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EA has announced the
release of the new FIFA game. FIFA 18 launches in September 2017, for
PS4, Xbox One, and PC. A developer even confirmed that a version is
going to be available for the Switch. Sure, FIFA has a rocky
relationship with portable devices, but here's to hoping that the
Switch version is an upgrade from the game's other portable versions.
What’s the Buzz with
FIFA 18?
For now, there’s
confirmation that FIFA 18 will run on the Frostbite engine, the same
engine utilized in Battlefield 1 and Dragon Age. Expect better
graphics and sharper details. There’s a season two of the Journey
narrative that started in FIFA 17. Continue the voyage of Alex Hunter
as he picks up where he left off.
The game is likely to
have VR support on the PS4 and PC versions, perhaps only as far as
camera point of view. A developer mentioned that they had not found
an experience that beats playing the game with a controller, which is
why VR won’t replace the controls. The dynamic weather feature in
this game adds a new layer of gameplay. Rain might visit an ongoing
match, forcing players to switch strategies since the muddy field
increases the chances of player injury and slows down running
players.
Improvements to Make
Some FIFA fans are
disappointed with certain game mechanics that will hopefully not
happen in FIFA 18. The flaws include “scripting,” where the AI
goes from having a brick wall as a defense to wet tissue paper at a
certain point during a game. The player is almost always guaranteed a
win. Sometimes the other extreme happens where the AI’s defenders
are too good, and strikers miss goals more than they should. Sure,
the game needs a challenge, but this just feels off and artificial.
There’s a tendency for
the game to favor weaker players in online matches. While this could
be the result of the game’s servers trying to compensate for ping
and the player’s respective connection strength, players think it’s
somewhat unfair. Free kicks might see an improvement, as well as
input delay. One complaint to address for the Journey is the dialogue
choices. FIFA gamers have felt that the choices didn’t affect
anything and would like it to influence gameplay more.
All Aboard the Hype
Train
With the release of FIFA
18 on the horizon, will farming FIFA coins be worth it? Well, it
depends on the publication of the new game. If the game ends up worse
than its predecessors, it might still be worth it. If not, the same
farming strategies might not be useful anymore. EA's sure to have
some guard against the common strategies, except maybe the sites
where players sell FIFA
coins. Anyway, there’s still a few months left to figure things
out. For now, enjoy FIFA 17 because EA has promised that FIFA 18 will
be the best FIFA game ever.
