FIFA 16 includes a wide variety of teams and leagues, all of them with extensive licensing, which means players can certainly find a team to love and will be able to play with the biggest superstars, using kits, and on stadiums that are based on their real-world counterparts. I appreciate the new options opened up by the training schedule, which gives gamers an option to pick five players in order to try and improve their skills and their performance, but EA Sports has not delivered any fundamental new feature for the mode.
There’s a whole raft of new skill games designed to hone your skills, as well as a nifty graphical overlay - dubbed the FIFA Trainer - that can be toggled on or off depending on preference and shows the button options available to the player you’re controlling. It’s a cool take on the usual instruction manuals and tutorial videos, and - although a little distracting - really helps you get to grips with the controls. Hell, it helped cut down the number of fouls by improving by tackling percentages and enabled me to score a few glorious free kicks - and that can’t be a bad thing.
Personally, I’ve always felt a little overmatched on defense. I could never get the hang of it. But defending in FIFA 16 seems like a more evenly-matched affair; I’m not merely trying to impede the player’s progress by tossing the kitchen sink at their feet. Now, slide tackles are a little more useful (I actually performed a successful one on my first try) and if I want to be deft and tactful, I can just try to poke the ball away. The better slide tackling is a big plus, because you’ll start using it in a variety of situations, and you finally feel as if you’re in full control on defense.
One downside: Because defensive players have a lot more range this time, I’ve been tackled by players when I thought they were too far away. In fact, I think they can get me from too far away. Gotta take the bad with the good, I guess. And the skill games are great, but they aren't enough, especially for things like set-pieces, corners, playing around with formations, and tactics, which need more than button pressing and stick moving. Sure, we can practice during a meaningless Kick-Off match that won't count towards player stats or Career/FUT mode progress, but you can't simulate specific situations of circumstances, like the aforementioned corners, free kicks, set-pieces, and so on. It's completely confounding why they actively took that feature out since "FIFA 14."
What isn't as easy to answer, however, is which offers better action on the pitch. Both games certainly offer solid gameplay but they definitely feel different so this is one of those things that boils down to personal choice. Admittedly, I find PES 2016's gameplay to be a bit more engaging as I have to work harder to get through the defense and one-on-one confrontations feel like mini battles of their own. Some folks, however, might prefer FIFA's more arcadey style on the pitch and I won't fault them for that either.
FIFA 16 might take second place to PES 2016 this season, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a great game. EA Sports usually sticks with the “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” but with the soccer genre they have some serious competition. They’re challenged with tweaking and enhancing the game to keep up with PES 2016. While the game plays very well, it’s just not as true of a simulation as PES 2016 felt, in my opinion. If you’re a fan of the franchise I still think FIFA 16 is a solid purchase, especially with the addition of the women’s international teams which it has the exclusive on this season.
