FIFA needed a year like this. Without serious competition from Konami’s PES in the past few years (until now), and with Ultimate Team keeping players playing and paying all year round, there’s been no pressing motivation to ring the changes. Annual titles will always evolve gradually, but recent progress has felt glacial. FIFA 16 can be stubborn and stifling, but it feels gloriously new, and having to learn fresh strategies and nuances in a game series like this is an almost-forgotten pleasure. EA’s noble quest for authenticity certainly has its benefits, but there are times when the slower pace and more deliberate build-up play takes the shine off what is, after all, a video game representation of the beautiful game. It makes those wonder strikes and team goals all the more magical when you pull them off, but you’re going to have to work a little harder to make these moments happen.
Shooting hasn’t undergone any significant changes as far as I can tell. Body position, timing, and player attributes all play their part. If I had to pick any area of concern with shooting, I’d say that manual shooting lacks some oomph. However, this can be remedied offline with sliders. A few years ago one of the major complaints with FIFA was goal variety. Too often it seemed like you would see the same goals over and over again; the dreaded 2-on-1 tap-in or even worse, the angle finesse shot into the upper right/left-hand corner. Much to my delight, the goal variety FIFA 16 offers is as dynamic as ever. Volleys, chips, tap-ins, headers, own-goals, scrambles in the box, long-range blasts and perfectly curled shots all grace my console’s saved highlights. One area of concern that could use an upgrade is shooting from range by the CPU, specifically, frequency. Only certain players (mostly notable players with shooting traits) seem audacious enough to attempt efforts from outside the box.
In order to move themselves further ahead of Pro Evolution EA have gone big on their new game mode and FIFA 16 Ultimate Team Draft Mode might well be the best addition to a football game ever. The premise, which is handily explained below by Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher, is that you go through each part of a squad and are given five choices for each position. This causes you to really think about what sort of team you want to build. After you’ve built your team you’re entered into a tournament consisting of four rounds. You get rewards even if you lose first up so even if you go out of the tournament early you will make back your entrance fee. Many of the rewards for winning will be packs that relate to the main Ultimate Team section, I see what you did there EA, very clever. It is hugely addictive and a brilliant way to get yourself a good squad on Ultimate Team without the frustrating grinding of the early stages. Furthermore it allows you to trial players you may not have the chance to play with otherwise and build squads you could only dream about.
FIFA still does the emotion of the sport better than any other game, and this year there’s some new presentation elements that make it even better. Crowds are fantastic and represent their unique personalities, a new authentic presentation package has been added for the German Bundesliga league, there are new types of weather, new player celebrations, and even the vanishing spray makes an appearance which, for whatever reason, is delightful to see. FIFA remains an exhilarating game to play whether the moments are of joy, relief, or torment. 12 women’s national teams make their debut in FIFA 16. They’re represented well and have been treated respectfully, though feel somewhat tacked on rather than being completely embraced within the game. There’s a tournament mode to be played between them, and they can be played against each other offline and online, but that’s it. None of the players will appear in Ultimate Team, there’s no option to play through a career as a female, and the 12 teams represent only half of the Women’s World Cup field.
While it is a strong suit, FIFA 16's presentation isn't without some faults. Animation transitions can still look robotic at times; there are still notable players that look generic and not very lifelike. Fans in the stands can also look rather poor The lighting doesn't look quite right either - sometimes it feels too dim, while replays from a different angle show a bright sunny day. The control indicator icons drain of color when the player's energy runs out, and they become nearly impossible to see, in addition to their already tiny size. Very rare slowdowns in framerate mostly occur during cutscenes, and the action on the pitch is smooth pretty well the entire time.
