I agree with your post but I am very curious to hear your opinion on career mode. I find the AI in career mode games to be really poor in comparison to a regular kick off mode especially when you play competitive/custom sliders. The kickoff CPU AI attacks far more and offers a challenge. Career mode I keep winning 5-0 every game at ultimate difficulty
I haven’t dived deep into Career Mode yet, but I've heard the same—Ultimate can feel broken and passive this year. I just ran a 20-minute (short in-game minutes) test in Kick Off on Legendary, and it’s nice. No mud, the passing is fine. I scored one goal and possessed most the time so didn't get to try defense except for once really - not enough time to comment on CPU offensive or overall skill. Thanks for bringing this up, I figured they'd be the same. I'll test Career Mode soon to see if I can identify what you're talking about.
