When you first start the game, rather than choosing a favourite team to play with you are given a deck of player cards to form your squad. This year’s tweaks to pace and goalkeepers and so on do marginally improve certain things, though I miss some of FIFA 15’s defensive nous. Ultimate Team’s RPG systems and collectible card systems are still absurdly moreish. There’s no better local multiplayer game, when all the above mentioned frustrations can be turned against and inflicted upon a friend, making them upset and angry for unfair reasons. It’s exciting and tense and skillful and rewarding.
Which brings me to some sort of conclusion.
There’s every chance it’d fall apart like wet cardboard as soon as you drop down the leagues. Of course, we’ve only tried this with a handful of Europe’s better teams. Players now deploy more flicks, nudges and layoffs, using all parts of the boot to move the ball around the pitch. “We set out with the goal of creating atmosphere, players, crowds, and pitches that not only look like they do on match day, but also feel like they do when you play or watch football – it’s a level of immersion we’ve never been able to bring to the game before.” Ground passes have been dialled up a notch and passes into feet are now zippier than that mouthy yellow guy from Rainbow. “Visually, this is the biggest step the FIFA franchise has ever taken,” Rutter said. Versions of the game are also being tailored for prior generation Xbox and PlayStation consoles, along with the Nintendo Wii. FIFA 16 will be released on September 25th, and we’ve already booked the day off in anticipation. We’d have liked some Magic Ref Spray for free-kicks too but perhaps that’s on the to-do list for next year. They now look more like the emerald carpets we’re used to seeing every Saturday afternoon and particularly enthusiastic challenges will leave marks on the turf. The in-game groundsmen have also been hard at work, adding an extra layer of texture to the pitches. One for the purists, this, but for the first time ever FIFA has real-life refs to abuse. But this year’s version struggles to offer an accurate replication of certain leagues, with Major League Soccer, the English Premier League, and Italian Serie A notably wayward. They’ll even attempt to shift their direction mid-save if the ball takes a deflection.ĮA has always taken great pride in the level of detail of leagues included in the game, with logos, rosters and team ratings all typically spot-on.
In FIFA 16 they’re supposedly smarter with improved reactions, better positional awareness and heightened decision-making. While FIFA 15’s goalkeepers weren’t lobotomised simpletons per se, every now and then they’d do something that would make you want them ground down for next week’s half-time pies. Players stumble when thrown off balance and battles for the ball feel more weighty. That doesn’t just mean bigger players beat smaller players there’s a greater sense of momentum to both player and ball movement. We’ve had a quick kickabout on FIFA 16 ( ) and while it’s impossible to pin down every change, it certainly feels more physical than the last game.