As expected, football plays will still be based from gender where Men's National Teams can only compete against the best of the best of other country's Men's National Teams, and likewise for the Women's National Teams. Sports games are often criticized for their yearly updates and lack of innovation in between installments. While this is an unfortunate side effect due to how rosters, rules, and strategy are constantly changing, it does allow for developers to constantly fine tune their releases. Not all the new additions are big hits, though. While it’s fantastic to see Women’s national football teams in the game, EA has phoned in the new additions. The 12 female teams can only be used in two modes (free play and a tournament), and are pretty much segregated off from the rest of the game. Hopefully they’ll be used better in future installments.
Dribbling has been overpowered for years in FIFA. Players with no business doing so would pick through even the world’s most stalwart defenses unfettered. This year’s defensive changes have shifted the balance of power back towards the centre, but powerful dribblers have a game changing new skill at their disposal. No touch dribbling allows control of when players handle the ball, allowing for some really special plays for those who master it. For instance: Eden Hazard is bursting up the sideline, and some poor sap of a fullback is about to attempt a tackle. By holding L1/LB, Hazard stops touching the ball, instead allowing it to roll. He fakes a cut into the middle of the field (pressing a direction while holding L1/LB head fakes) and the fool goes for it, sliding harmlessly past, and leaving a clear lane towards the box for one of the best in the game (despite my hatred of Chelsea). In the same way, suddenly letting go of no touch allows for very precisely timed directional changes.
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FIFA’s tagline this year of “Play Beautiful” is little bit of a misnomer. While you’re still capable of pulling-off the spectacular, the game has been injected with a dosage of realism and balance. The speed and pace of the game has been slowed down allowing for more midfield battles and less end-to-end action. Players have a sense of weight allowing for more human-like reactions when it comes to player locomotion. Turns, acceleration bursts and movement in general is dependent upon a multitude of variables. Player stats, first-touch, quality of the pass received, and body position (of both the offense and defender) will determine what animation plays out and how successful you will be in gaining the advantage. If you thought FIFA 15 had countless animations, you will be in for a real treat with this year’s version as some of them are just breathtaking. With an increased level of physicality attributed mostly to the refinement of the Ignite Engine, players no longer act like rag-dolls when colliding. When coupled with a foul system that gets it right the majority of the time, the gameplay can be quite organic and unpredictable.
Each player in the list of options will also have a Chemistry Style attached to them. This could help make a seemingly undesirable option the best of the pack, because that booster could help compensate for their shortcomings. If, for instance, an 83-rated, slow defender like Mascherano has a Chemistry Style which makes him faster, there aren't many better choices. If you want to see how much of an impact the Chemistry Style has on the card, flick the right stick and you'll see between one and three arrows next to the affected attributes. But remember, the arrows must be green in order for said boost to have any effect, and the only way this happens is if the player has enough chemistry within the lineup.
It just doesn’t sit right with me, I hate all that bullshit. I say that specifically so you know to ignore me if you like it. That’s the important thing really, get the game you know you want, both are good this year but, to borrow some idiotic punditry parlance again, for me Brian, on the pitch, one is definitely gooder than the other and this time the other lad’s got the better of him (or her in this case, I suppose). Strides are being made within Fifa Ultimate Team, after a 12 month period in which EA was lambasted for meddling with its card-collecting, dream-team-building mode. Web and companion apps return although they require a (thankfully simple) verification process before use, and price ranges are much wider than those so heavily criticised last year.
