'FIFA 16': Highlighting Latest Visual Improvements to Players and Stadiums
Photo-realistic visuals are almost standard in sports video games these days. Elite series bring you action that causes you to double take when you glance at the gameplay on your monitor or TV screen.
Because of the size of the field and the amount of teams, soccer is a tough task for developers to take on as it pertains to photo-realistic player renders. That said, EA Sports has expanded its amount of scanned player faces for FIFA 16.
Per EA Sports, there are over 350 new star heads scanned into the game. To put that into perspective, consider this: The NBA has 30 teams with 15-man rosters if you count the three players who may be on the squad but don't dress for games.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
If all of those players were scanned for NBA 2K or NBA Live, that would only be 450. FIFA 16 has almost that many new star heads to go along with the ones it had from previous versions of the game.
You see Gareth Bale of Real Madrid in the lead image, but take a look at Eden Hazard from Chelsea as well.
Current players aren't the only ones with scanned heads. Per EA Sports, FIFA 16 also features scanned faces for some of the FIFA Ultimate Team legends.
The Stadiums
There are a whopping 78 stadiums included in the game this year. Nine of them are new to the series, and 50 of them are actual licensed venues. Here's a list, per EA Sports:
| Stadium | New |
| Argentine Primera Division | |
| La Bombonera, Boca Juniors | |
| El Monumental, River Plate | New |
| Barclays Premier League | |
| Anfield, Liverpool FC | |
| Boleyn Ground, West Ham United | |
| Britannia Stadium, Stoke City | |
| Carrow Road, Norwich City | New |
| Emirates Stadium, Arsenal | |
| Etihad Stadium, Manchester City | |
| Goodison Park, Everton | |
| King Power Stadium, Leicester City | |
| Liberty Stadium, Swansea City | |
| Old Trafford, Manchester United | |
| Selhurst Park, Crystal Palace | |
| St James' Park, Newcastle United | |
| St Mary's Stadium, Southampton | |
| Stadium of Light, Sunderland | |
| Stamford Bridge, Chelsea FC | |
| The Hawthorns, West Bromwich Albion | |
| Vicarage Road, Watford | New |
| Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth | New |
| Villa Park, Aston Villa | |
| White Hart Lane, Tottenham Hotspur | |
| English Championship | |
| Loftus Road, Queens Park Rangers | |
| The KC Stadium, Hull City | |
| Turf Moor, Burnley | |
| English League Two | |
| Fratton Park, Portsmouth | New |
| Bundesliga | |
| Allianz Arena, Bayern Munich and TSV 1860 Munchen | |
| Borussia Park, Borussia Monchengladbach | New |
| Volksparkstadion, Hamburger SV | |
| Olympiastadion, Hertha Berlin | |
| Signal Iduna Park, Borussia Dortmund | |
| Veltins-Arena, FC Schalke 04 | |
| Eredivisie | |
| Amsterdam Arena, Ajax | |
| International Stadium | |
| Wembley Stadium, England | |
| La Liga | |
| Camp Nou, FC Barcelona | |
| Estadio Vicente Calderon, Atletico de Madrid | |
| Mestalla, Valencia | |
| Santiago Bernabeu, Real Madrid | |
| Liga MX | |
| Estadio Azteca, Club America | |
| Ligue 1 | |
| Parc des Princes, Paris Saint-Germain | |
| Stade Gerland, Olympique Lyonnais | |
| Stade Velodrome, Olympique de Marseille | New |
| Major League Soccer | |
| BC Place Stadium, Vancouver Whitecaps | |
| CenturyLink Field, Seattle Sounders FC | New |
| Serie A | |
| Juventus Stadium, Juventus | |
| San Siro - AC Milan and Internazionale | |
| Stadio Olimpico, Lazio and Roma | |
| Saudi Abdul Latif Jameel League | |
| King Abdullah Sports City, Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli | New |
| King Fahd International Stadium, Al Hilal, Al Nassr and Al Shabab | |
| Rest of the World | |
| Donbass Arena, Shakhtar Donetsk | |
| Generic Stadiums | |
| Al Jayeed Stadium | |
| Aloha Park | |
| Arena del Centenario | |
| Arena d'Oro | |
| Court Lane | |
| Crown Lane | |
| Eastpoint Arena | |
| El Grandioso | |
| El Libertador | |
| Estadio de las Artes | |
| Estadio El Medio | |
| Estadio Presidente G.Lopes | |
| Euro Park | |
| Forest Park Stadium | |
| Ivy Lane | |
| Molton Road | |
| O Dromo | |
| Sanderson Park | |
| Stade Municipal | |
| Stadio Classico | |
| Stadion 23. Maj | |
| Stadion Europa | |
| Stadion Hanguk | |
| Stadion Neder | |
| Stadion Olympik | |
| Town Park | |
| Union Park Stadium | |
| Waldstadion |
Judging by the images EA Sports has made available to us, one of the most impressively rendered stadiums in the game is Marseille's Stade Velodrome.
The stadium was originally built in 1937, per the Stadium Guide, but it has undergone some massive renovations to give it the modern look you see in the EA Sports image. This venue will host Euro 2016 matches, and EA Sports has captured it beautifully.
It takes a little more than recreating a stadium to make a virtual environment come alive. FIFA 16 introduces vanishing spray and new weather conditions. The latter is discussed in this passage from EASports.com:
"Expanding on FIFA 15’s sunny, overcast, rain and snow, FIFA 16 features those and includes hazy, partly cloudy, foggy, random variable rain showers and variable flurries. Additionally, we've expanded the number of available kick-off times."
When you package these visual goodies with FIFA's underrated presentation, you have one of the most visually authentic sports series available. The demo for FIFA 16 was released for PlayStation 4 on Tuesday. The full game will be available for the PS4, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Xbox One on September 22.
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.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
