on. Recent games have improved on this, to be fair, most notably with additions like XG (expected goals) and each player's average position throughout a match.
Granted, player and team stats aren't as important in the FIFA series as the Football Manager franchise, but it would still be nice to have some statistics and graphs to let the manager gain a better understanding of their team and players.
2 Better Player And Team Talk Options
Another feature that is significantly better in the Football Manager series is the team and individual player discussion options and depth to morale. Again, it's not as essential of a feature to get right in FIFA, but there is plenty of room for improvement with the limited options currently available.
Maintaining positive relationships with players has always been a vital part of management in the sport, and it is particularly important in the modern-day, with player-power being at an all-time high. An improvement to player interactions and morale could open the door to many other new features, such as unhappy players leaking information to the press, a frustrated dressing room getting their manager sacked, or a manager that has their players' full support seeing huge increases in their work rate.
1 Managerial Changes
Opposition teams tend to be relatively active in the transfer market in FIFA 22. Although teams will rarely have a significant number of comings or goings, most will usually have at least one first-team player join and one leave each transfer window. This can make it interesting to line up against new teams to see what new faces emerge.
One aspect of clubs that never change in FIFA 22, however, is the manager. No matter how poorly a team performs in a season, or how many years pass, teams will always stick by their manager. This is a shame, as it would be interesting to see recognizable managers move to other teams and try to implement their signature playstyle with a new set of players.
FIFA 22 is out now for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
