The highest selling sports video game in the world is back this week when FIFA 16 by EA Sports is released on September 22nd across virtually all gaming platforms. With European and most professional football leagues in full swing, FIFA offers couch athletes the chance to compete with their favorite clubs from every nook and cranny of the world. Unlike some of the other sports franchises offered up by EA on an annual basis FIFA has some direct competition with the re-emergence of Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer, which should in theory make BOTH titles better as we approach the latter half of this decade.
Will 2016 be the year that FIFA puts it all together? Sports Gamers Online takes a deep dive into every aspect of FIFA 16 with our official launch day review. So kick off your cleats, sit back and let us walk you through the entirety of this massive and ever-growing Football Sim.
GAMEPLAY
Let’s get right to the nitty gritty and jump to the first thing football gamers care about. When it comes to a digital interpretation of the “Beautiful Game”, players of the FIFA series are especially critical. It’s a game of balance, skill and nuance and physics play an extremely important role in pulling it all together.
Last years game, FIFA 15 felt fast and a bit unbalanced. Experienced gamers found ways to score, almost at will, ball & player physics often did not reflect those of an actual football match. In FIFA 16 however, I noticed right away that the speed of the game has been toned down quite a bit. Additionally, defenders seem much more apt and capable of staying with their offensive counterparts. This is a big deal as it brings an immediate balance to the game which was lacking last year. The wing attack still seems as a great way to attack but the success rate certainly has leveled off a bit. New in FIFA 16 is also an emphasis on teaching newcomers to the series how to succeed in the game. A tutorial style “on the fly” system has been implemented called: “FIFA Trainer”.
When jumping into a game you will notice a large circle with multiple commands under each player currently highlighted. These commands give you suggestions on your safest and best plays depending on the current situation and positioning of the player. These commands will get more advanced as you progress in the game and the level of intricacy can be adjusted in the settings menu as well. This is a great way to refresh on some of the controls for returning players as well as learn the game of FIFA for new players of the game. The FIFA trainer can quickly be toggled on or off simply by pushing the right thumbstick.
A new passing command also makes its debut in FIFA 16. A hard, direct pass can be accomplished by pressing the R1/RB + X/A buttons. This is a very helpful tool when trying to complete longer passes in the midfield without having to go through the air or risking the chance of getting a traditional ground pass intercepted. This is a welcome addition that will let you control the pace of the midfield much better than in previous years. These hard direct balls however will be more difficult to handle on the receiving end and I found the R1 + X command to feel a bit unnatural to pull off.
On the other side of the ball, EA has improved the defensive agility and your CPU controlled teammates will now play passing lanes much better than before. Additionally quite a few defensive player animations especially slide tackles have been refined and added to. You can now quickly bail out of a slide by simply pushing the slide tackle button again. This seems like a small addition but anyone who has played FIFA in recent years , knows how much of a “boom or bust” play the slide tackle was. Keeper animations also got an overhaul and even in my limited time with the game, I have noticed a ton of new save animations. All these defensive improvements are tied into defensive confidence and if you play a smart and solid game defensively, it will become much more difficult to be scored upon.
Overall gameplay feels as tight as it has ever been and players feel marginally less attached to the ball, a trend that has continued over the last 3-4 years. Even elite players will easily lose possession if not careful with the ball and the feeling of the player and ball being its own separate entity is a much welcomed refinement. Players are no longer glued to the ball and even more to this point, EA Canada added “No touch dribbling” which lets you juke defenders out of their cleats if pulled off correctly.
Many of the new gameplay additions are minor but necessary for EA to move this FIFA franchise along. Seasoned veterans of the game will feel right at home while newcomers should not feel intimidated. One of the beauties of FIFA is that you do not need to be able to pull off every nuance of the game to find enjoyment and success.
PRESENTATION
On the presentation front, FIFA 16 feels somewhat unchanged from last year with a few exceptions. Menus received its usual theme change, with a bright blue fresh feel and a completely empty stadium of your favorite team serving as the backdrop. This is a nice touch and adds to the overall appeal but does not add much of substance. A few things that do add to the experience however are a built in media player on the splash screen, currently displaying a video of the “FIFA Trainer” which can easily be played while still on the home screen. Going back and forth between menus is also as snappy as I have ever seen in any EA Sports game and makes it a breeze to cycle through the numerous game modes FIFA 16 has to offer. The Bundesliga also received it’s full catalogue of stadiums and overlays now reflect those of a Bundesliga TV Broadcast. FIFA Ultimate Team menus are almost identical to last year, with an emphasis on teaching you how to play the mode. Oftentimes screen overlays, telling you what to do will be prompted on screens you have not visited previously. This is a nice touch to ease newcomers into the beast that is FUT.
When it comes to gameplay presentation, not much has changed from last years strong effort although some refinements are noticeable. Stadiums look very good, fan chants are accurate and fans can be seen holding their teams scarfs and singing in unison prior to matches.
Weather once again factors in the look and feel of the game with options on what season (Spring/Fall/Winter) as well as in what conditions to play in. Snow games look phenomenal and players’ attire looks fitting to the conditions at hand. The Barclays Premier League is once again one of the best and most accurately portrayed leagues in the game with an almost true to TV broadcast presentation. I also noticed some nice individualized touches in other leagues games however. Player handshakes before games look a bit robotic but that is a minor gripe in an otherwise stellar presentation package. Overall the game looks and feels clean and fresh but returning players will not be blown away by some sort of major revelations on the presentation side. Commentary once again lacks excitement and innovation and is largely unchanged from years past. This is definitely an area in which EA can use some improvements. Aside from the lackluster broadcast voices, the rest of the presentation has improved with added Bundesliga overlays in league matches to make it look and feel much like a TV broadcast. One thing I would like to see in the future is a true television pan into the stadium with pregame show much like that featured in EA Sports’ NHL series.
GAME MODES
FIFA 16 features a bevy of game modes including all the modes gamers of the franchise have come to expect as well as some additions. Match Day Live is back and looks cleaner and refined with real world articles on your favorite squads, Inform Players, Top Scorers and League Tables all visible on the splash screen.
The “Tournament” mode features a large amount of licensed Cups from all over the world to partake in as well as the ability to create your own custom tourney.
The “Career” mode lets you play as a manager of your favorite club or as a young phenom player just breaking onto the scene. If you go that route, you can play out your players career and then after you retire become a full time manager, which is a great touch, not available in any other sports game to date. Player development within the career mode gets a nice boost with individual player training.
You can now assign specific training sessions to players and then either execute them in a mini game setting or sim them to improve your players attributes. Gamers asking for a deeper, more immersive career experience will be happy with that addition. Player interactions including trade demands, playing time requests etc also make its return in FIFA 16. Scouting, finances and the Global Transfer Network all play key roles in the success of your team and you can choose to partake in pre-season tournaments to gain reps with your squad as well as money for transfers. As a manager you will also be able to browse jobs and receive offers to coach national teams. You also have the ability to hire youth scouts and set up your youth team and develop these players to one day play for your senior club. All in all Career mode is a deep, immersive experience in which you can find yourself spending hundreds of hours in.
“Skill Games” offers a way to refine your FIFA skills in a mini game type of setting.
“Online Seasons” and “Co-Op Seasons” is also back in which you try to climb divisions by beating online opponents in a setting similar to league play where a win will gain you 3 pts.
“Online Friendlies” give you a chance to test your skill against your buddies and “FIFA Pro Clubs” puts you up against up to 21 fellow FIFA 16 players in an 11 v 11 online match.
In addition to all those game modes, players can now join a “Women’s International Cup” in which you can choose one of 12 officially licensed women’s national teams and play a world cup type of tourney.
Playing the women’s cup felt rather authentic and player models looked very impressive. When it came to physics, the game felt slowed down a bit which also seemed realistic. It would have been nice to see the entire women’s world cup lineup in the game but in no way did this new mode feel gimmicky. It is a nice building block and I applaud EA for adding women’s football to the game.
Ultimate Team also makes its triumphant return and as EA’s “Fastest growing game mode” this comes to no surprise. The money printing machine largely known as “FUT” looks and feels largely unchanged from FIFA 15 with one major exception. A new game mode called “FUT Online Draft” has been added this year. It is an Ultimate Team based online draft in which you are able to draft a full 11 man squad including reserves. You then take this team online and battle against another player’s drafted squad. Each win will reward you with Ultimate Team items and coins. 4 wins in a row will win you the championship and you then can start over with a new draft. If you lose along the way, you also lose your drafted team and must start over. This is very similar to “Draft Champions” in EA’s Madden 16 with one major difference. Each draft will cost you an entry fee of either 300 FIFA Points, 15,000 Coins or 1 Draft Token (available in FUT packs)
It seems like a fairly expensive price to pay to play this mode but it certainly will keep players from quitting their online games just to redraft another team. An interesting approach by EA to funnel a few more people into Ultimate Team and it gives players a chance to play with some of the elite player cards, usually extremely difficult to acquire. Only time will tell how this particular game mode will sit with the FIFA Fanbase but I did enjoy myself playing “FUT Online Draft” quite a bit.
CONCLUSION
FIFA 16 once again looks like a stellar sports gaming title players will spend hundreds upon hundreds of hours on. You will be hard pressed to find another video game, period with this kind of value and replayablility. This years refinements although seemingly minor, actually make a very big impact on the game as a whole. I feel like I sound like a broken record when saying this, but FIFA 16 once again is the best FIFA to date in my opinion. EA Canada built on its extremely solid foundation and listened to their customers when tweaking certain aspects of the game and they pulled it off once again.
FINAL SCORE: 8.5 (GREAT)
I hope you guys enjoyed my FIFA 16 Review, please stay tuned to SGO for all the latest FIFA News, Tips and Tricks. What do you think of this year’s iteration? Like it? Love it? Not so much? I am looking to hear from you guys! Connect with me on Twitter @danielbaesel and subscribe to my YouTube channel as I will be posting fresh FIFA 16 videos regularly!