The FIFA video game series from EA Sports is the undisputed champion of the world. It has become the highest-selling annual franchise and rakes in hundreds of millions more in digital revenue with every release. It’s not just a financial success - it has been consistently among the best sports games in terms of quality and level of content. Despite those figures, "FIFA 16" is a down year for the franchise. It’s difficult to reconcile that feeling with the game still being great in so many ways, but one big feature addition, FUT Draft, is a major disappointment and even borders on being sleazy in its implementation, and some new frustrations have emerged in the gameplay.
The big news regarding FIFA 16, at least in terms of marketing, is the introduction of the long demanded (especially in the USA) women's game. Only twelve women's football national teams will be present in the final version, and they can only play each other, but the playable demo already includes two teams - Germany and USA - allowing us to get an idea of how it will be to play with female athletes. We liked what we played. EA Sports made a decent effort to represent this side of football, with individual modelling for the players and a mountain of specific new animations.
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In terms of actual gameplay, the flow seems a bit slower then the male counterpart, but it largely plays the same, albeit with different animations. I know many of you will be thinking, “It’s because he’s not very good at PvP in FIFA” and my reply would be, you’re absolutely right. But that’s not why my love for the game has faded in the past. The main reason is because the PvP element of the game does not truly resemble how Football is actually played. It’s a warped, arcade version of the beautiful game and that does not sit right with me.
Let’s talk about some other features outside of the match-play: The main benefit I can see with FIFA Ultimate Team Draft, is it allows users to use and experience the highest rated players in Ultimate Team, without needing to purchase them. A nice feature. So what didn’t I like about FIFA 16? The new addition which doesn’t fly though, is No Touch Dribbling, which I just don’t get. Perhaps I’m doing it wrong, but I just don’t understand how it helps me? I can dribble past AI defenders on World Class with Hazard or Neymar almost at will with the existing control set, so I just don't understand how anything which slows that process down is a good thing?
Another issue that plagued FIFA 15 was tactics, specifically those employed by the CPU leading to different team styles. In my experience so far this has been varied. All of the “under-the-hood” tactics return but it still seems like “Player Instructions” and in-game “Team Mentality” trump actual team tactics. In a test match, placing the “Aggression” team tactic up to 100 did not produce the same results as changing the individual instructions of my players to “Aggressive Interceptions.” I have noticed that the clubs in the Barclays Premier League have the most variety when it comes to play with clubs like Southampton using the strength of Graziano Pelle as a target man where Arsenal played a more intricate passing game with Theo Walcott looking to get behind my back-linet.
While this year’s FIFA entry might not be the complete overhaul I wanted, the changes have significantly improved the meta-game and almost chess like war between two equally good players, with the nuances of the gameplay becoming more apparent as we head further out from launch day. FIFA 16 is as close to the real game as players will ever get and continuous support in the way of match day updates and Ultimate Team challenges will further cement it as the best football sim on the market.
