FIFA 16

FIFA 16 is another installment in the world's most popular soccer simulation series whose consecutive editions have been appearing annually for over 20 years, developed invariably by the Canadian branch of Electronic Arts. The series is one of the leading franchises in the giant’s publishing catalogue, which also includes other acclaimed sports game series, such as NHL, NBA Live, Madden NFL, or PGA Tour.

Traditionally, the game appeared on the most popular consoles of both current and last generation, and, of course, on its mother platform, i.e. personal computers, where the series originated along with the debut of FIFA International Soccer in 1994. It is noteworthy that this is the first FIFA in years that missed out Nintendo consoles, instead receiving a special mobile edition titled FIFA Mobile.

Depending on the platform, the game differs little in terms of content, most of the variations boiling down to audiovisuals. The PC version, just like the editions for 8th-gen consoles, again uses the next-gen Ignite engine, so it looks much better than versions prepared for older platforms.

FIFA 16 was released simultaneously on all platforms on September 22, 2015 in USA, and September 25 in Europe.

As compared with previous editions, FIFA 16 offers relatively large bunch of innovations and improvements. One of the most significant ones is women’s national teams. The game features 12 such teams from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Mexico, Spain, and the USA. However, women’s teams are only available in friendly matches (solo and online) and single-player tournaments. Moreover, you cannot play women vs. men matches.

Another bunch of changes hit the popular FIFA Ultimate Team mode, now renamed to Ultimate Team Draft. Most of the changes were made to the team creation process, which is now much simpler than in the previous installments. Before you start playing, you get to select one of the available formations, team captain, and assign players to particular positions (select from 5 random players for each position). A thus formed team can be used in a tournament played against AI or other players. Winning a competition is awarded an appropriate reward, however, taking part requires paying a start fee (in the form of coins, FIFA points, or Draft Tokens).

Innovations also touched FIFA 16's career mode. Developers from EA Sports introduced pre-season tournaments, which let you work on the perfect tactics and decide on the line-up. Besides, you can take part in training sessions to improve not only the abilities of your players, but your own too. In this next FIFA game the creators gave much attention to polishing gameplay and enhancing the artificial intelligence of both individual players and entire teams. The developers enhanced control of the players from the back of the field, so you can now use them more effectively to prepare attacks or quickly push them back to defense.

Players got 25 new movement options, the most significant ones being the ability to control the length of the slide and to stop mid-tackle. Computer AI reacts better to your actions, letting you construct more effective actions. The game features a new passing system, letting you make quick, short passes through narrow spaces. Changes were also made to dribbling so that now you can not only decide how but also when to touch the ball. Interestingly, the system was created together with famous player Lionel Messi.

As always, FIFA 16 offers a wide range of single and multiplayer modes, starting with friendly matches and training sessions, various tournaments (played in league mode or cup mode) through to expansive career. You can play either online or together with a friend on one PC.

English version of FIFA 16 traditionally features commentary by Martin Tyler and Alan Smith.

In contrast to last generation consoles, PC version of FIFA 16 runs on next-gen Ignite engine. This time, however, instead of just graphics, the developers focused mostly on enhancing gameplay, thus, visually FIFA 16 differs little from the last year’s edition. There are a couple of novelties and modifications, though, some of which are better animations of players, new stadium models, and new crowd chants – which now amount to 900.

Lionel Messi comes back as the star of FIFA 16 box cover, accompanied by local football stars, depending on the region. For the first time in the history of the series American, Canadian, and Australian editions feature women players (Alex Morgan, Christine Sinclair, and Steph Catley respectively).

Last updated on 17 September 2015