FIFA games are like an iconic team’s soccer jersey. They’re ubiquitous. They have trademark styling. Supporters wear them as a statement of unwavering loyalty. And every year, we see a new version of it. Some new touches here. A splash of color there. Maybe a couple of high-tech features to keep things fresh. But, just like the 2015-2016 Arsenal home kit, the new FIFA is pretty much what you know. And if what you know is what you love, FIFA 16 is pretty great (as reviewed on the Xbox One). Finally, women’s teams have made it to FIFA. You can now play as 12 of the most prominent international squads, recreating some of the best match ups from the recent Women’s World Cup.

 

According to The Verge, though "FIFA 16" got the major upgrade of featuring women's international teams - the first ever in the franchise - it still has a long way to go in terms of content and gameplay. First, there is the absence of the Japanese women's team, who has been a strong rival of the U.S. team in recent tournaments. "FIFA 16" features 12 women's teams and the Japanese team is not one of them. For many, the inclusion of women in FIFA has been a long time coming. Back in 2013 Spanish footballer Verónica Boquete started a petition on Change.org calling for the addition of female players in the popular video game. The petition garnered 20,000 signatures in 24 hours.

 

Around the same time EA had already been tinkering with the idea and created an early prototype, which consisted of putting a women’s head on a man’s body with generic male motion. As you can imagine the result was not exactly promising, in fact some called it disastrous. What the prototype did do was give EA a starting point on what they would need to work on to create a more realistic female player model. "If you take the US Women as a singular team and you look at the 600 teams you can play with on a global basis, not just in the US, the US Women, they're actually the 23rd-most played team around the world in FIFA 16, which is a stunning statistic," EA Sports COO Peter Moore revealed.

 

A "better stat" is that Morgan, the cover athlete, has already scored more than one million in-game goals, even though FIFA 16 has only been out for two months. The decision to introduce women into The Beautiful (Digital) Game was made “three or four years ago.” EA’s series has always enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with the game on which it’s based, and the increasing awareness of women’s football in the public consciousness made the call a no-brainer. “We pride ourselves on being the most authentic football game in the world,” says Channon. “The groundswell of women’s football in the last four or five years has become strong. And ultimately we felt that if we want to be truly authentic, women need to be part of our game.”

 

With the main focus on simulation rather than structure this year, career mode has to settle for a few refinements instead of a full overhaul. Pre-season tournaments are a welcome improvement on meaningless friendlies, and weekly training drills for up to five squad members provide a smart means of expediting player growth. Further fleshing out the world are additional mid-match discussions from Martin Tyler and Alan Smith, such as analysis of transfers made elsewhere in your league. Scouting remains an addictive time sink, although one which eschews belief as you drop down the divisions - my best talent spotter repeatedly recommended Wayne Rooney, Christian Eriksen and Gylfi Sigurdsson. For Leyton Orient.

 

And what's more, games allow a beautiful suspension of reality. In "FIFA 16," the U.S. women can play the U.S. men without any real-life constraints -- no squabbling about turf, about funding, about biology. It's the beautiful game without sexist incursion. This is more than just a moment, but it's not a total breakthrough into mainstream consciousness, either. It's something in between, and could result in some amazing changes that resonate through other leagues as well.