FIFA 21 Players Set To Have More Freedom In Career Mode
It's far from the final whistle for Electronic Arts Sports' long-running FIFA series, as football fans from around the globe can't wait to hit the pitch with FIFA 21. After an all-star reveal of which 101 icons would be running down the pitch, there are now details on a new feature for the game's Career Mode.
With critiques that Career Mode has been a little slow when it comes to updating its mechanics over the years, the devs have introduced "interactive match simulation" for FIFA 21. The basic idea is that you'll be able to hop in and out of a match to help when needed.
- Read More: Full List Of FIFA 21 Icons Has Been Released
Gone are the days of sitting back and twiddling your thumbs from the sidelines like an actual manager. Interactive match simulation gets you to feel the pitch under your feet (well, sort of).
With the interactive match simulator, you won’t have to just watch a game that you chose to simulate. When the match gets too tough, you can leap into action to lend a hand, or simply make some substitutions. Elsewhere, if you want to take that critical penalty or free kick, now you can. The pitch notes also explained that gameplay will be twice as fast during simulation, however, "Out of play match moments are automatically skipped, ensuring that you’re always looking at meaningful events".
There will be four tabs during normal simulation. The fitness tab explains which players are likely to run out of stamina, player ratings exposes who's playing their best and who's lagging behind, match stats has a snapshot of how both teams are performing, and game-plan reveals shows off which tactical system everyone is running. If that wasn't enough, an expanded growth system lets you change a player's skills and turn right backs into right wingers, or defensive midfielders into centre backs.
All in all, this is the biggest overhaul Career Mode has faced since its introduction. The latest is news is a win for fans who were sorely disappointed with FIFA 20's career mode - let's be honest, was anybody not? You might remember FIFA 20's release back in 2019 was plagued with bugs, leading to #FixCareerMode trending on Twitter.
Discussing the changes to Career Mode, EA vice-president Nick Wlodyka told GOAL, "The Career Mode is very important for this year. We've really made the biggest investments we've ever made to make sure we're delivering exactly what our players are asking for.
"We've had so much feedback over the past few years from our players wanting to see more things they can control in career mode. We listened to what they want to be able to do, things they haven't been able to do in the past". Despite FIFA 21 working from the ground up with Career Mode, it's still a far cry from the detail of Football Manager's match simulation. Still, at least it's a move in the right direction.
Images via EA Sports