FIFA 18: What to Expect and It’s Release

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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.