As always with FIFA 16’s opening, Martin Tyler and Alan Smith provide the commentary and it was nice to hear the duo get a little more in depth with some of the players, but this has been one of EA Sport’s cornerstones, so improving the commentary was unsurprising. What I am concerned about is once the full game becomes available, how long will gamers play before we start hearing the same phrases over and over? To be brutally honest, the graphics haven’t really changed radically from last year’s game. In a sense, it’s not a bad thing either as last year’s game was pretty good graphically speaking. If anything, what is noticeable is that the player models are a little better although some of the faces on the women’s team look to be a bit ‘mashed in’.
One thing I did notice is that Lionel Messi’s new tattoo is included. So, does this mean we can start seeing a better representation for other players’ ink as well? Indeed, while PES feels like its honing its game, FIFA seems to subscribe to the Manchester United ethos of team-building, fighting last year's fires rather than stepping back and taking a more holistic approach. FIFA 14 was too slow and stodgy, so FIFA 16 ramped up the pace; some felt FIFA 16 was too arcade like so the pace has once again been dulled. There's satisfaction to be had in wearing down resilience defences but FIFA 16's not an inherently exciting set-up. The murky pace makes it feel like you're playing through treacle, or your self-employed tax return forms, and when you need a sharp turn in the box, you'll find your number nine has the turning circle of Unicron.
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It can feel scripted and stuffy right at the moments when you most long to unleash your creativity. In order to capture this kind of motion, EA Sports have announced a new dribble control system for FIFA 16 - one which mimics Messi brilliantly. You can actually see in action in the video at the top of the page. Describing No Touch Dribbling as like driving a car, holding down the skill shoulder button disengages the engine, allowing fine touching with the analogue stick to try and fool defenders into going the wrong way. Again, these aren’t perfect systems: the passing differs between crisp and smooth and the equivalent of heart surgery with a pair of soccer boots and a referees whistle, which can make the game seem a bit unfair, especially against a wildly inconsistent AI component - a long-standing issue in the FIFA series.
The other thing the game suffers with is an unintuitive user interface. FIFA has been using this block-driven interface for a few years now, and while it looks pretty and is fairly easy to navigate, it’s very clunky, with most actions taking a second or two to process. If you’re spending a lot of time in the menus - which you will be if you’re playing a career mode or the Ultimate Team mode - it can get very frustrating and time-consuming. The biggest problem with UT by far is how unbalanced the reward system in the game is, and how it favors EA and unfavors the players, the player is not rewarded at all. Coins for winning matches is measly, winning tournaments is measly, players are too expensive, gold pack odds of getting anyone interesting is so so low, and everything is a long grind only to find that the next FIFA is out by the time you have grinded out the team you want.
You are playing a mode where the odds are against you. Yes I know you can buy coin boosts in the catalogue with in game money without spending real money, but it still doesn’t justify much. Not to mention how the competitions in the game are lifeless and lack depth in my opinion, the game does not favor you. My two cents is to just stay away from this mode, it’s an evil mode, designed to take your money, designed for them to make tons of money. Yes it is a fun, addictive mode, but it is just not worth it and for me the fun has diminished.
