FIFA 16 Demo: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The FIFA 16 Demo certainly has positives and negatives but we at GameZone would definitely recommend that you give it a try. Not only to test the gameplay, but to have a bit of fun!

This year gamers will be handed the option to play at the Seattle Sounders' very own stadium – which looks absolutely fantastic by the way (above). Other changes have been made in terms of pitches and stadiums, including the quality of pitch. I've noticed already that there is a clear contrast in pitch quality, for example/ Stamford Bridge's pitch might not be at the standard of the Bernebeu, etc.

Either way, it's fair to say that our final verdict for the demo is definitely a positive one. Although there are some things in the passing department that could be improved – the game definitely plays well and I shouldn't have to tell you, it looks great! The graphics have stepped it up a notch as expected and the links that EA has made with the Bundesliga should provide even more cool football stadiums to play at.

Well, thanks for taking your time and reading this editorial. But before you go, here are a few more screenshots for the upcoming FIFA 16 title… enjoy!

The upcoming FIFA 16 title is set for release on September 22nd, however If you would like to read more about the game in the meantime, click here.

Feel free to share your thoughts on the demo with us. You can tweet us @GameZoneOnline, catch me on Twitter @DavidPurcell96 or leave us your comments in the section below. Cheers!

Attacking:

The attacking side the FIFA 16 demo has also been very hit and miss. Inconsistency probably sounds like a buzzword at this point, but it's the one word that perfectly summarises the whole thing.

Last year's title became a little predictable in terms of animations. It was pretty easy to spot the types of animations that would be successful or unsuccessful, which took away the unpredictability of the game for me. However, this demo has offered a fresh alternative, albeit the shots aren't always the cleanest, but when it leaves the player's laces you just don't know what to expect.

There is a whole range of different shooting animations for all sorts of different situations, however shooting isn't always the way to goal, crossing helps sometimes. So, what's changed from a crossing standpoint?

Crossing last year was pretty balanced and quite easy to perfect (for some people anyway, I have always been absolutely useless with wing play), but now it seems much more difficult to carve out a cross. Even when a decent cross comes in, it is pretty hard to establish a connection with the striker, but I guess practice makes perfect for these kinds of things.

Seems that we're on the subject of wide play, I strongly recommend playing with wingers that offer good stamina ratings. On several occasions the line has been completely free for the winger and as the progress forward they just slow right down, especially in the latter stages. Definitely something to keep in mind when buying players on Career Mode on the actual FIFA 16 game.

Oh, one last thing. EA Sports has really made skill moves an offensive tool rather than just a showboating act, beating players seems much more fluent on this demo version – in contrast to FIFA 15.

Verdict: Positive

The game seems much more realistic and difficult this time around, building strong connections across the pitch and studying the offensive runs of your players could prove helpful on this game. But surely a challenging game is better than an easy one, and hopefully will have the longevity that FIFA 15 so dearly missed out on.

Defending:

Well this is very interesting. For many years now EA Sports' FIFA games have been absolutely dominated by pace across the football pitch, fast passing, fast players, that all seemed to work in the past. Now? Not so much, and I couldn't be any happier.

Every football or soccer fan will know that some teams can play attractive football, some others can't. Well, from my personal experience with the FIFA 16 demo, this contrast in footballing style has been captured like never before. You look across the world of football and the main stereotypes usually read something like this; Spanish football is technical, English football is fast, Italian football is slow/patient, well this demo provides that perfect balance.

When playing with a side like Barcelona you can spray the ball around with quality, dribble into the pockets and thrive in the spaces that you create. One thing I would say, FIFA's demos – in my view – never tend to reflect the true feel of the final product. However, if EA stick with this structure I think that this game certainly has potential – aside from a passing issue that many gamers have noticed, but we'll come onto that.

We'll be looking at all of the positives, negatives, and the biggest talking points surrounding the demo's gameplay, providing our very own verdict on each change made to FIFA 16.

So, where to start?…

In-game presentation:

There are a few noticeable changes to the presentation of the game within the demo version, including a new optional "FIFA Trainer" option that hovers over player's heads. This feature slightly convinces me that EA will stick with the slow and difficult gameplay, because FIFA Trainer will act as an assistant for gamers, suggesting that developers have created this as a way to help struggling gamers find the right passes etc.

The official description for FIFA Trainer: "Learn as you play with an optional graphic overlay that prompts you with gameplay options depending on your position on the pitch and trainer level. Basic commands get you started, while deeper hints will improve the game of the most skilled players."

Other new and noticeable features would have to include the coverage of the game itself, providing a more up to date and impressive set of commentary lines. The commentators seem to be very much aware of what is going on during the match, stating useful analysis and statistics in-game.

Verdict: Positive

Personally, I have found that the game can often be pretty inconsistent in its passing quality, so a personal trainer could prove pretty useful for those that are struggling to keep up with the speed of things. Many things are similar to last year's game in terms of scoreboard etc, however the commentary team's presentation of statistics is quite a useful upgrade.

Passing Play:

There has been a mixed response regarding the changes that EA Sports have made to the passing side of the game, as the consistency of last year's title has seemingly long been forgotten.

While playing FIFA 15 players would arguably be allowed to play free-flowing, passing football, regardless of the quality of the team in question. For example, teams that are famous for their dazzling football such as Barcelona could be played off the park by literally anybody, simply put, it was a level playing field.

However now, I'm not so sure.

My initial reaction was that the FIFA 16 demo allows the better teams to play around with it, show their quality and dominate as they should. From the games that I've had so far, the passing is much more consistent with the likes of Bale, Iniesta and Busquets, whereas when I played with Chelsea for example, John Obi Mikel's distribution was pretty lacklustre to say the least.

The margin in performance between the small and large teams might well have widened within this title as the emphasis is firmly set on passing quality. FIFA should benefit from this though, allowing domination for the expected favourites, while leaving the door open for shock results. For example/ Last year, there is a high chance that you could start a match with Celtic and pass a club like Barcelona off the park, which isn't realistic on any difficulty in my view.

There are a few new passing features though, instructions for which can be found below:

– Dummy a Pass: Press and Hold R1/RB

– Bouncing Lob Pass: R1 and Square/ RB and X

– Driven Ground Pass: R1 and X/ RB and A

Something that I have noticed is that the driven ground passes are quite controlled, whereas the standard Y/Triangle pass will probably not serve as a standard pass anymore, but serve their purpose solely as a through ball. Passing needs to be accurate when playing this demo, as loose balls can very easily swing the momentum of the match.

Verdict: Negative

The word "negative" probably is a bit strong, although the passing does need work. Inconsistency in passing does contribute to the game in some parts – in terms of realism – however it can become pretty annoying when simple passes turn ugly too often.