Rightyo, time to kick my return to KH13 off with a bang by reviewing EA Sport's next lineup of copy/paste yearly releases, FIFA 16. Now, I am a big football/soccer fan, I've lived growing up with it all my life, so it's a no brainer that I would be interested with the FIFA name alone. No, I'm not talking about the corrupt, blackmailing, money laundering FIFA, I mean the video game. From an outsider perspective, FIFA is no more than the same game every year, you kick a ball around a park until someone kicks it in the net. Seems simple enough, right? Wrong. Every year, they are constantly putting in small clinks to improve the graphics if anything else. Whether it be the only recently implemented vanishing spray of referees or the moving of the corner flag. EA Sports never tend to improve upon the gameplay, they always keep it the same or, in this FIFA's case, degrade the gameplay. Which brings me to the point of this post. The review.
As with all of my reviews, there will be given categories on different aspects of the game/anime/movie/etc, in this case game. These categories will be the following.
Gameplay
Story (Kind of non-existent here but I will improvise)
Animation/Graphics
Music
With that out of the way and set we are off and I hope you enjoy this review of arguably the most demanded sports game of the gaming calender, EA Sport's FIFA 16.
GAMEPLAY:
Ahh... Here we go. The gameplay of FIFA 16 is... Very flat in accord to other FIFAs. It lacks the edge needed to take over the Sports genre, although still being worlds ahead of its closest competitor, Pro Evolution Soccer. The game lacks what past FIFAs have had in abundance, pace. The game is very slow to go, the movement of players is sluggish and the overall pace of the game has been toned down dramatically, whether that be for better or worse, you decide. We are still at the stage where Per Mertesacker is catching up to Cristiano Ronaldo, which is not good as in FIFA 16 they have a pace difference of 61 ratings, as demonstrated in this picture.
The goalkeepers have not improved like EA promised they would. Goalkeeping AI is still awful, there have been many time already where my goalkeeper has let me down on a questionable conceded goal or mistake, making me frustrated enough to want to throw my controller across the room. Referee's decision making is still absurd, calling offsides when the ball and player are clearly onside or vice-versa. I have also noticed, along with many other people in the FIFA community, that not only is the play slow and sluggish, the AI seem to hold up the ball way too much. The AI, if playing them on World Class or Legendary, will pass it around, backwards, sideways, backwards, sideways for around 30 minutes a half, depending on how many minutes a half you are playing on, and then somehow ping a ball from their box to yours with the vision of a god, leaving your defense like lost puppys scrambling back to the box, also leaving many times where it is 2 v 1 or 1 v 1. Luckily though, the goalkeepers, despite having ridiculously dumb AI, are very dependable to the point where they are OP. Which brings me to another point, there is a MAJOR lack of goals scored or even goalscoring opportunities in this game, has anyone else realized that? Most games in FIFA 16, I have found, have ended in boring 1-0 games or even more boring, 0-0 draws, with there being less than 10 shots during the entire match, and leaving the opposition with around about 65%+ possession, further proving the stupidity of the passing moves the AI makes. And don't even get me started on when the AI try to hold up the ball at your corner flag when they're drawing or winning in a bid to waste time as I and many other can agree it is one of the most frustrating things in the world. In previous FIFAs, you could cross it easily and at least have a chance to get a header on target, but this time, 9/10 times the goalkeeper will come off his/her line and either parry it away or catch it. You could also, with a good enough winger, cut inside and have a good chance at goal or even a chance to scrape out a penalty, but in this FIFA, the dribbling is so sluggish that defenders have to put in little to no effort to get it away from your feet and either pass it away or clear it to high heaven. Ultimate Team is still there, I guess, however still holds the controversial Price Ranges on players in an attempt to stop coin selling websites, There are, however good things about this game, very minor and too far and few between, but nonetheless there. Crazy, I know, considering how I have criticized it thus far. The introduction of the woman's game of football is a very nice and welcomed feature to FIFA, the possibility of playing with the likes of Hope Solo and the current Woman's Ballon D'Or holder, Nadine Keßler. The passing has also somewhat improved in the gameplay of this game, with it becoming more easy to string together a number of passes and make an attack at the other side. But, unfortunately for FIFA 16, there are way too many negatives outweighing the positives in this iteration of FIFA, which has inevitably lead to a much more inferior game to FIFA 15.
Which leaves me to score the gameplay of FIFA 16 with an embarrassing 5/10. Not a very good start for FIFA 16.
STORY CAREER MODE:
As you can see, as there is no set story in FIFA, Career Mode is going to be the subject of this category instead as it is, in essence, create your own story, either take an already well renowned team such as Manchester United, Real Madrid, or Bayern Munich and continue to dominate the world of football, or take a smaller team from the lower leagues and build them up, taking them through the ranks of many countries and their numbers of divisions such as England's Barclays Premier League, Football League Championship and Football Leagues 1 and 2 or Spain's Liga BBVA and Liga Adelante and build them up to be the best of the best and fighting for the coveted League, Domestic Cup and Champions League treble. Sounds like an amazing feature, right? Too bad that EA Sports squander the chance to make an amazing feature for those who are not interested with Ultimate Team or Head to Head Seasons. First of all, and most obvious. It is basically EXACTLY THE SAME AS FIFA 15's with the exception of the Training mode which allows you to, over multiple sessions over a season, train up to 5 players, or even the 1 player in specific stats, possibly upgrading their Technical, Mental or Physical ratings or even their overall ratings over a season. This is the only major change in career mode, is it great? Yes. Does it justify the lack of development and innovation in this year's Career Mode? No way in hell it does. There is also the addition of Pre-Season Tournaments, where as a smaller team you can join to build up budget upon winning the tournament, or to just get a bit of backup cash as a bigger team. However. After about a week of playing Career Mode, I just found I was either simulating the whole tournament or flatout declining the invitation because at the end of the day, it is still just the boring old friendlies we're used to seeing, and with Crystal Palace and a budget of £29,000,000, I did not need an extra £2-3million. Overall, there isn't exactly much to talk about in this year's Career Mode. In regards to smaller changes, budgets have become a lot more reasonable this year which is a small positive, also, EA Sports said that in this year's Career Mode, Transfers were going to be a lot more realistic, with not many big transfers going around in Summer or even January Transfer windows. That is huge blatant lie as in every Career Mode I have started, which means 5/5 Career Modes, David Alaba has moved to Juventus. This is even WORSE than the last FIFA where at least there was a little deviation between what club a player moved to as Edin Dzeko would move to either Roma or Arsenal or Sergio Aguero would move to Bayern Munich or Real Madrid. Whereas in this FIFA, there is no deviation whatsoever. It's the same every single Career Mode. There isn't much else to talk about in regards to Career Mode as pretty much nothing has been changed with the exceptions of adding Training Mode and Pre-Season Tournaments into the mix.
It's very frustrating to have to give Career Mode such a low score as it's my favourite mode on FIFA 16, it just has not been innovated and developed enough. EA Sports should take a leaf out of 2K's NBA 2K16 as it has a much more fleshed out and immersive Career Mode-type experience. So with heavy heart I have to rate Career Mode with an even more embarrassing 4/10. Not the score I wanted to give it, but sadly it's needed.
ANIMATION/GRAPHICS:
Finally. Something I can talk about in a positive light. One of FIFA's best assets has always been its ever changing and developing graphics. And this year EA Sports have hit the nail on the head with the graphics as they are stunning, realistic and very representative of the world of football. There are many more new player faces added into the game, adding for its immersion, however to have a small gripe, they could have added even more, especially for the likes of the bigger leagues like the Barclays Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A, Liga BBVA, Ligue 1 and the Eredivisie. The player animations are smooth and sleek, despite the gameplay it is corresponding being sluggish. There are a more plentiful amount of player interactions in the real-time gameplay, like arguing with the referee, or even having both teams be near close to a brawl if a red card has been issued or a career ending tackle has been made. There is also a few more celebratory animations, such as running up to the camera to celebrate, creating a new way to well, celebrate, very reminicisent of Steven Gerrard's old celebrations of kissing the camera at Liverpool too bad he didn't kiss a Premier League trophy. You can also celebrate with subs that are training at the dugout which is a great way to celebrate if you score a last minute effort in a cup final or even a league game that decides promotion, relegation or even winning the league. EA Sports have also added the license of the Bundesliga and now includes graphics from the Bundesliga. They did this in FIFA 16 with the Barclays Premier League. I am very glad that that they're gathering more and more league licenses as it's adding to the immersion more and more. They have also included nine new stadiums into the game, being the inclusions of the three newly promoted teams to the Premier League Vicarage Road (Watford), Vitality Stadium (Bournemouth) and Carrow Road (Norwich City), as well as El Monumental (River Plate), BORUSSIA-PARK (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Fratton Park (Portsmouth, as a tribute to the late Simon Humber, Creative Director of EA Sports, who was a huge Portsmouth supporter who sadly lost his fight with cancer earlier this year), Stade Vélodrome (Olympique de Marseille), CenturyLink Field (Seattle Sounders FC) and King Abdullah Sports City (Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli). All of these stadiums are welcomed additions, however it would be very nice to see even more stadiums introduced into the game.
Overall, the graphics are as solid as they've ever been, ever developing and getting better with age, however this is sadly the only good asset this game is able to acertain, and as we all should know, graphics do not hold up a game if the game itself is terrible. But, these are the graphics and they've been given a solid score of 9/10.
MUSIC/SOUND DESIGN:
There... Isn't exactly much to talk about in the terms of the music in this game as in game, there is no music, that much is to be expected. However, I can say that the sounds of the crowds is near spot on. The sounds of the crowds corresponds to the moments played in the game as perfectly as you can expect. When a red card is given, the crowd will burst in a roar of boos and shouting, when a goal is scored, the crowd will get excited, you get the picture. There are also special team chants that get played when you are playing at home with certain teams. Back to the original point of this category, the music isn't its strongest point as the music is only played in the menu, obviously, so this is a lost cause for a category as it cannot really be assessed, so I'm going to rate this based solely on the sound design.
As there was not much to cover in this category, it is based on sound design, which does hold up pretty well, in accordance to the graphics, they mix quite well and lead me to give a generous 7/10. Great sound design holds it up, just a shame that the music is a sort of void factor in the rating of this game.
OVERALL ENJOYMENT:
Now then, the overall judgement of FIFA 16. I have had it for around 4 weeks now, and I can safely say it was a very underwhelming experience. It takes around the 4 weeks I have had it to get used to the feel of the game and to get used to the massive downgrade in pace. The game is very boring compared to other FIFAs, it's repetitive with its constant 0-0 and 1-0 games. The lack of goals leads to a very boring and tiring experience that isn't enjoyable at all. I struggled through 1 season of Career Mode, simulating a lot of games where on another FIFA I would have played every single match. I did however get some kicks out of it when I scored a good longshot or the goalkeeper made a great string of saves, but other than that it is a very laclouster and mediocre experience. Compared to one of its closest competititors in the Sports video game market, NBA 2K16, it is starting to lag behind with NBA constantly developing and ever growing gameplay and innovation, something FIFA is really lacking in.
Which leads me to rate my overall enjoyment of FIFA 16 with a mediocre rating of...
5/10
With a recommendation to avoid this FIFA rather than to buy it. There are many other games that can this money can be spent on.
Ace's personal alternatives:
As I said, NBA 2K16 is very good, I am not a fan of basketball however NBA 2K16 is much more innovative than that of FIFA 16, and I highly recommend getting that instead. You can currently get this for around the price of £42 or US$59.99.
Another good game I recommend getting instead is Sword Art Online Re: Hollow Fragment, it's very good as an RPG, I've been playing it for some time now and I have enjoyed myself with every second of it. You can currently get this on the Playstation Store for around the price of £15.99 or US$19.99.
I hope you guys enjoyed this review of FIFA 16, if you have any thoughts or opinions, please do reply, I'd love to see them, thank you~~!