Players then open up Ultimate Team packs for each position on the field, selecting the players they want from each pack to fill out their team. These players are not yours to keep after Draft Mode, so they cannot be transferred or used in regular FUT games. Once a team has been built, players engage in a single elimination tournament, to a maximum of 4 games. The farther you go in the tournament against other online opponents, the more coins you will earn.

 

This is not a huge change to FUT, but it is a new and interesting way to earn more coins. It also gives you a break from your regular FUT team and allows you to use a team of all-stars for a number of games. Online play has more features than before. As you collect experience points this also counts towards your sports football club. This gives them a position on the international league table which resets on a weekly basis. You also get to play quick ranked matches where you are matched with an opponent of a similar skill level.

 

Emergency bug fixes notwithstanding, the FIFA you play in November or December is functionally identical to the FIFA you play the following summer. No matter how the developers might feel about the match engine and how players use it, and irrespective of how many times players vent their frustrations with everything from well-reasoned arguments to spittle-flecked invective on forums, EA Sports hold all adjustments, refinements and innovations back for the following installment. There are evolving elements such as player updates and Ultimate Team promotions, sure, but the core match experience is set in stone.

 

Training feels like a mini game all on its own within your career. Every week that passes in your virtual world rewards you with five training sessions that can be used to improve either the youth element of your team and help gain attributes quicker than just playing them in the squad intermittently, or use the drills on established players within your team to keep a strong first eleven. The drills are extensive and great fun and prove a great addition to the career mechanism.

 

Arguably the biggest addition to FIFA 16 is the women’s teams, although they’ve been added in such a fashion that you’d almost miss them if you didn’t know they were there. Only 12 national sides are included and you can only take charge of them in three game modes: online friendlies, offline tournaments and standard exhibition matches. That’s pretty stingy in comparison to what the men get.

 

The trailer mentions "passing with purpose" as EA Sports intends to make the passing style and fluency a lot smoother this time around, and more realistic. Also, a change in the crossing dynamics should allow for more "moments of magic" when trying to penetrate the opposition's defensive line, whipping the ball around in a more objective manner. As previously reported, the "No Touch" dribbling play will allow attackers to shift and ghost past defenders if performed correctly, much like Lionel Messi.

 

Beyond that, FIFA 16 doesn’t see any real, notable changes on the pitch. You know what to expect from it, and you really won’t be disappointed with what the game offers. It feels snappier than the last few years of the series has done, and the addition of women’s football - admittedly 22 years after the series began - is a huge step into opening the FIFA series up to a whole new audience for the first time since those first few licensed tracks were included to lure in a more casual audience.