When I walked away from last year's Career Mode playtest, I won't lie, I was bitterly disappointed. After what I saw as a foundational set of changes from the year previous as well (FIFA 14) I was very much expecting the revolution to take hold this time around. But as we all know, yet another set of incremental updates came our way. Career Mode is certainly more buy fut coins stable this time and better for those updates, but it's just all too familiar. Bar the updated squads and kits I can't help but feel that we're all simply re-treading the same path. Which itself is further compounded by glaringly under developed features like press conferences, which are allowed still, to stick out like a sore thumb. You can get away with that kind of thing the first year you bring a feature in, but three years later? Not for me.
Is it a lack of resource, a lack of willingness, FUT bias? Only EA can answer that. But for FIFA 16 Career Mode needs equal billing alongside its money spinning rival. FIFA's online revolution has undoubtedly made it the game it is today, but the series heritage is very much rooted in offline management simulation. The "Online Career Mode" debate swirls annually as always (which probably deserves an article of its own) but the reality is that EA need to massively invest now, in what's already there.
Career Mode, despite FUT's dominance still has a huge community following which could and should be amplified even further by a really meaty set of updates for FIFA 16. We've covered some of what we want in another wish list already, but without doubt, Career Mode deserves its own grand unveiling this year and its rightful status, as one of FIFA's biggest modes. Rather than having to awkwardly shuffle in at the back of the press room, hoping no one notices.