FIFA 16 is a generous package that's fit to burst with leagues, licenses and single and multiplayer game modes. The likes of Brendan Rodgers and Louis Van Gaal are always bleating on about their footballing philosophies, so much so that you'll need a bachelor's degree just to understand their post-match interviews on Match of the Day. With an emphasis on realism and authenticity, FIFA 16 also subscribes to a clear footballing philosophy, and the result is a much more balanced, deliberate game that arguably loses a little bit of magic.
The most noticeable change is the pace of the game, it is slower, which leads to more of a football simulation experience as opposed to arcade style football game. Whereas FIFA 15 had more of an explosive arcade feel to the game, FIFA 16 doesn’t have this same explosive feel which is understandable. A slower more methodical game is the experience this year which gives that classic simulation feel akin to the Pro Evo series, however there are issues with the pace of the game. The most prominent issue is that certain players’ pace bypass the slow pace of the game and revert back to an arcade feel. It leads to frustration particularly in online play where the opposition can pick Bale or Ronaldo and just use pure pace and no skill to get around defences easily. This is not a new issue but is more pronounced in FIFA 16.
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If this seems a bit daunting and collecting cards isn’t your cup of tea then there is always the Ultimate team draft option, which is more simple. Then there is my favourite mode; the career mode. Take control of being either the manager, player-manager or just be the brawn as a player of a football team and start from the bottom, or the top, and rise all the way to global stardom. That’s the aim of the game, but after you’ve done 2 seasons as a player manager, keeping a handle on who’s going on loan, who’s being bought in and what you’re going to do about the repair maintenance to the roof of Old Trafford… well let’s say it usually gets put on pause, saved and left alone for a while. FIFA on the other hand looks fairly flat, the colours are slightly too vibrant and everything has a fake tinge to it. This means that when you score a goal, and immediately see the replay, it’s just not as interesting as what is available in other games.
FIFA 16 as always is presented incredibly well. All the user interfaces are top-notch, and the menu system is sleek and responsive. The loading screens between matches is masked with “Skills” missions or training that you can do to help your game, meaning you never feel like you’re sat there doing nothing. When the game decides you’re ready to play the match, you simply press a button on the controller and you can start playing. FIFA 16 throws you straight into a match to try and get you familiarised with the gameplay straight away, which is quite a nice touch, and all these little touches work really well to keep you playing rather than waiting. As always FIFA looks good, however, for the first time in a long time, I’d be tempted to say that Pro Evolution Soccer 2016 actually looks significantly better. Konami’s FOX engine might have helped PES along quite a bit though, but the effect is quite dramatic.
Aside from the Divisions connectivity issues, Ultimate Team is superb. The major addition is Draft, which works very nicely indeed (and for some reason, doesn’t seem to be suffering from the problem in Divisions). The 15,000
FIFA 16 coins entry price is somewhat steep, but if you like opening packs, the rewards make it worth the cost of admission. Draft works by giving you a random selection of the world’s top footballers, giving most gamers a rare opportunity to control the likes of Lionel Messi in Ultimate Team. After a formation is selected, a captain is chosen (normally a superstar attacker – Alexis Sanchez and Neymar commonly popped up for me). The rest of the team then slots into place with a choice of five players in each position.
Getting a smooth 60fps on FIFA 15's PC release could be a bit of an undertaking. Selecting the “locked” 60fps would produce a lot of in-game frame-stutters and put the free kick/goal kick/corner scenes at 30fps for mysterious reasons. Choosing “unlimited” gave you a different type of stuttering, by sending your frame-rates all over the place. There will be a full FIFA 16 review with in-depth gameplay thoughts once I’ve played it for a few more days.
