FIFA 16 Reviews
FIFA 16 has a few nice additions, but failure to fix some of the franchise's ongoing problems, along with a massive focus on FUT leaves it feeling stale; especially seeing as PES seems to be scoring highly in reviews.
Beaten to the ball. A frustrating but undeniably well put together package.
FIFA 16 is a series of successful iterations over the last couple of seasons that pays off nicely while not doing any one thing so incredibly well that it serves as a singular selling point. The flow of the game is improved, there are new modes and the presentation is excellent. All solid improvements over an already very good game that fans of the series will no doubt enjoy, but aside from the very generous (and not before time) inclusion of women, this one doesn't offer anything to be blown away by.
FIFA has abandoned some of the fast, furious, end-to-end play of FIFA 15 in favour of a tighter, more believable defensive game, but if that saps out a little of the fun, there's compensation in the improved Career game mode and the more accessible Ultimate Team Draft mode. In fact, FIFA's problem isn't that it doesn't play a great game of football, but that this particular version might not be great enough. With Pro Evo looking incredibly strong this year, the more conservative, authenticity-focused FIFA seems a little less exciting than it is.
Something of a return to form after 15, but sooner rather than later EA will need to stop re-arranging pieces of their existing code and actually develop a properly new and substantial FIFA engine.
FIFA 16 is an incremental improvement, but with legacy issues still plaguing the on-field action the changes feel hollow in light of PES 2016's overwhelming turnaround.
I've consistently defended FIFA as the most well-rounded sports sim. But the series has felt like it's been standing still this generation, and that is felt more acutely than ever in FIFA 16. As always, it has its strengths, and the FUT Draft is a strong addition, but it's not enough to break the feeling of staleness that has descended upon the once undisputed king of sports games.
The worst FIFA game for over half a decade, and clearly inferior to PES 2016. And yet it's still not a bad game in itself, with some welcome new features.
Overall Fifa 16 is another solid outing from EA Canada, the incremental improvements mean that the title seems like a small step forward rather than a large one but Fifa 16 is a solid footballing title that will not disappoint.
Dragon Ball Z is off to a solid start this generation, with XenoVerse. There's still plenty of room for improvement, but fans are going to find plenty to love with the latest chapter in this long-running saga that tells the same story but with a different spin.
Without a doubt, FIFA 16 provides countless hours of fun football. Any soccer fan will find tons to enjoy here. After all, this game is your mom's mac and cheese. It's familiar. It's comfortable. And that's the problem.
Still the best football game you can buy for your rig, but FIFA 16 feels unambitious.
Lacking fluidity and dynamism, football's reigning king has lost its crown.
Overlooking a number of flaws, FIFA 16 does an incredible job representing soccer. However, once again, FIFA still doesn't innovate enough, with familiarity in gameplay and irritating issues recurring again from previous games.
It may be passé to say, but FIFA 16 is a game of two halves. Off the field, not much has changed that you could really write home about. The stalwarts of career mode and Ultimate Team feel much the same as they did before with very minor changes. With the ball at your feet though, the tooth-and-nail fights to hold on to a 1-0 lead against superior opposition or to take advantage of an entirely organic mistake to equalise in the final knockings of a lower league cup match, along with the general feeling that you're taking part in a decent tactical battle are stellar. The things EA hasn't shouted about are the things that they've clearly worked the hardest on and while there are still flaws, this is the best on-pitch representation of the beautiful game since Konami's PlayStation 2 efforts.
FIFA 16 is an interesting beast. The core gameplay veers towards simulation with thoughtful ways that retool some of its most basic actions and your approach to a match, if you're a fan of fast, frenetic pace of play, this is not for you. However it's hamstrung with flawed execution to some of it's headline features like FUT Draft and women's teams. If you can look past these you'll find a competent football game that's worthy of your time and attention, at least until FIFA 17.
With EA reworking much of FIFA's gameplay and mechanics, there are going to be FIFA fans who will struggle initially when playing the game. Personally, I welcome the change in mechanics. I haven't struggled with the game, though the legendary setting is slightly more challenging than it was in FIFA 15. Overall FIFA 16 is a very good game, and an improvement on last year's offering.
FIFA 16 doesn't introduce a whole lot of interesting new changes, but it's still an exceptional soccer simulator.
Much like its predecessor, FIFA 16 is likely to be picked up by a brand new audience purely thanks to the fact that professional soccer is growing exponentially in popularity in North America. Thankfully, newcomers and veterans alike will find an excellent game of soccer that yet again takes advantage of the higher processing power of current-gen consoles to deliver an experience more realistic than ever.
It's tiki-taka and that's no bad thing