You'll need to use these new skills because the defense also has something to show. New animations and physics updates make defenders much more capable of tracking and stopping attacks in FIFA 16. No longer will your high-pace strikers simply blow by the back line; you'll need to use sound plays and work to get into open space. Just like in midfield, the defenders are more aware and capable of intercepting crosses and passes. New standing and sliding tackles also come into play, and offer a very nice balance between effectiveness and drawing fouls. The speed of the game also feels slower, and more realistic compared to last year's end-to-end marathons - which plays nicely into the new mechanics that are all about the build up of play. Goalies also showcase some improved positioning and reaction times, though the odd weird goal still occurs.
The other heavily promoted feature addition this year is FIFA 16 Ultimate Team (FUT) Draft. Unlike the similar in concept Draft Champions in Madden NFL 16 - which was received extremely well as an Ultimate Team alternative - FUT Draft is an extension of Ultimate Team. It’s buried within Ultimate Team, uses parts of the teams that have been built there (such as the kits that have been acquired), and the rewards all go towards Ultimate Team. Crossing has also been improved as you can now whip the ball into the box with swerve to meet your player’s runs. Headers seem to be slightly overpowered in the sense that you can generate a lot of power from standstill jumps. With defense tuned to provide more balance, more build-up play is required in FIFA 16. “Passing with Purpose” is the catchphrase EA crafted and it’s 100 percent accurate.
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But it isn’t quite the surefire way to score that over the top through-balls or finesse shots have been in the last few years. The defensive AI has been significantly improved in relation to cutting out passes and, unless your pass is risk-free or pinpoint accurate, there is a high chance it will be cut out. While that may sound infuriating, it actually works well and makes things seem much more realistic. Almost every pass in the final third is contested in some way, unless you get a pocket of space, making it feel like it was a really good passage of play that lead to the shot. As mentioned earlier, attacking was overpowered in FIFA 15. Player agility was skewed towards the offense allowing for attackers to jink their way around defenders and into the opponents final third with easy and regularity.
As referenced earlier, defender awareness has been ratcheted up forcing you to really think about your pass before playing it. Thankfully, your AI teammates will create lanes and show for you, usually giving you a safer option. If you are more of a risk-taker or someone who likes to play on the counter, the new driven pass (X & R1/A & RB) is a way to ping low incisive passes. These passes do come with the added risk of being harder to control as you’ll often see the pass recipient struggle with their first touch. I have to say that this by far my least favorite new feature. In playing vs the CPU you will often seem them spam these passes frequently throughout the match. They also struggle with the concept of when to use them as they will occasionally fire one back to the keeper or to a teammate only yards away.
Hopefully EA will tune the game to turn down the frequency in which these passes are used as in real life you might only see a few of these per match. Another niggle with passing is that passing percentages are little too high on default settings even if defenders are more active. Thankfully this can be remedied offline with sliders. I have personally experienced matches against English League 2 sides where I have seen passing percentages in the nineties, although this could be skewed by a smarter AI who play less risky passes. If your strikers are relatively new to you, make sure you know whether they prefer attacking crosses, shooting from outside the box or taking players on, or you could end up playing out frustrating 0-0 draws, or worse, be on the end of an early defeat.
Usually, in FIFA 16 Ultimate Team, players are hesitant to make substitutions as it's a waste of a match from a player's contract, but in FUT Draft, there aren't any contracts to worry about. As you only have these players for five matches, you can rotate to your heart's content and try and get the best out of the full squad should you make it to subsequent games.
