I don't disagree, but on the upside, with Sims 4 being a very easy game, a sim in the correct mood will have their daily tasks meter filled long before their workshift ends and can then pursue their own goals. As a result the structural shortcoming of the active careers is less in the face.
In rotational play the GTW careers great strength is being able to watch all your sims mingle (what was a big want of players back before community lots existed in Sims 1). I don't bother with those careers in single household saves, because in that playstyle their whole charm is nonexistent.
(And that was my point already, the rest of this post is anecdotal only.)
Science isn't very immersive even in rotational play, because it is harder to make the exact sims you want as co-workers spawn, the player is confined to the laboratory lot and the tasks are extremely restrictive to the point of telling you which co-worker to talk to and even what topic to choose. When playing my scientists, I see the issue with guided gameplay clearly.
Detective in comparison takes the sim all over the place and involves existing sims in the investigation. I once had a sim "protest" in front of the station, because she had been chosen by the game to file a complaint and afterwards took her guitar out on the steps.
Since detectives are pushed by their rolestate to socialize, couples will be found flirting from time to time and sims with grudges will argue.
Another plus is that "police station", "crime scene", "patrol" and "arrest scene" each load their own task lists that all contribute to the task meter. Don't like the police station assignments? Just go on patrol and get a new task list. That leaves players free to play their sim as either a beat cop, or a detective, regardless of actual rank. I therefore view Detective as a step into the right direction compared to the more railroady Scientist, Vet, Restaurant owner and Batuu fetch boy.
I can't say much about the hospital. The one time I played it recently, a sim that originally spawned as a suspect in the detective career was working as a nurse and brought a (now retired) detective with a bad rash his food. That was pretty touching, but probably a lucky catch. I also noticed that "wash hands" and "buy snack" are work tasks, regardless of the sim's motive bars, so overall hospital gameplay might be closer to Science than to Detective?
Jungle Adventures, although railroady, too, has the needs management going for it, so I will give this a pass.
Strangerville only has a single skill gate (to get the scanner, and even then you have five or so options), everything else boils down to diligence and the tasks can get tackled whenever the player wants. My first Strangerville playthrough with three rival teams took seven ingame weeks, subsequent runs never below three weeks. The whole GP is very easy to put into sandbox mode, so I don't think the ciriticsm of active careers being restrictive and repetitive applys to Strangerville.
