FIFA 16 Demo Impressions

[RaychelSnr]

The FIFA 16 demo has been out for a bit, so there's no better time than now to assess where this year's game appears to be. Both Kevin Groves and Chase Becotte go in depth on this year's game based on their impressions of the demo after the jump.

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[BryanAllen42]

My biggest impression with the demo is all the work that seems to have been poured into making the gameplay as solid as possible. It's still not perfect and is not quite the "sim" level that PES manages to achieve, but I honestly am not sure that is what FIFA is aiming to be and it is nonetheless a marked improvement over FIFA 15. Presentation upgraded a bit, but nothing I would consider a grand slam in that aspect.

My biggest gripe is they seem to have ignored graphical upgrades all-together. The fans and players all look them same as last year and in 14. It's time for FIFA to LOOk next gen, as well as feel it.

Also, minor gripe/wish, but I would give anything for FIFA to introduce Broadcast Packages. Basically, for each major league, introduce a Broadcast Package that includes unique commentary, boradcast overlays, and maybe even a few added stadiums/player faces.

It wouldn't even bother me if EA included EPL with the game and then charged for Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue One, La Liga, MLS, etc. I would easily pay 5-10 a piece for Ligue One and MLS packages and added stadiums. Maybe that's just me though, but Tyler and smith are beginning to be a bore for me.

[SpritePuck]

Re: FIFA 16 Demo Impressions

To not be too repetitive as I have said this elsewhere this will be short.

Love the demo have over 100 matches in it and can not wait for the game. The women's side is right on and the best life like and fun representation of football a video game has ever had.

EA did us girls proud and just WOW thanks!

[Sparkles]

My biggest impression with the demo is all the work that seems to have been poured into making the gameplay as solid as possible. It's still not perfect and is not quite the "sim" level that PES manages to achieve, but I honestly am not sure that is what FIFA is aiming to be and it is nonetheless a marked improvement over FIFA 15. Presentation upgraded a bit, but nothing I would consider a grand slam in that aspect.

My biggest gripe is they seem to have ignored graphical upgrades all-together. The fans and players all look them same as last year and in 14. It's time for FIFA to LOOk next gen, as well as feel it.

Also, minor gripe/wish, but I would give anything for FIFA to introduce Broadcast Packages. Basically, for each major league, introduce a Broadcast Package that includes unique commentary, boradcast overlays, and maybe even a few added stadiums/player faces.

It wouldn't even bother me if EA included EPL with the game and then charged for Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue One, La Liga, MLS, etc. I would easily pay 5-10 a piece for Ligue One and MLS packages and added stadiums. Maybe that's just me though, but Tyler and smith are beginning to be a bore for me.

I kinda disagree with your statement about the graphical aspect. All of the player models and headscans look sooooooo much better than last year. I think the perfect example of that is looking at Messi from both versions. Every time i played the demo i was fooled by how much he looked real. Lighting and layer tones are greatly improved. Wish i could say the same about the graphic packages

[ChaseB]

Re: FIFA 16 Demo Impressions

I kinda disagree with your statement about the graphical aspect. All of the player models and headscans look sooooooo much better than last year. I think the perfect example of that is looking at Messi from both versions. Every time i played the demo i was fooled by how much he looked real. Lighting and layer tones are greatly improved. Wish i could say the same about the graphic packages

Yeah I tend to agree more with this. The graphics and face scans have been improved up close for sure. It's that when you pull the camera out the game just looks kind of boring -- on some level there's not much you can do there because the camera needs to be pulled out.

NHL has sort of gotten over this hurdle by making the arenas seem more alive, and it seems like maybe that's what FIFA has to do. Just have lots of stuff going on in the crowd and make it feel more like you're playing in a very active arena as at least that makes things busier. A lot of these sports games (football, hockey, soccer) have to play from further away -- and in the case of hockey and football deal with equipment covering unique faces -- so next-gen can only happen in up-close shots a lot of the time, but there are still ways forward.

[HenryClay1844]

There is a lot of noise on the FIFA forums, and I have watched Twitch streams that seems to indicate this, that the final version is much faster and more arcade than the demo. This is terrible news for me and will keep me from getting FIFA this year if confirmed by the EA Access.

[vardano]

Same game again, over and over, this is ridiculous. Fan boys and marketing taking this game to another level.

[BryanAllen42]

Yeah I tend to agree more with this. The graphics and face scans have been improved up close for sure. It's that when you pull the camera out the game just looks kind of boring -- on some level there's not much you can do there because the camera needs to be pulled out.

NHL has sort of gotten over this hurdle by making the arenas seem more alive, and it seems like maybe that's what FIFA has to do. Just have lots of stuff going on in the crowd and make it feel more like you're playing in a very active arena as at least that makes things busier. A lot of these sports games (football, hockey, soccer) have to play from further away -- and in the case of hockey and football deal with equipment covering unique faces -- so next-gen can only happen in up-close shots a lot of the time, but there are still ways forward.

I will agree it is more difficult and I think that's what I meant as far as graphically. The player faces are MUCH improved (though still severely lacking for some of the B listers. It seems EA goes for whole teams rather than cherry picking some well known but not household names) and the player models are..okay. But the crowd, the stadiums all look fairly outdated. If any crowd needs to be alive it is that of a Soccer game. I just look at Madden 16 and, even though this game has to be pulled back, it manages to have a graphical edge to it I was hoping to see FIFA have.

[ChaseB]

Re: FIFA 16 Demo Impressions

I will agree it is more difficult and I think that's what I meant as far as graphically. The player faces are MUCH improved (though still severely lacking for some of the B listers. It seems EA goes for whole teams rather than cherry picking some well known but not household names) and the player models are..okay. But the crowd, the stadiums all look fairly outdated. If any crowd needs to be alive it is that of a Soccer game. I just look at Madden 16 and, even though this game has to be pulled back, it manages to have a graphical edge to it I was hoping to see FIFA have.

Yeah I agree for the most part. I don't think Madden is doing anything that interesting either though -- I just think their graphics overall are better (helmets, faces, jerseys etc. just look really nice even from afar). They have some cameramen and some stuff on the sidelines going on, but there's lots of unique stuff they could add in those areas. That being said, and NFL game is only going to be so interesting because it is sort of a sterile environment once you look beyond the sidelines -- at least on a visual level. Soccer has much more room to grow.

[stevostl]

Re: FIFA 16 Demo Impressions

There is a lot of noise on the FIFA forums, and I have watched Twitch streams that seems to indicate this, that the final version is much faster and more arcade than the demo. This is terrible news for me and will keep me from getting FIFA this year if confirmed by the EA Access.

why would this keep you from buying the game? I notice people saying this about PES and FIFA retail code games... what's the big deal if you can drop the gamespeed and make it as slow as you were playing in the demo?

I expected this with FIFA. No way EA would released that default gamespeed in the demo as the default retail code. To many people would complain who play this online..

The only way I would be upset about this is if you wanted that as your default speed for online play in FIFA.. but if you only play these games offline this type of complaint is invalid as you can drop the game speed in both games easy and in FIFA especially you can pretty much edit everything in this regard.

[DBMcGee3]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but R1/RB calls for teammate pressure in tactical defending, no?

[ChaseB]

Re: FIFA 16 Demo Impressions

Correct me if I'm wrong, but R1/RB calls for teammate pressure in tactical defending, no?

It calls for the double, but they sort of just hover most of the time.

[stevostl]

Re: FIFA 16 Demo Impressions

Correct me if I'm wrong, but R1/RB calls for teammate pressure in tactical defending, no?

yes the default controls do with tactical defending but you can pretty much map that to what you want though. for example.. I'm using alt controls and map speed burst to R1.. pace control to R2 and Finesse shot to L2 and call for teammate pressure is also L2 for me. Using R1 to call a second player is bad for me and I can't play that way.

and if you turn legacy defending on you can easily map it to be just like PES to where u can call for second defender using square or circle as well except you can't use legacy defending online.

[PPerfect_CJ]

Re: FIFA 16 Demo Impressions

yes the default controls do with tactical defending but you can pretty much map that to what you want though. for example.. I'm using alt controls and map speed burst to R1.. pace control to R2 and Finesse shot to L2 and call for teammate pressure is also L2 for me. Using R1 to call a second player is bad for me and I can't play that way.

and if you turn legacy defending on you can easily map it to be just like PES to where u can call for second defender using square or circle as well except you can't use legacy defending online.

On the subject of controls, the L1 (I think) was used to stop the ball and face the goal in 15, but doesn't seem to work the same in 16. Has the button been changed or has the EFFECT changed?

[hedache]

Re: FIFA 16 Demo Impressions

On the subject of controls, the L1 (I think) was used to stop the ball and face the goal in 15, but doesn't seem to work the same in 16. Has the button been changed or has the EFFECT changed?

That's something I noticed immediately. And I also noticed how much I've been using it in FIFA15 because I keep trying to do it. Obviously L1 is now off the ball controls. And I haven't really found any trigger combinations to step on the ball and make a quick turn yet.

In other news, I do agree that we may see the classic change in release version. This wouldn't be the first time to have an impressive demo and then a patch would alter the release version to make it more arcade. And yes, you can modify sliders to tune it but not for online games, which is something I like a lot.

But I really like the new physics, and I agree about the Womens game being fun. I think more than 90% of my games have been USA vs GER. And I have yet to win in regulation.