11 necessary improvements in FIFA 15

Fifa 14 has been a success and has been topping the sales charts since its release. However there are several minor improvements required, that could enhance the quality and sense of realism in the game. We take a look at 11 improvements that EA Sports should look into for Fifa 15, with less than 6 months left for its release.

#1 Better customization of managers on the touch line and retirement of managers.

The managers in the game are very strange looking. If you enter your nationality as ‘Indian’ you’re most likely going to be portrayed as a fat brown man. If you were allowed to choose how you look, it would give a sense of realism to the game.

The likes of Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho don’t look much like themselves, Wenger doesn’t have his traditional coat and Mourinho is a quiet man on the touchline, quite contrary to what they actually are in real life. If the managers were portrayed as well as the players, it could really make the gameplay feel much more real.Managers must be fired or must retire. If it’s the year 2029, Arsene Wenger would be 80 years old and still managing, which would be quite unreal. Managers should either be fired or retire. Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola are known to switch clubs every 4-5 years, and that should be implemented here as well.

#2 Bring back the virtual sim

Nobody wants to play Rotherdam United in the F.A.Cup at home. You just want to simulate those games, and give your younger players some game time. You don’t want to lose though games either. Hence it would be nice to simulate those games and intervene in the middle of those games if you’re trailing or struggling to score. This would be a nice addition, especially when you don’t have the time for the smaller teams and want to finish those games fast.

#3 Allow customization of team kits

If someone is playing in the year 2031, they’re not going to have the same kit. There are going to be changes in sponsors and in the pattern of the kit. So, it would be ideal for the game makers to provide us with an opportunity to sign up new sponsorship deals to change our kits, after playing 3-4 years in a career mode. This will make it easier to believe that these games are taking place in the future.

#4 Improve the transfer system

In this year’s Fifa 14, we can add a particular player to a transfer deal, but at the same time, if we are being offered 15 million for a player, and we want one of the opponent’s players, we must be allowed to ask for those players. We should be allowed to buy a player in the lower leagues, at a lower price.

Also, when the likes of Cardiff and Hull get relegated, we should be allowed to pick players on loan from those teams. e.g. the likes of QPR loaned out Adel Taraabt and Loic Remy to teams in the PremiershipThere should be more detailed transfer information like release clauses, which will allow a team to buy a player even if his parent club doesn’t want him to leave. The transfer system definitely requires considerable amount of improvement, which could increase the realism in this aspect of the game. Wayne Rooney and Luis Suarez are two players that leave as their teams as soon as the career mode begins. There should be a feature that allows us to convince them to stay. They shouldn’t be leaving to City and Real all the time and players who leave to an immediate rival must be booed a lot more.

If Rooney is to be transferred to Chelsea, then the fee should be higher than it would have been otherwise. Bayern and City shouldn’t be allowed to buy up everyone! A sensible system which allows them to buy players that they require.

#5 Pre-season

The pre-season is relatively boring affair. You will be drawn to play any three random teams from Europe. This can be quite boring. Instead it would be more interesting if we could pick our matches, and if we could pick destinations from a World tour map and make more than 3 substitutions in these sorts of matches.

F.A. Community Shield is the only real pre-season tournament if you manage an English team, and manage to win the FA Cup or the League. It would be more interesting to have tournaments like the Emirates Cup to make it more interesting.

#6 Global Transfer Network

This system is a brilliant one. It ensures managers pay more attention to scouting players, rather than just searching for players. However after a player is scouted for 10 days, we still have no clue of his OVR but merely know his worth. This is not fair, as we must be given at least the basic information of a player after scouting him for that long.

If the scout finds 25 players for our needs, they should be able to shortlist it to around 5, from which we can pick and choose. This will help us sign players that would adapt to our team, thereby preventing us from wasting additional amounts on unnecessary players.

#7 Improvement in the youth system

When we sign youth staff, we merely send them to different parts of the World, were they scout players and bring them to the youth academy, from where we can sign them if we feel necessary. However, there is no possibility of us signing a youth wonder kid, from our own academy, as they generally have a low OVR.

If we had more players with OVR’s of 70 at the age of 16 from our own youth systems, we’d be more tempted to sign them and use this system. It would also be nice to give these players random customized faces instead of seeing blank faces.

#8 Team Management and Tactics

This part of the game needs lots of improvement. For example, Gareth Bale was a LB in Fifa 07 and was made a CF in Fifa 14. We should be allowed to modify players base positions after playing them in that position several times. We should be allowed to draw out our own formations without having to modify a particular one for our needs.

We should be able to show how our team should play if we score first and how the team should play in a defensive mentality. There should be a feature which allows us to offer a player captaincy in a contract offer which may tempt them to stay.

#9 More team training

We should be able to oversee training and tell players what drills to perform and ways to improve, for example, we should be able to make Messi do heading drills and Torres should be made to do finishing drills, to improve those traits. We should be able to talk to players and improve our relationships with them. The amount of training done by a player, should affect their stamina levels. The players can respond positively or negatively to these methods.

#10 Improvements in Press Conferences, more build up for big games and U-21 Leagues.

The press conference feature has no effect whatsoever on the game that is about to be played. If I ‘unnerved’ an opponent player, they should either put in a stellar performance or succumb to the pressure, thereby giving me an opportunity to gain an advantage. In the FIFA 10 and 11 games, there was a more detailed opportunity to answer questions. There should be more detailed interviews, and we should be allowed to give our own responses to questions, which should have an impact on my team. Bring back the ‘Media reaction’ feature which tells you how you’re doing with the media, whether they like you or not. We should have U-21 or a reserve team league, which enables us to see how our young players are performing. Who is scoring the goals, and who is keeping the clean sheets, There should be a youth team manager who keeps informing you on player progress.Also, the big games need more build up. A simple “Match preview“ is not enough. For a Man Utd vs Liverpool game there should be more build up and a pre match press conference asking about team selection.

#11 Personal Career and Improved commentary and a better calendar

There should be a more personalized career, where you can have a family or go on vacations like in Fifa Manager. The Player career mode should have a feature where a player can have a family and build a relationship with a manager. You should be allowed to talk to the media about your personal life and you can either become a media darling or you could become universally disliked by the mediaThe commentary is a feature that needs lots of improvement. You don’t want Martin Tyler and Alan Smith debating about David Moyes all the time when you’re managing Man Utd, especially when you are the new manager, not Moyes.

Even when you manage Wigan and bring them to the Premier League and help them win the quadruple, Tyler will always ask Smith, “Do you think we’ll see Wigan back in the Premier League” This can be quite irritating. So, if there was more commentary about the current state of affairs rather than what happened in June 2013, it would be nice. Another feature that must be looked at is the calendar. After the first season, there is no adequate gap between matches. This leaves players tired and gets them injured. I could be playing as Chelsea, and play a League Cup game on Friday against Hull City, a Premier League game against Liverpool on Sunday and a Champions League game on Tuesday against Real Madrid.

If this is the case I can’t play all my star players in each game as they will have a higher chance of being injured, which means I may not win all the games and thereby causing problems for me in my career.