FIFA 16

Still the best football game you can buy for your rig, but FIFA 16 feels unambitious.

FIFA needed a year like this. Without serious competition from Konami’s PES in the past few years (until now), and with Ultimate Team keeping players playing and paying all year round, there’s been no pressing motivation to ring the changes.

Much like its predecessor, FIFA 16 is likely to be picked up by a brand new audience purely thanks to the fact that professional soccer is growing exponentially in popularity in North America. Thankfully, newcomers and veterans alike will find an excellent game of soccer that yet again takes advantage of the higher processing power of current-gen consoles to deliver an experience more realistic than ever.

This sequence is the story of FIFA 16, from its participants, to the tools used to deliver the goal, to the cathartic payoff that sent me leaping from my seat. Sports video gaming is at its best when you're fighting your ass off and the miracle comes through. And when it does, no game rolls out the TNT like FIFA 16.

And yet, undoubtedly, FIFA 16 will dominate the sports game charts as it has done so successfully for so long—the brand alone will ensure of that. This is a great game for delivering a quick fix of football action wrapped up in the sharpest of visuals and the flashiest of presentations.

Lacking fluidity and dynamism, football's reigning king has lost its crown.

What isn’t in doubt is that EA’s game offers the superior package. Ultimate Team, career mode, online seasons, female players, dozens of leagues and hundreds of teams all with weekly line-up updates, bespoke overlays for Premier League and Bundesliga matches … the feature list goes on.

It makes those wonder strikes and team goals all the more magical when you pull them off, but you're going to have to work a little harder to make these moments happen.