Can the Beautiful Game get any better?
I recently reviewed PES 2016 and thought that FIFA had some genuine competition this year and I was right, FIFA 16 is still the great game we’ve come to love and the addition of women players is nice, even if it doesn’t actually add anything new to the gameplay. They do have separate leagues for both genders, which is also a nice touch. But what else is new this year?
FIFA 16 almost feels like a “by the numbers” version this year, sure it adds the new women leagues, but other than that the game has little to no new features, which isn’t a bad thing but it would have been nice for them to mix it up a bit more. Having said that, the game still has support for Ultimate Team and the controls definitely feel more fluid than in past years, I’m not exactly Messi when it comes to football games but even I was able to score my fair share this year.
The one advantage that FIFA has always had over PES is the licenses and they do make good use of them, it’s the one thing that frustrates me about PES…I just want to play as my favourite team (which happens to be Newcastle, for my sins) and play against their rivals Sunderland (or Scumderland as we call it) without any issues, FIFA has always allowed this and other players to do similar things with playing their rivals, it also helps that they have the licenses for each team’s arena, something else that PES lacks.
Comparing both games visually, it’s hard to divide them though. PES has the amazing FOX engine at it’s disposal, while FIFA’s engine is also still holding up well. One thing I will say is that the load times on FIFA seem to be a lot longer than PES, not entirely sure why that is…but maybe patches will improve performance. Commentary is also well done as you would expect, sounding authentic to the game and there is a definite improvement year on year.
The Verdict
FIFA 16 doesn’t step it’s game up like PES 2016 does, but it does add the new women’s league and the controls do feel more responsive than before. It’s hard to choose between them this year, that’s for sure. For once it comes down to whatever franchise you prefer, as both are phenomenal and you can’t lose no matter which you pick.