It all worked so well…..and then at times it didn’t. Occasionally a player who probably had a ‘secret’ poor first touch rating would allow the ball to bounce off his foot like he was playing with concrete socks. Like, how am I supposed to know that Spanish player with the name I can’t pronounce who’s probably from Bilbao has no first touch ability? I ‘get’ that a player like Silva will take the ball on his first touch with all the grace of a swan settling on a lake. Because I, and the game, know he can. But Irrutsetsellia or whatever his name was clearly had not been trained by Maradona. But I didn’t know that. It was a touch frustrating.

I know the game needs ‘random moments’ that really aren’t random at all because the game sees a situation (firm ground pass towards player with first touch ability of a newborn drunken foal) and it calculates that the player’s first touch will be extra heavy. Like, I get that. I admire that the game knows that, and can adapt the gameplay to that situation. I understand that in reality, that’s what would most likely have happened to buy Fifa 16 coins. If I had known that as well, my attempt at a quick quarter turn to fake out an onrushing attacker would instead have been a “booted into row Z” manoeuvre. I guess that, in a weird way, is my fault. In any case, they didn’t score, because trying to sprint with the ball at your feet in this game is akin to trying to run across very powdery snow with a tire strapped to your shoulders.

I quickly got the hang of passing quickly, but mostly short, with light touches and favoured quick side stepping rather than a bash on the sprint button. It works beautifully when it works well. One loose pass though, and defenders will nick in and clear the ball, or turn intelligently against the play and pass it out to a wing back. In general I found the AI quite intelligent, although a little predictable at times, especially when they had the ball at their feet. It was when I was in possession that things got tougher, as usual pass outlets were blocked up, teams would very cunningly give me a touch of space to move into, often dropping off an attacking player to give me the illusion of space, before bringing a couple of wider players in to tighten the noose, leaving me with no choices other than a hopeful lobbed pass or wayward through ball. Even trying to turn back towards my own defence I was cut off, as I would frequently become isolated.

Towards the end of that 2nd game I had gotten into the knack of keeping passes shorter, my players roaming together tighter, allowing me to form tiny little triangles in and around the top of the box, eventually working the space for a wider ball to be crossed in, or a striker with nimble feet getting past his defender for a quick snapshot. And in real life, that’s all you get as a top level striker. Very rarely do you get the wide green pastures of being through on goal. Maybe once every 2-3 games at the top level. Not 3 times a game like Fifa 14. Like I mentioned above, Costa’s close control and touch made him a nightmare around the box. I was able to twist and turn so quickly with him that at times I found myself applauding my own work after a quick shot hit the post or forced a smart save. The goals I scored though (even the routine header) felt hard earned. Nothing was ‘easy’. The opposition were quick to close down, reacted intelligently off the ball, and showed some nice skill with the ball.

As for the women’s game: it was actually really enjoyable. Strength is a bit OP though, as the Germans had a couple of MUCH bigger players who just swamped the Fifa 16 coins xbox 360. The players are represented quite small too – the pitch looked HUGE when I played, as the players were so small the spaces between them were vast. I did enjoy it a bit – the extra space allowed for some different play rather than the tight, suffocating men’s matches.

Overall I’m very impressed. The pace being slower is a fantastic thing, and the close control is just excellent. Looking forward to a few more games tomorrow before work.

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