Soccer is lovingly called “the beautiful game” by fans, and FIFA 16 has definitely taken the nickname to heart. Not only is FIFA 16 mostly gorgeous (more on that in a bit), it allows players to truly create beautiful plays on the field. Every movement by a player looks natural, and the new ability to dribble off the ball has changed how the series is played. It only makes sense for this to be this year’s major addition, as FIFA 16’s cover star Lionel Messi is known for his ability to fake players out based on his movement. By holding in the left bumper players can dribble off the ball, this means they can fake in one direction and cause defenders to go the wrong way. This adds a tremendous amount of depth to the game, and creates a true mind game.
Switching the play is something that I found useful, and no longer are players consigned to floating balls from one side of the pitch to the other, which would traditionally give opposition midfielders time to make an interception. They're not easy skills to master, but you can get to grips with these new additions by clicking on the FIFA Trainer, which gives players commands for the more advanced moves using an increasing scale from 1 to 6. I also think the new draft mode could be improved with less of a barrier to entry. The first try is free, but the next one costs 15,000 coins, which only comes quickly if you sell some good cards on the transfer market. Granted, even if you lose your first match you're going to get some nice FUT packs for your regular squad, but this is a missed opportunity to make FUT Draft easy to enter and keep playing repeatedly like Madden's Draft Champions.
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Nevertheless, I like FUT Draft's strategy component. It's nerve-wracking trying to get your chemistry right, and I've often had a bench player totally upend my planning, like when Messi came up late in the draft. But, that's the fun challenge of the mode. Those changes update the game and bring enough improvements to Fifa 15 to make it worth buying, most reviews note. But the game still faces a big challenge from PES. “The issue that FIFA has is that its underlying engine, mechanics and systems have been dragged on for too long,” writes Brett Phipps in Video Gamer. “While it has been carried for the past few years on the new generation of consoles, PES has waited quietly in the wings, revolutionizing its game.
You may see the header as a negative, but it’s really not. On FIFA 15, it seemed too easy to tap the A/X button and automatically ping-pong your way up the pitch without really putting much effort in. Now it’s harder to string together a million passes, meaning that a balance of player attributes and user concentration are going to be key. Passing is slightly more difficult, but the rewards are greater. It’s a very precise system so while you will see several balls skim wide of their targets (by a matter of metres or centimetres), you can also hone the feature to thread eye-of-the-needle passes. It benefits and rewards good play rather than who can tap the quickest.
Elsewhere, the introduction of women’s football is a big headline, and it’s pretty good. I’d even go as far as saying it’s more fun, responsive and open than the men’s game. It’s a slight disappointment that you can only play as women in a few modes, but I’d imagine their inclusion in FIFA 16 is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what EA has planned. I just hope that before they think about expanding that part of the game for FIFA 17, they look long and hard at the mixed bag that is the gameplay in FIFA 16. It’s a real shame that it has ended up like this. The preview code I played before E3 was fantastic, verging on being the best FIFA and in turn a great football game.
However, yet again, EA has delivered a final product that is quite a bit off what they showed off a few months before release. Is it better than FIFA 15? Yes, probably, but just. Is it better than FIFA 14? No, and that speaks volumes. Personally, I think it might be time for a new engine as it seems like Ignite is holding EA back from taking that next step with FIFA. That step to match something like NBA 2K16. I could be wrong, but either way EA has to do something next year otherwise Konami will smell blood.
