FIFA 16 UT is only about the Ultimate Team mode since EA removed all other modes that existed in FIFA 14 and in older games of the franchise. While in FIFA 14 (the last FIFA that had more modes than just the UT one) I could pop into the game and play quick friendlies either with the AI or (more importantly) with online friends, you can't do any of that in FIFA 16 UT. Great decision business-wise (as UT is a cash-cow), but the lack of all those modes results in a pretty boring football game because you can only play random seasons (with random teams), random tournaments, or random multiplayer seasons.
I grew up at a time where playing FIFA was often a social activity because there's nothing better than playing co-op tournaments with friends or even competing with them. However, in FIFA 16 UT you can only play with random people, which is really a shame. The pace is slower, and the players are less physical, which is reflected in their animations and interactions, and this makes the matches more tactical and also more influenced by mistakes and by random interactions. Passing and movement are more important, and playing the tournament built around women’s team offers a welcome change of pace.
FIFA 16 also introduces a new Trainer that can can deliver different levels of advice during the matches, making it relatively easy for players to upgrade the quality of their play and to understand how they can deal with difficult situations. As for the online portion, it seems to work fine, although I’d still recommend playing with friends. If you have like-minded buddies, who feel the same way about this sport as you do, you’re far more likely to become engaged in memorable matches. As for the functionality of the online servers, it seems all right, with the exception of a few misconnects.
Chances are, if you can get a few reliable and enthusiastic players to participate again and again, you can have tons of fun throughout the fall and into the winter. I have found that, like the Draft, it’s all about finding just the right pieces for any given team. There will always be morons online (sadly unavoidable) and when it comes to in-depth sims, you must weed out the dopes and play with skilled players who simply enjoy the competition.
Players also make efforts to intercept the ball in FIFA 16, which is another huge improvement over previous generations where players would only intercept if the ball came directly to their feet. While playing “15,” I often questioned (cursed at the TV spitting with rage) if players knew they were playing a game of soccer, as they wouldn’t make any effort at all to intercept a ball. Above, my intercepting AI player stays in good position and does a much better job identifying the passing channels.
It terms of changes to the physics and in game animations, there are barely any that I can think of. I usually pick up all of the FIFA’s and can usually only tell fractional differences in how the players react to different situations and I think this part of the games changes is marketed far too heavily. Along the lines of other miscellaneous changes, there are some slight changes the the user interface, but as far as I can tell it is the same one from FIFA 15 with a new lick of paint.
Now, we used the word ‘relatively’ there for a reason. The only people who’ll really be able to notice these gameplay alterations are those that have played FIFA 15 to death, while more casual players won’t necessarily catch on without knowing about them beforehand. The franchise gets a lot of flak for its supposed inability to change, but it's hard to argue against the opinion that FIFA 16 represents a major shift in making matches more believable - but it’s difficult to say whether its increased realism suits the fact that, at the end of the day, it’s a video game representation of a real world sport.