With Ultimate Team officially scrapped from UFC 4, the team at EA Sports seemingly has more time and resources to work on modes players love. Obviously, the team still has a major focus on various online modes; however, Career Mode remains one of the series' most engaging forms of play. In UFC 3,  the team made some welcome changes, while also feeling like they've not gone far enough. It's still too early to tell if all new things coming to UFC 4 will hit. That said, what they're showing thus far seems promising. Check out the new career mode trailer below.

The most intriguing aspect of Career Mode in UFC 4 is the Fighter Evolution system. This form of fighter progression takes a system you might remember from games like Morrowind. Each strike, kick, and grapple will slowly start to level up as you use them. So, if you can somehow get your opponent in a corner and jab for five rounds, that part of your repertoire will increase quickly.

Of course, this is a fight. You won't be able to just hold a button down with tape for an hour to become a world-class leg kicker. That said, it's a neat direction for a fighting RPG to take. And you'll have other opportunities to improve your fighter. You can spar with some of the world's best to learn new moves. Or use accumulated experience to boost your stats. Plus, as you get hit with injuries, you'll have to manage those to insure your career doesn't stall.

UFC 4 also looks to improve Career Mode's relationship system. We saw a bit of this in UFC 3, but this looks blown out in a big way. Marrying this with an unscripted storyline should make every fighter's career feel a little bit different.

Personally, I prefer a more curated story in my Career Modes, but I'll give EA a chance to do it right here. After all, it's not like they've been knocking narrative out of the park with their other sports games. For as good as The Journey was in FIFA, Longshot was abysmal in Madden. Hopefully, they can make this new approach work.

UFC 4 comes to PS4 and Xbox One on August 14.