FIFA 16 – Review | A Game of Two Halves
Here we are, another year another FIFA… Wait a minute, just had a sense of de ja vu….
Whenever the time comes upon for a new FIFA to release, I’m always apprehensive as to whether to buy the game or not.
I get the same feeling with the Football Manager series as well, it’s almost like, how much can they update and improve the game, what can they surely improve on?
Despite this apprehension I always end up getting a copy because I love the sport and I enjoy having it as something to turn too when I just want to have one or two games as something quickly to play.
In terms of difference in gameplay from 15 to 16, there isn’t really much difference that I can tell. There’s a better impact model on tackles and you can really feel when you have crunched someone and injured them or given them a knock. Which in a sick way is a really satisfying feeling to have.
The goalkeepers have been improved further in FIFA 16, which much better reactions and a lot more animations for saves. There are better impact models for goal keepers as finer saves can be made, such as a fine fingertip save or a save coming off the leg, and this for me is brilliant bit of detail.
It did get a bit sterile when keepers were making the same type of saves and the same animations over and over, so it is good to see variety in movement and how the ball is being saved.
FIFA 16 just like 15 awards players for passing and patient build up, gone are the days were you could just get the ball and run with it, opponents are a lot smarter with this and I have found that a lovely passing game, and being patient is the way to get the ball forward. Plus, it can lead to a beautiful team goal.
FUT makes a return this year, and the only real change in this mode if the FUT Draft Mode. In Draft Mode you pick a team from a choice of 6 players per position to make the best team you can. With this you can then take on other teams and trying and build a little run going, and the longer your winning streak the better the prizes get, and you get something after 4 straight wins.
To enter Draft Mode, you need a Draft Token and so far the only way you can get one is by paying 15,000 in game FUT credits. It’s quite a fun mode, and I enjoyed doing, but from what I can see, you can only do a run of 4 wins before having to pay for another token to play again, with probably a different team.
The FUT transfer area is still an overpriced shamble even with EA putting restrictions on player’s cost. The amount people are still charging makes a mockery of those who want to build an awesome team but can’t because there priced out of the best players, or they get to buy one and that’s it. Unless you are lucky enough to get a top player in a pack. Even then it’s not likely.
Career as well makes it return, which again to me it’s just like last year, start as a player or a manager and lead them to glory! This year though, when you start as a manager you can give your team some training drills to do. Quite neat and gives that little extra realism to a career.
Women’s teams make their debut in FIFA 16, and this does give a refreshing new element to the game. It’s just international teams this year, and only one tournament for them to partake in which is the World Cup, so it’s a bit limited to what you can do with them at the moment in terms of how much you play them. Hopefully this will be expanded on for next year and you will have more options then, as I feel it would be nice to do a career with the women’s team.
I still think some work could be done to the refereeing model in the game. Some of the decisions that are made are ludicrous, and it makes me wonder whether that model is designed like that to reflect some of the decisions that are made in real life.
However, the frequency in which these decisions happen for me is ridiculous. Blatant penalties, Red cards that aren’t red cards (See my YouTube page) the list builds.
