FIFA 23brought in many necessary changes to the franchise that have elevated the series and have given fans a lot of hope with the upcoming EA Sports-FIFA split. With all the welcomed additions, such as improvements to certain game modes, new game mechanics like the power shot, and better in-match physics, there were still certain areas of the game that need to be improved.FIFA 23’s Player Career mode, in particular, has many elements that either take away from the realism that the game promises or do not give players enough time to enjoy the game mode.
Player Career mode has been a mainstay inFIFAgames since its introduction inFIFA 08, giving fans a unique experience as they play through the career of a created or existing player. The game mode has gone through many changes since its inception that have seen it evolve from a fun game mode to play between regular Career mode playthroughs to one of the most played game modes in the series. Now, withEA Sports FCpromising to usher in a new era, and FIFA readying itself to release a new game following the EA Sports split, fans are hoping that the next set of games will feature even moreimprovements to the Player Career mode.
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Training Should Not Elevate Team Standing
InFIFA 23, training greatly affects the player’s standing within the team, making it possible for a created player to immediately earn a starting spot. While this would work ifthe player was in a lower league, however, with created players starting out with a rating in the 70s, in higher leagues, they should not be selected over higher-rated players. Fixing this would not only make it more challenging to break into the first team but will also mean that progressing to the heights will take a bit more time.
Instead of giving such an emphasis on training,EA Sports FCand futureFIFAtitles should place a higher emphasis on match performance and consistency. Training can still play a factor by providing a temporary boost to certain ratings during the next game, but it should not affect the player’s standing in a team.Training can still provide points towards leveling, but should not provide too many to prevent extremely quick leveling.
Broken Leveling System
One of the biggest problems plaguingFIFA 23’s career mode is how quickly players can level up through training, match performances, and even shopping and investments. These methods of development, along with the skill trees, means that players can reach the maximum level within a couple of seasons, and in certain cases can cap theplayer’s overall rating in the mid-80s. This prevents created players from growing into one of the best in the world, and after the maximum level has been reached, there is no way for the player to continue to improve.
While the skill tree was a good successor to the previous method of leveling, completing certain objectives to gain boosts in certain skills, it made the experience of Player Career a lot more unrealistic.EA Sports FCand futureFIFAtitlesneed to focus on giving players a combination of the two, where players can greatly improve certain skills using a skill tree, but most of the small improvements come from putting in good performances and focusing on completing skill objectives. Also, removing the level cap will mean that fans can grow their players into highly-rated superstars, and ensuring that skill development takes time will require that fans continue to play the same career for many seasons.
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More Realistic Start
FIFA 23’s Player Career Mode allows fans to create any player and place them in any team in the world, giving them the ability to play through the game mode however they like. Unfortunately, this is not very realistic, and instead,the upcomingEA Sports FCshould force players to start out in an academy, rising through the ranks to get into the youth team before finally impressing enough to make it to the first team. This progression not only gives fans more things to do but will also give them a more realistic journey through their Player Career playthroughs.
A great way to allow players a quick way to rise through the ranks, or provide a more challenging experience, would be to include player archetypes. These would give players certain boosts at the start, for example, a wonderkid archetype would start out with better stats but a higher expectation to perform, while another could make it more difficult to start getting noticed. By seeing howPlayer Career modes are handled in games likeMadden, where new players start out in their college career before reaching the draft,EA Sports FCcould have players starting outside the professional leagues and attempting to break into the scene.
EA Sports and FIFA’s legendary partnership has finally come to an end following the release ofFIFA 23, which means that next year, fans will be able to play the first soccer solely released by EA Sports,EA Sports FC. With Player Career mode becoming such a popular game mode, EA Sports will need to pull off all the stops to ensure that its iteration of this game mode improves from its predecessors. As it stands, there are still many problems inFIFA 23’s Player Career mode, but it has the potential to give fans a realistic experience of the life of a professional footballer.
FIFA 23is currently available on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
