Along with the standard tweaks to passing, shooting and defending that come with every release of FIFA, EA Sports have included women’s teams for the first time in the game’s 22 year history. It comes off the back of the successful 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada which drew the highest attendances and TV viewing figures ever seen for women’s football.

 

Get stuck in and win back the ball with new tackling mechanics and animations. Our brand-new slide tackle system makes it possible to control the length of the slide. If it looks like the tackle attempt will be unsuccessful or if the opposition changes direction, defending players are now able to stop mid-tackle, get up off the ground and react to the change in attack. Still, it’s an inclusion that should be applauded and it’s clear that EA has taken it seriously, rather than just making 11 more feminine Andy Carrolls for each side.

 

The women’s game is slightly less physical and the opposition doesn’t press so intensively. It feels a little more like last year’s game, but considering the 5-star review we gave that, that’s not meant as a criticism. Bizarrely, the women are treated as a country on the team select screen, so while no man is an island, apparently that’s not necessarily the case for the opposite sex. Oh and it’s not possible to play as men versus women, because that’s not how football works. You wouldn’t buy Forza 6 and expect to race against a hovercraft, would you?

 

Hands down to EA for coming up with such a technique, it was absolutely beautiful to dribble past defenders in FIFA 16. Not only does this mix things up a little and keep Ultimate Team mode fresh, it also gives owners of the Xbox versions a much greater chance to control some of the Legends players, who otherwise are rarer to encounter than a Blackpool FC win. However, it’s impossible to ignore the presence of FIFA’s long-running rival, Pro Evolution Soccer, which this year appears to have won the on-pitch battle for the first time since the PlayStation 2 days.

 

If it were a rare occasion I wouldn’t mind so much, but this happens so frequently that is it borderline stupid. I don’t know what the team at EA were doing when they made the referee mechanics, but they didn’t do a good job at all. Goalkeepers concede penalties when they punch the ball away and happen to fall onto an opponent and players seem to crumble when the attacker is slightly bumped. Whether it’s a design flaw or what they actually intended when they said they want players to feel the emotion, because I definitely feel a lot of emotion, but not the good kind.

 

Tenuously linked to a previous point regarding Ultimate Team overlays, new commentary is included that is unique to the mode and designed to further enhance the idea that you’re playing with real, important players. Whole story lines are promised for certain stars, told throughout the commentary of matches that they’re a part of. If the commentary duo of Alan Smith and Martin Tyler can string together a yarn about a specific goalkeeper or a promising youngster, and keep that yarn going for five or six matches (at least), then we’ll be impressed.

 

This year Ultimate Team is similar to the ones seen in previous FIFA games, with only a few changes and improvements, but the mode is as popular as ever, with thousands of players creating their teams and competing to earn coins. FIFA 16 has been in out stores for more than a half year now and many have already created great teams. Who is the best player in your team? What is your best pack so far? Who would you like to have on your team? Let us know in the comments.