In FIFA 16 career mode, you should have a u23, u21, and u18 team. You originally get the real players from these teams, and so do other teams. You can drop your players to any one of these team as long as they meet the age requirements. These games can be played but are automatically simmed. Just liked Youth Teams, they can get Promoted/Relegated. You can buy, loan out, loan in, and sell players with other u18, u21, and u23 teams. You can promote players through these ranks and eventually into the first team, and you can promote youth academy players to these teams.

 

The same should be the case online, but here (whether in Seasons or FIFA 16 Ultimate Team) you’re far more likely to run into a team with Messi, Ronaldo or some other pacy skill-demons in every other match. That puts the defensive learning curve through the roof, and highlights the worst failings of the game’s defensive AI as it fails to get tight enough to opposing players or does a weird side-step shuffle as the forward blazes past them into the box. If your online game is at all lagged you can forget about the precise timing now required for clean tackles. You can abuse this to your own advantage, of course, but this arms race of close-dribbling and pace is presently making online matches a little bit ridiculous.

 

That's critical to enjoyment of this game, considering how much work usually goes into moving and securing the ball in the game's compressed time span (most FIFA halves last between six and eight minutes in real time). Even more work is necessary this year, as FIFA 16 has increased the number of ways you can be jostled off the ball, and faster defenders seem to hang with you every step of the way. Passing, trapping and dribbling on a sprint is more precarious, but it also makes a counter-attacking strategy more viable.

 

The game modes have been left relatively untouched. FIFA 16 Career mode plays out the same way, although the global transfer network seems to deliver more potential players than previously, giving you more options - which is useful given the prices of the players in the game. Virtual pro returns for both single-player and online, and pro clubs are back, too. Seasons, friendly seasons, and co-op seasons are all available, and tournaments make a welcome return. FIFA 16 Ultimate Team has also returned with the added inclusion of concept squads. Players can experiment with building a squad with players they don't yet own allowing them to check out the chemistry and rating values. It's a nice little touch, but nothing that you couldn't already find on a number of websites.

 

Despite the familiarity, hardcore fans of the franchise should like what they see. For starters, it’s a visually stunning game. The players look better than ever as the more prominent players look even closer to their real-life physical form. This is primarily due to a physically based new lighting system which changes the way players look and the way they move on the screen. It is impressive to say the least. Indeed, I found only two major flaws. One, Martin Tyler does the bulk of the commentating. I know, he's the dean of football commentating and... blah, blah, blah. It was a safe, if uninspired choice. I will remain hopeful that one day EA Sports will come to its senses and have Ray Hudson wax poetic about my sweet, sweet moves. I can hear him already: "Oh my lord, what a ball! What a pass! He is magisterial!" (Checks another item off the bucket list.)

 

The more important aspects are how much the game play and reactions have improved in this latest title. The players will control the ball better, whether when it’s at their feet or lobbed over from the wings. One gets the feeling that the skill of the player is taken very seriously. If your player is cutting in from the side, dribbling past defenders, but just happens to lean too much to one side, you will find the ball being blasted over the bar or to the sides, if your player doesn’t balance himself. I do still find little annoyances, such as when you run into another player, even just slightly, your player falls over and hits the ground. The player is also very sluggish to get back to their feet after a tumble, and you can do nothing to speed up his ability to get up and chase down the ball. I suppose you could look at it and consider that any form of impact could result in this action, I believe that the player should be controlled in getting himself up faster.