Football is a beautiful game played across the entire planet, even known to some as Soccer, but that's another story in itself. The sport's most recognized video game for a number of years has been FIFA, a game offering all sorts of different ways to play the sport, and without doubt my favourite console game of all time. EA Sports' newest title, FIFA 16, has been met with a pretty mixed response ever since the release of the demo.

 

Some gamers would suggest that the game offers an alternative to the usual pace-orientated gameplay, I am one of those people. Although, it could also be argued that the game feels a bit scrappy and even disjointed to play at times, a fairly accurate criticism it must be said. With gesture controls or touch screen d-pads and buttons to perform your moves, as well as lots of customization and management options and plenty of sport action, FIFA 16 Ultimate Team is shaping up to be worth giving a look. You can grab the game for free on the Play Store as of now, but it is rather large at 1.4GB so make sure you have plenty of space for the install.

 

Technical triumph aside, there's no denying EA's soccer goliath is resting on its considerable laurels. Between FIFA 09-12, each new entry introduced bold new revisions-think 360-Degree Dribbling and Tactical Defending-which had a transformative effect on the actual football year after year. Yet since moving to the Ignite engine, the series has effectively stood still. Is FIFA 16 still the best football sim you can buy on PC? Absolutely. Has it also utterly stagnated over the last two years? You can bet Diego Costa's hollowed out soul it has.

 

Usually, people put their items in the transfer market for one hour as the minimum time increment is one hour. This opportunity allows you to get many players and other items at a cheaper price. What you have to do is go to the transfer market and check remaining time issue. Go to cards that have 59 minutes to go - For this you need to scroll the page a lot - So be patient. Then see good players/items with low price Buy now, then buy and re-sell them at higher prices.

 

It all feels like a bit of a compromise, which perhaps explains why the more successful and ultimately the more lucrative part of the game, Ultimate Team, is now EA's priority. Such is its addictiveness you could almost push it as a product of its own, though the development team has had the commercial sense to wrap it in all the kinds of paraphernalia fans have come to expect; one off matches, online tournaments, etc etc.

 

Unfortunately then the game kicks off and I cannot remember finding any of the recent FIFAs even slightly as frustrating. Instead I endured square balls and pudding passes in a crowded midfield. Either that I played it forward in a hopeful manner and back it came. And no-one pays me ￡45 every September to do that on Hackney Marshes on a Sunday afternoon… Thunder in a goal from distance and the way the ball hits the net coupled with the player celebrations, the crowd reaction and the commentary feels just right.

 

When you play the Ultimate Team you can buy team packs with the points and coins you earn by winning matches. It brings back childhood memories of buying packs of sports cards and never knowing which players you were going to get. I can still taste that chalky gum. If you get the “FIFA 16” Deluxe Edition you will get up to two premium gold packs per week for twenty weeks. This is pretty awesome because the gold packs contain lots of things such as players, team jerseys, etc…