FIFA 18

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But FIFA 18 is still seductively deep and delivers excitement. It gave me the feeling that there is still so much to learn about what appears to be a rather straightforward sport, and that the game would gladly help me understand. This is always the time of year when I ask myself why I don’t just spend all of my time playing FIFA, and FIFA 18 poses the question more forcefully than ever.

If you're anything like me, though, you'll get a lot out of this hyper cleaned up version of FIFA 17. Like Spurs, FIFA 18 plays a fantastic game of football. But like Spurs, FIFA 18 probably won't win any trophies.

FIFA continues to show no signs of slowing down its dominance, as this year’s title further enhances the consistently enjoyable gameplay thanks to improvements to the on-field animations and varied, but realistic presentation. The core modes could have been better off with a similar amount of enhancements, particularly FUT and Career’s reliance on an unnecessarily complex menu system, but as a whole, FIFA 18 will once again reign supreme as one of this year’s most accessible and crowd-pleasing titles both in and outside of its genre.

The ball feels less like a brick being kicked about a swamp, as the 22 highly-paid professionals run about more freely than FIFA 17; it all runs at a more enjoyable pace than recent offerings. Teammates are smarter with their off-the-ball runs, using...

FIFA 18 may take a few steps back in the gameplay department but the well-written, multi-layered story that deals with Alex's life on and off the pitch is one worth...

It's off the pitch that EA excels. From the variety of game modes on offer and how everything's presented, to the constant updates in FUT's Team of the Week, Daily Objectives, and discussion of real-world happenings in commentary, FIFA 18 captures the world of football and confidently translates it into a video game.

The action on the field is a bit more nuanced; the presentation has been spruced up; and there's a new chapter of the Journey to digest. But at its heart, FIFA 18 is much the same as its always been: the sort of fast and frantic soccer game you play on the couch with your friends. And that makes it plenty fun.

The FIFA franchise, as a whole, is one of the few in the video game realm that can consistently pump out a stellar product with simple roster updates, boosts in controls, and glorious visual upgrades from top to bottom. If any other developer attempted...

FIFA 17 was a season of bold, headline-grabbing ideas, with The Journey - its ground-breaking story mode - leading the charge. Following young hopeful Alex Hunter's rise through the league was short-lived but refreshing, and the added grunt of the...

Ultimately, FIFA 18 introduces enough new ideas to suggest it's not sitting on the laurels of its success. However, it's a simplified experience, one that fails to embrace the complexity of football at the highest level. Its focus on attack makes for...

The best footballing package available, with myriad improvements – yet still unlikely to convert fans of the...