FIFA 16 Hands-On Preview

Soccer fans want to believe their sport is the most creative game in the world. Having a moniker like the "beautiful game" sort of touches on that point, but what's hard about living up to that ideal is that it flies in the face of video games and how people play them much of the time.

In short, people have always tried to figure out how to "beat" games. And in the sports world, much of the time that means figuring out what works and then doing that over and over to succeed. In FIFA's world, that means using the fastest players, hitting an elevated through ball behind the backline, swarming on defense while not worrying about fouls, or being really good at right stick dribbling.

Now it would be unfair to say that's all there is to FIFA, but the point is you still see a lot of the same tactics on the field game to game. Personnel, play style and formations are things that perhaps should matter more and could matter more if you made them worthwhile. But that can only happen if you make the ways you currently "beat" the game less successful.

In short, it seems the folks working on FIFA 16 are looking to create more beauty on the pitch while simultaneously uglying the game up by combating some of those well known tactics you use to score and defend. The developers want to create beauty while creating muck.

So after the jump, I’ll talk about the couple hours I spent with FIFA 16 and how the game is coming along at this point.

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