FIFA 16 Review (PS4/XB1)
 

FIFA is a game that divides the community like no other. On one hand there’s the online crowd, partly comprised of Ultimate Team fans who prefer a quicker pace and in general, more open gameplay. On the other, there is the offline simulation bunch who like to slow things down (whether it be through changing gameplay sliders or the speed of the game) and play primarily vs the CPU in Career Mode. While there are some who can navigate between both worlds, it’s clear that the two groups have separate ideas of what direction FIFA should take. If early indications are true, it looks like EA has listened to and catered the game to the simulation crowd.

Read More - FIFA 16 Review (PS4/XB1)

Re: FIFA 16 Review (PS4/XB1)
 

Kev, I think you will be the only one on the internet rating FIFA higher than PES very well detailed review. I think this is the first FIFA release I have been excited for.

Re: FIFA 16 Review (PS4/XB1)
 

I respect your opinion but I just don't see how FIFA gets a higher score than PES this year by most reviewers like the previous poster brought up. I know I shouldn't bring up the other game in the FIFA forums so I apologize in advanced.

Pass accuracy too high? We seem to play a different game. It looks like ping pong to me

Pretty much spot on. One problem is that player instructions (Stay back Busqutes!) don't seem to work. Gameplay problems pretty minor when compared to past games or PES. Career Mode (youth teams and real managers) and licensing still need work.

Re: FIFA 16 Review (PS4/XB1)
 

:duck:

It's all good. I've read a few reviews so far but EA's embargo is STRONG so I'm sure there will be a ton of them up today.

Should be interesting.

Have to agree with schnakenpopanz. I guess maybe its still too high for some, but I am finding it a lot less accurate than previous FIFA games. Some of that is the improved defensive AI, cutting off passing lanes, but some of it is definitely the passes themselves. Seeing more variation / sensitivity in strength. And the placement seems more varied as well.

I haven't been able to get the gang together for a true Pro Clubs match yet - they're all playing NHL - but the couple of drop-in matches I played were very "ping-pongy". Single-player against the AI did not have as much of the ping-pong going on.

Not much said about one of my biggest beefs with '15: do CPU teams actually play unique styles? It seemed like every team played the same way last year.

KG can say otherwise, but I think PES is still better in this arena. That being said, there's certainly some varying styles for particular teams. It maybe doesn't touch as many teams as it could/should -- and you'll still see more individual players doing cool unique things than teams -- but it has improved.

Re: FIFA 16 Review (PS4/XB1)
 

To go into more detail: Simulation does not automatically mean more errors. Passing angles and passing lanes should matter, and they do. BUT and a big but for me are the passive responsiveness of teammates after the pass is played. they wait a long time till the ball comes to them. fifa 15's zig zag mode was not satisfying at all, but the other way round is as frustrating as well.

If you're looking at these games from a simulation perspective, than Kevin's review is spot on IMO. I need someone to tell me how you can omit fouls (for the 2nd year in a row) in a soccer game? All the while NEVER addressing it with the gaming community when they ask what gives?

It's easy to crap on EA (I've been doing it for years) but this ain't the one - it's by far the best FIFA I've played in a long, long time. And from my perspective, the teams do have different styles. Played PSG, Real Madrid and Barcelona and got varied styles of play.

For me, PES is no comparison to FIFA due to how it plays. It takes way too much work to move the ball, and the CPU has vastly more success at basic things like marking than the player does.

By playing each demo it's obvious that FIFA is more effortless to control the ball, better to defend as a team and I'm glad that this year offense will be more of a challenge.

Plus all the licenses go a long way with me.

Good to hear this game plays well - I'm always a bit skeptical initially though. I thought 15 was amazing at first but the more i played the more some of the warts started to show (in particular, as many have said, the defending took a massive amount of time to get good at, and the goalkeeping was generally horrendous for both the CPU and HUM). Im liking the slowed down playstyle though. FIFA on fast is no good (and is why i dont really like playing online)

Also, CM improvements - I'm excited about actually making/training younger players to become better (a much needed addition), but the transfer market was a huge let down last year (just pretty much no movement what so ever) and i'd be disappointed if its pretty much the same again. I didnt really enjoy being in Year 5 with my Newcastle CM and having to play against 80% of the same Arsenal team I had been playing against over the previous seasons.

Well see though. Ill be getting this game at some point.

Instead of complaining about the score he gave this game, look at it from this point of view. WE HAVE TWO GREAT SOCCER GAMES TO PLAY, which gives us consumers options. Imagine if we had this for Football, Hockey and Baseball? I think this is an excellent review with a lot of thought and effort put into it.

Re: FIFA 16 Review (PS4/XB1)
 

I want to start out by saying Another Great Review!

I felt your PES one was well done. This is as well.

We are so fortunate to have two great football games this year. I purchased both and do not regret it at all. They are both wonderful.

FIFA 16 is in my opinion the best football game made to date. This is not to claim it flawless. The defensive improvements alone make it amazing.

Anyhow great review... Of course some like PES over FIFA but in the end for the first time in my opinion you can not go wrong getting either game. They both play a wonderful game of football. Having only played about 10 hours of FIFA I hope it stays as amazing as it is. If it does this will be the most played game I have ever owned.

Re: FIFA 16 Review (PS4/XB1)
 

Keep in mind that KG reviewed the vanilla state of the game. This means that fouls and goalkeepers as gameplay elements are right away better in the FIFA 16 game than in the PES one.

Re: FIFA 16 Review (PS4/XB1)
 

Yes. What a lovely lovely year to be a Football fan. 2 amazing games coming out -- NBA 2k16 comin' out this week as well. I'm like a 5 year old kid on christmas :popcorn::59:

This makes me feel better. I was beginning to think I'm the only one who prefers FIFA to the competitor.

Both great games, and both very different. FIFA just rubs me the right way I guess, and I don't have to worry about things like finding option files and roster updates throughout the season, where Konami typically struggles.

I'm just enjoying the drastically improved AI this year in all aspects of the game. CPU teams pass the ball around fluidly, my CPU teammates defend more reliably, and the keepers are much improved as well. Just got in a quick game with the retail version before work, and I am dying to get back on it this evening.

Re: FIFA 16 Review (PS4/XB1)
 

Spot on review. Detailed and accurate on all points. You can tell it was someone that has actually played the game and not just summarizing features from the back of the box as other reviews have shown for this game so far. Well done Kev and OS.

Re: FIFA 16 Review (PS4/XB1)
 

Maybe he did but I am playing both on higher difficulty and as sim as I can and FIFA is still this year better. I am normally a fan of PES over FIFA..

FIFA 16 is just the best game of football made to date. If any other sports game ever got a 9 then FIFA 16 deserves that or better.

Again best year ever for football gamers who like sim style. I play offline only and to me both games are amazing!

Excellent review, glad to finally see a reviewer understand the sport and what the game should be all about while noticing the nuances that Fifa has created this year.
One negative for 16 however is the power and accuracy of the headers. It's great to see more accuracy required to get a cross to its target but once it is there I have seen some really crazy headers already, especially from the edge of the box against momentum that are still rocketed like an on balance kick. Hope they can tune that in a patch.

Re: FIFA 16 Review (PS4/XB1)
 

What I meant is that the higher score for FIFA is justified right away because of the above mentioned gameplay elements been better in EA's effort.

I just dont understand why is it so hard to track stats? Its like having NBA 2K, but only seeing PPG or APG then when the offseason comes after the Finals, everyone is blank lol

Re: FIFA 16 Review (PS4/XB1)
 

Oh, right on... I get you! Sorry, I read it wrong but I follow you now..

On a side note,
Kinda cool that both football games this year are so quality in standard settings... We all win if they are both putting out quality games and pushing each other each year.

One thing about FIFA 16 that I am pretty impressed with is the new weather and lighting. Obviously gameplay is what matters most to me, but this was something I was unaware they had improved until getting the game.

I think you had both game reviews spot on, nice job. For me, this is easily the best EA Sports game this generation, as it straddles the line between sim and arcade masterfully at default settings while also including the tools for the user to tune the game into a more sim or arcade heavy experience depending on their tastes.

Re: FIFA 16 Review (PS4/XB1)
 

Yeah I keep thinking headers might be a little too OP as well. And it's not that I think you score too often on them or even that there's necessarily too much velocity, it just seems like the offense wins out a ton on those 50/50s in the box. Maybe I'm defending them wrong somehow, but it's hard to know the best way to defend them.

Re: FIFA 16 Review (PS4/XB1)
 

Tbh I'm very disappointed with PES this year. I always claimed that PES was more organic than FIFA but I really can't play a game which fails in 3 areas:
1. Cpu Defensive awareness
2. Fouls
3. Goalkeepers

I know that all the above can be improved via heavy editing but as it is I can't play PES with these major flaws.

Re: FIFA 16 Review (PS4/XB1)
 

Hard not to give FIFA a really good score considering how slick and good it is from top to bottom. You can't just ignore all of the stadiums, teams, ridiculously good presentation elements, and lets face it, UT is why FIFA will continue to obliterate PES in sales in the future.

And the gameplay, while not as dramatically different than 15 as I had hoped, definitely is better. Only thing I would criticize is the lack of a meaningful bump up in graphics from last year.

Re: FIFA 16 Review (PS4/XB1)
 

Yeah the graphics need improving especially with the players IMO. Those generic recycled faces need to go or just need to be more varied. Also they need to stop with the low res textures on the GK gloves, I am being picky here but it just looks off compared with the rest of the kit.

Exactly. 3 HUGE flaws in the game that have been basically ignored in certain reviews I've read. I still enjoy the game, but those are major issues that have plagued the series for years now.

Re: FIFA 16 Review (PS4/XB1)
 

I also think, sans the fouls, those other two issues are on some level easy to overlook depending on the difficulty level you play on, who you play etc. Like you have to sort of see past what's just happening and see the WHY to figure out those other two. And I could argue, as a "standard" reviewer/critic you don't necessarily HAVE to be looking out for that, but rather why you are or are not enjoying the game. If that doesn't impact your enjoyment, then you're not going to go searching why these breakdowns are occurring.

But either way, this is about FIFA not PES, so I'll leave it at that and say FIFA FIFA FIFA to get us back on track.

Re: FIFA 16 Review (PS4/XB1)
 

I'd def agree although I think FIFA does a better job with long ball teams. PES is good at getting the Barca & Bayern tiki taka styles.

But yeah, one big area of improvement that they need to make is Player & Club DNA. I touched on it briefly in the review (should have probably expanded upon it but the review was already wordy :tongue:) but in short clubs need to play through their star players and get them involved.

IMO both games don't play as well out-of-the box as they could because of poor Team Management tactical setups.

Re: FIFA 16 Review (PS4/XB1)
 

http://fifasoccerblog.com/blog/fifa-16-review/

Interesting review from Asim from nextgengaming blog. He seemed to enjoy the FIFA game during preview build I guessed all that changed once he played PES.

Re: FIFA 16 Review (PS4/XB1)
 

You seem dubious, lol. I thought the review was strange. That's all I'm gonna say.

Re: FIFA 16 Review (PS4/XB1)
 

Have just finished playing pre-season tournament in career mode.

Started with Man United and bought Karim Benzema.

The biggest difference is I don't know what the CPU is going to do. Last year everything felt much more "on rails" and you knew what lines they were going to take which made the game much less interesting. So far I haven't had that feeling at all. Perhaps that feeling will come in time, but usually within a few games I would expect to get a feel for it, but so far I haven't at all.

I played the FIFA demo and PES demo extensively, more on the fence than I have been before, but after extensive playing of both I found the FIFA gameplay whilst not perfect, to be overall more enjoyable than PES. The major strength I saw PES offer was the general responsiveness of the players, not locked into animations making controlling your player feel much smoother. I hope FIFA can somewhat replicate that in the future.

Re: FIFA 16 Review (PS4/XB1)
 

I saw a hand ball penalty called. I was more than shocked, cuz its about time

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

Re: FIFA 16 Review (PS4/XB1)
 

Not all lol, his points seem all over the place he just jumps around to random aspects of gameplay and explain himself very shortly. My interesting comment is a little more cynical haha.

Re: FIFA 16 Review (PS4/XB1)
 

My biggest beef with FIFA is every team plays the same.

Re: FIFA 16 Review (PS4/XB1)
 

Hopefully they don't. At least in the demo they varied in their style of attack.

Good review. I have both and always have leaned toward PES, but this year FIFA is a clear winner for me and easily the best playing FIFA to date. At least so far. We've seen the same thing several years now - a solid FIFA sim release that gets destroyed by a patch to appease the online pace whores. Don't do it this year EA!!!

PES has markedly improved from the abysmal next-gen releases of the past few years, but there are some serious issues that kill the gameplay for me - the idiotic CPU keepers and/or overpowered shooting and the lack of fouls.

In any event it's great to see Konami and EA back on top of their games - the competition can only bring good things for gamers.