FIFA 16 Ultimate Team is a game we played on the iPhone 6S Plus, back when we tested the device. Launched in September last year, the game lets you sync with Facebook to keep your progress saved and keep playing on other devices. We give this game a 9.4 out of 10, because it’s certainly fun and playable, but resources are scarce. The players themselves have a better likeness to their real world counterparts with better skin tones and more detailed features. This was one aspect of the previous release that was extremely disappointing and thankfully the grayness has been replaced with more accurate character models.

 

The stated objective was to remove player speed as the pivotal factor in deciding games, to make the midfield meaningful, and to enable different styles of play, rather than FIFA 15’s dominating tactic of high balls out to the wing where fast man will get behind the defence. EA Sports' latest soccer sim wants players to compete on a level footing. And while, realistically, we’ll have to wait until the online population has stress-tested the new system for millions of hours and reported back before we’ll really know, this is how the changes currently feel.

 

First, it is very clear that the developers of this game have attempted to balance player attributes, specifically within FUT, in order to reduce to recurring dominance of skilful and fast players. Something that I have noticed is that the driven ground passes are quite controlled, whereas the standard Y/Triangle pass will probably not serve as a standard pass anymore, but serve their purpose solely as a through ball. Passing needs to be accurate when playing this demo, as loose balls can very easily swing the momentum of the match.

 

The second major addition is the addition of “Player Training.” Player improvement was somewhat random in FIFA 15 and didn’t really correspond to on-the-pitch performance. Do you assign training to the fringe player or do you look towards the future and prepare that youngster for life in the first team? One of the new features is called “No Touch Dribbling.” By hitting and holding the left bumper, a player will detach from the ball to create space and opportunity to get creative. It’s especially useful with the highest-rated players, but it is a more advanced tactic to utilize and will take some time for novices to grasp.

 

The physical elements of football are still not reflected too well, though PES has managed to nail that aspect at the first time of asking. Defending also seems a tad unnatural, with tackling underpowered against any dribble and interceptions overpowered in a psychic fashion. Attacks can be joyous at times but the defensive element of FIFA is never satisfying. Goalkeepers have been improved a lot since last year, though are poorer than PES (who ever thought we’d be saying that, eh).

 

You see, it seems like EA forgot to balance or tweak the defensive AI to cater for a good experience when you’re not playing a human. Your AI opponents, no matter the team, will usually hold a very rigid, unrealistically solid defensive line. This, more often than not, will mean you have to pass, pass and pass again in an attempt to break down two banks of four to create a chance or simple shooting opportunity. This might sound fun and “realistic” to some, but given that the pitch in FIFA is already quite small it makes for an extremely frustrating experience. 99% of the time, I felt like I had very little space to manoeuvre in and create nice, flowing passing moves. Even when I did, the opposition would home in and close down the space before I had a moment to think about my next move. Throw in some incredibly static attacking AI (you have to press a button to trigger teammates to run) and it’s just not fun. The majority of my games ended 0-0, 1-0 or 2-1, and I’m very few of them were the true definition of fun.