My opinion on FC 25 career mode
First of all I want to say that I've been playing career mode since FIFA 13, and with Ultimate Team interesting me less and less every year, I've started to prefer playing every game instead of simulating them. In the past years with the shitty AI, this has not been possible, which has caused me to just quickly simulate through one career and then not touch the mode for the rest of the year.
This year it's different and that is what made me want to do this post. Down below I will list what I like and what I don't like about the game:
Positives: - The gameplay has surprised me a lot. The new settings for AI are truly groundbreaking. I am a pretty good player and in the past years it's been impossible to enjoy the experience when winning with even the worst teams was way too easy. I want to upgrade my team through youth academy and realistic signings before I am ready to compete and this year it's possible. It makes the game feel rewarding.
Not only is the gameplay more competitive, it's also way more realistic. The AI is a lot more willing to go forward and some of the plays they make almost feels like playing against a real player. The amount of times I've been cooked by the AI making skill moves is crazy🤣 The AI is creating chances like never before and I actually have to try really hard to not concede and it's very fun.
I don't know if this is actually a thing or if I've just been lucky, but so far I've played two rivalry games with Lyon, and it seems like your rivals play way more aggressive against you than other teams. I've seen some crazy late tackles on the rivalry games and one of them even took a stupid red card against me. In the past years it was impossible to even get a free kick. It really brings life to the gameplay when playing derby/rivalry games actually mean more.
The youth academy is a very nice touch, players actually look young, you can scout from anywhere in the world and the player names are more realistic too instead of stupid generic names and every player with the same last name from small countries. The players also have more playstyles now than before and it's great to be able to try them out in youth tournaments to see of they're worth your time.
No sacking. This is one of the best things to happen in career mode. The objectives never make any sense and kill the realism when you have to crazy overachieve with a shit team to not get sacked. Now you can create your own rules. I sack myself by changing teams if I underperform to realistic standards.
There are plenty of other positives too but these are the main ones I've noticed so far and I don't want to make this too long, altho it probably already is😭
Negatives: - For me this is the worst of them all, but the transfers make NO sense at all. Realism is the biggest part of career mode and this year has to be the worst I've ever seen for transfers. Why is Yamal going to Madrid on the first transfer window, why are Real Madrid signing 30+ yo goalies when they have Courtois & Lunin etc. This needs to be fixed.
I really don't like the social media tab. It's a great idea but the implementation couldn't have been worse. Not only do the articles not make sense most of the time, but the comments are created by the dumbest AI possible, and the like amounts don't make sense at all. I got more likes on my player winning League Two POTM than Haaland got on his Ballon d'Or post. Great idea but needs way more work.
Press conferences. Altho I feel like they are a small improvement to FC 24, it shouldn't be only about players, and I hate that it doesn't recognize goals but only shots on goal when someone scores. You can have a player score hattrick and the reporter only asks about 3 shots on goal for the guy..
The overall layout. It's laggy and difficult to navigate, and just very inpractical. The bugged notifications are so annoying as well. Also I hate how there is a scout report update every couple of days, like just let me know when you have scouted the player.
Team tactics. I'm sure most of you agree with me on this one, no freedom at all on the tactics.
Bugs like social media custom comment or getting eliminated from a tournament after winning on penalties. Not sure if it's a thing anymore but I know it used to be.
Headers are useless.
End review & rating: - I'm usually one to heavily criticize EA, but I have to give them props here. While the game is far from perfect especially for their budget, it definitely is an improvement to the past few years. A lot of work to do to make it great, but it's playable now which it hasn't been for years, a step in the right direction. Hopefully we get new features next year and fixes to some of the biggest issues. Rating: 3.2/5⭐️
Sorry about the very long post, you can comment your "I ain't reading allat" and other funny stuff if you want, but if even one person reads this or feels like this is useful info on whether to buy the game or not, I'll be happy😅