Playing with Alex Morgan, Marta, and their respective colleagues brings a new dynamic to the typical FIFA experience. Matches feel a little different, primarily in their pacing, which adds a unique twist to the action. Unfortunately, the women’s involvement is somewhat thin. You can only play with the aforementioned 12 national teams, so that means no clubs. You can set up exhibition matches, along with a mini-tournament, but that’s about it. Folks constantly focus (rightly) to the gameplay, but as with any diversion of sport, it is about feeling and believability also. The vast collection of arenas, licensed leagues and players of FIFA 16 gives it that in prosperity, also it has. This year we eventually possess a landscape that was gameplay appropriate to grace these recreated football surroundings.
With Career Way and Ultimate Team making positives strides, the jewel in the crown of FIFA are its ways. This mode was designed and constructed in the post 12 months FIFA 15, thus to get it to this degree of polish quickly, is nicely worthy of compliments. On the pitch, novice players can enable a live Trainer that prompts varying button inputs for a variety of moves, passes, and shot types. I’ve never completely memorized every command in FIFA; mostly because the controls change depending on position or possession. The Trainer even presents a visual representation of the direction you’re pushing on the thumbsticks, making one-touch plays much easier to understand. The cherry on top is that the Trainer is easily toggled off, just click R3. Unless you’re a lifelong FIFA player, check your ego at the door and try it out for a few matches, it’s simple, subtle, and you might be surprised by what tricks you’ve been missing.
These are the moments that make you cringe as a sports gamer who so desperately longs for realism in every aspect of the game. Narratives from the announcers and stat overlays related to your team or manager's journey add to the immersion. The match recap and instant replay suite are perhaps the best in all sports games. Watching the match highlights in this game is a blast. With the in-game commentary kept in place for goals, the postgame presentation tells a story. As someone who refuses to spend any money in FUT, I was delighted to at last get the chance to play with the best players and have some respite from vanilla FUT's annoyances (what I'd give for automatic contract renewals). Imagine my disappointment, then, when I found out that Draft Mode costs FIFA Points to enter - about ￡2.50's worth. With scant rewards on offer for winning games, it's little more than a cynical additional EA revenue stream that most will find pretty hard to swallow.
Of course, those games didn’t have the technology to give an accurate representation of their sports, and that’s the direction FIFA seems to be moving in: Trying to put out an enjoyable, accessible game for millions while moving closer to a real football simulation. It's a widely held belief that, in recent years, Konami's PES series has provided a more realistic battle for the ball in midfield in recent years, with FIFA trending more toward end-to-end action. Play is a bit slowed down this time around with the precise passing, as it does end up being difficult to get the ball back from opponents for long stretches. Teams also do defend a bit better as a unit, and tackling is perhaps slightly underpowered. These factors, combined with the improved close control and last-second passes that allow players to slip out of danger and maintain possession for longer periods, definitely change the way FIFA plays.
The verdict on whether these changes in style are for the better will largely come down to personal preference. Newcomers will be pleased with the new FIFA trainer mode which offers a learn as you play graphical overlay to your player. Prompts appear on screen detailing your options in various situations and they are not nearly as distracting as one might expect. Everything from basic commands to more complex team plays make themselves available through this system. This allows FIFA to be more accessible than ever before.
