Martin Tyler and Alan Smith do a decent job of providing play-by-play commentary. More often than not they keep up with the pace of the match, and they make interesting observations on things such as new player debuts or references to league standings which add a sense of importance to the game in progress. Unfortunately, the commentary falls into the same pit holes it seems to every year. Often the commentators will overreact to a simple play, and then moments later not say a word during a hectic scramble in the box. The repetition of lines seems to be at an all time high, as I had a string of 9 consecutive matches where the commentators opened the game with the exact same speech about my team’s formation. The overall presentation receives a boost from the fantastic highlight packages that play in between halves and after the games.
The excellent mix of music, commentary, slow-mo, and sharp camera angles during the highlights makes for a very cinematic experience which excellently emphasizes the high points of the match in a manner that replicates that of a top notch TV broadcast. The driven pass mechanic also plays a massive part in FIFA 16. Master this mechanic and master it now. If you don’t, you won’t be able to compete against those that do. Defensive agility is something I’ve been asking for since the introduction of FIFA Ultimate Team. As your defenders are now more agile, coming up against a side full of pace isn’t the end of the world. You no longer have to worry about miss-timing a tackle as you can pop straight back up and when covering a player, you are now able to turn just as quickly as they can, presenting you with a better chance to out muscle your opposition and regain possession.
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First, let me point out that I'm relieved there's no second "Extra Effort". That is still the most luckbased achievement to date in a FIFA-game. On the downside, there's an achievement for winning 4 games in a row on FUT Draft while playing online. That would be perfectly fine if they didn't touch the game-play or made the entree fee a lot lower. As for the other achievements, they are relatively easy. You can see a lot more attention has gone to Ultimate Team, which is the most popular game-mode since it was implemented and I can only support more people playing it. The defensive component of the game has also undergone some changes. Unlike PES (which I think has a perfect balance for referee leniency), I think FIFA 16 is even stricter and harsher on defenders than FIFA 15. The slide tackle mechanics in 16 are brilliant, however you’ll be afraid to use them since referees often tend to give away free kicks for even the slightest of touches.
I am particularly thankful to EA for improving the defensive AI to the point that they at least hold their line. It makes life much easier to defend over-the-top through balls since defenders can actually have time to run back and even seal out faster attackers if needed be. Apart from the automatic interceptions and the referee harshness, I am actually a fan of the defensive mechanics. Passing also takes time to get used to, as it’s been made more difficult this time around. I’ve never been the greatest interactive footballer, but I don’t have a problem passing in PES 2016. Here, though, I regularly find that my passes miss their targets, by either going to their side or not going far enough. It’s a similar issue to that of the shooting, although both will likely get a lot easier as time goes on.
It is clear for all that Ultimate Team is the main component of the recent FIFA games. This is so good for the company and loved by the fans, as in order to attract the American public they have introduced a new game mode called Ultimate Team Draft which is similar to the NBA, NHL, NFL Draft. Thus this new mode allows players to choose cards from a deck. For each position the system will be automatically generate three random players, and gamers will need to choose the best player hoping to create a good synergy and a great team.
And the skill games are great, but they aren't enough, especially for things like set-pieces, corners, playing around with formations, and tactics, which need more than button pressing and stick moving. Sure, we can practice during a meaningless Kick-Off match that won't count towards player stats or Career/FUT mode progress, but you can't simulate specific situations of circumstances, like the aforementioned corners, free kicks, set-pieces, and so on. It's completely confounding why they actively took that feature out since "FIFA 14."
