EA claims that there are 600 emotional reactions in FIFA 16
For fervent football fans, it's a nice touch, but is a mere distraction in FIFA 16. More time will be spent playing the game than looking at news info that can be gleaned from elsewhere - and, if you're truly a fan of a team, you'll invariably already know. I have had some problems with first touch control in this game. It seems, at times, that the first touch is exaggerated far beyond what I’m telling my player to do. Rather than a gentle touch past an over committed defender, my first touch often sends the ball rocketing past both of us and into the other team’s possession. That came regardless of how gently I held the left stick in a given direction.
Well, the graphical improvements in FIFA 16 are by no means dramatic, but they are noticeable. Faces are more expressive, and EA claims that there are 600 emotional reactions in FIFA 16 that could potentially be seen during the game; players from opposing teams push, shove and bark at each other after having engaged in a series of aggressive physical battles over the course of the match. Strikers look pleased with themselves after scoring a belter and assistant referees… twitch their noses when making an offside call. Unnecessary perhaps, but it’s a tiny detail that adds yet another layer of realism to the most realistic football sim on the planet.
As with FIFA 16, the Xbox One version of this year’s game has a very large ace up its sleeve. Put simply: if you haven’t played FIFA using Kinect, you haven’t really played FIFA. Despite the unfortunate fact that it still only works during offline matches, FIFA 16 with Kinect continues to be a jaw-dropping marvel. Not only does it allow you to bring subs on without pausing the action, when you’re playing Career Mode you can do things like yell for teammates to pass the ball to you or have a shot on goal, tell a corner-taker where to aim or instruct your goalkeeper to rush an attacking opponent. As a device Kinect certainly has its issues, but voice-controlled FIFA 16 is definitely not one of them.
As usual, answering those questions is going to take some intricate unravelling of the various threads that make up the monumental yearly achievement that is the largest, most-beloved football franchise in video games. Initially, it seems that there’s no leap here - it’s very much a case of tiny incremental alterations. Given a bit more play time and those small changes of FIFA 16, it becomes apparent, force quite a large change in the way the game wants to be played. Maybe there’s a hint of revolution in the air after all.
FIFA 16 Pro Clubs lets you create a player, and join your buddies online to go toe to toe in full 11v11 user matches which is a feat in itself. Matchmaking is simple and efficient and no lag was detected while playing this game mode. The ability to create or join friends clubs and upgrade your created player made Pro Clubs an absolute blast. However, the created player from our Career could not be carried over into Pro clubs, making this mode a bit limited. A universal experience similar to NBA 2k15’s MyCareer/The Park would have been a nice touch, but the sheer fact that we were able to play an enjoyable 22 user contest made this a game mode a welcome change of pace.
The biggest change to the FIFA 16 engine comes in the form of Dynamic Goalkeeping. One of the biggest complaints for FIFA gamers is that the goalkeeping had become somewhat stale over the last couple of versions. Keepers often played the exact same way with the exact same motions, so EA decided to put some time and effort into changing this. Brand new saving motions, kicks, punches, and many other mannerisms were added in as part of an effort to make goalkeeping a better experience. FIFA 16 Gamers who downloaded the demo probably recognized this quickly as it is an increased challenge to beat the better keepers in the game. Increasing the difficulty, of course, only makes this task harder, meaning FIFA 16 gamers will have to find creative ways to slip the ball past the final man.
As it stands, it depends whether you enjoy the aesthetic and realistic look over the fake leagues of PES 2015. The players are licensed so Aguero will be at Manchester City but for some people, just seeing Man Blue in the menu with a fake crest is enough to warrant a purchase of FIFA 16. It’s a pity because 15 minutes will see all premier league team names changed to reflect their proper team and the licensed teams look better than FIFA.
