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Analysis Of FIFA 18

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Last year, FIFA 17 was the best-selling game on the PlayStation 4 with over 10 million units sold worldwide. Not only did it perform exceptionally well on the PlayStation, across all platforms, only Pokemon Sun/Moon on the 3DS sold more copies.

Without doubt, the FIFA franchise is huge and while EA Sports know that they’re likely to top the sales charts each year, I’m happy to report that with FIFA 18, they are not resting on their laurels. Thanks to subtle improvements to the gameplay, as well as new features in the ‘Career Mode’, this year’s FIFA is EA’s most complete entry in the series to date.

Gameplay

FIFA 18 grabs your attention from the very first whistle, dropping you into an intense Madrid derby, as you take control of …show more content…

This attention to detail also stretches to certain players. While it would be impossible to uniquely program thousands of footballers individually, the bigger name, as well as some lesser known players, have their own unique style of play. Of course, Ronaldo and Messi play like their real life counterparts but it’s refreshing to see someone like Matt Ritchie behave in a similar fashion to real life.

Although not a bad thing, the differences between FIFA’s 17 and 18 regarding AI behaviour adapting during a match is less noticeable. Games are slow and play out similarly to FIFA 17, with an emphasis on possession being the key to unlock defences. However, one welcome change I found is how teams react to falling a goal or two behind.

One gripe I have of FIFA games is how the AI responds to conceding early on. Teams tend to go kamikaze, prematurely piling men forward leaving gaps in defence. This behaviour is common at the latter stages of a real match but not early on. With FIFA 18, teams do seem less partial to keep throwing men forward nonsensically when falling behind, now only doing so when time is running out or the possibility of a comeback is likely.

The quick substitution feature is a welcome addition. Quite simply, as a match nears its conclusion, pressing the R2 button brings up a small box where you can substitute a tiring player with a positional like-for-like replacement instead of pausing

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