This seems to be a recurring trend for me to allow toxicity back into my life time and time again. If it’s not scorned women whom I have turned down, it’s EA with its entire series of FIFA games. After giving FIFA 17 a chance in redeeming itself in my eyes, I was yet again let-down. I clearly remember myself saying that there is not a chance in hell that I would be purchasing or playing FIFA 18.

Boy am I a hypocrite.

The Torture is Real

I am horrible at coping with peer pressure. With my regular group of friends constantly playing Battlefield 1 or Paladins (both of which I loathe a great deal), talk of FIFA 18 emerged as soon as it was announced during E3 back in June. Sure, it showed promise, but which FIFA game didn’t?

Time and time again, I have allowed FIFA to control my life, my thoughts and my decision making. With the lure of Pro Clubs (which gives you the chance to create your own character and play with your friends online) FUT (FIFA’s Ultimate Team, which is essentially a trading card game where you can witness your squad of silvers and golds getting trounced by a pleb because Malaysia’s internet connection is horrible at best) and its career mode (with the return of Alex Hunter), FIFA always knows the right buttons to push, and we allow them to do so (myself included.)

It’s Hunter… again

For those who are unfamiliar, Alex Hunter is the main protagonist in FIFA 17’s career mode known as The Journey. The game focuses on Hunter as he progresses from going through trials to signing for his favourite team, being benched for the more physically gifted Harry Kane, having your best friend stab you in the back, being sent away on loan to a Championship team and then being recalled back later in the season to winning the Premier League Title, the FA Cup and getting a call-up to the England national team (which is still a bit of a joke.)

The Journey was one of the few redeeming qualities of FIFA 17 and it seems that EA is not willing to let it go yet with the second instalment titled ‘The Journey: Hunter Returns’.

If you played FIFA 17 and completed the career mode, you will be able to import your Alex Hunter from the previous game into FIFA 18 or choose to start fresh. For what it’s worth, I never finished The Journey on FIFA 17 because Newcastle United is a rubbish football team with teammates that are only fit for the casual Sunday League games.

This time, FIFA 18’s career mode has expanded to twice of what you experienced in the first instalment. From not only meeting more legendary players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Thierry Henry and Rio Ferdinand, you will also be able to meet Houston Rockets shooting guard, James Harden (all through cutscenes of course.)

Still Some Ways to Go

As much as FIFA has improved over the years, it still lacks far behind PES’ fluidity and realism in terms of overall gameplay. Although the dribbling and ball control of FIFA 18 have improved with each individual player having its own unique running and dribbling style, the passing style of FIFA still needs to be worked on (yes, I’m salty that way.)

The AI-controlled teams are also something that hasn’t changed much from the predecessor as they are still as stupid as ever, making clumsy challenges over and over. For all the bells and whistles FIFA 18 offers with the Frostbite 3 game engine in terms of match atmosphere, realism and intensity, it still lacks in giving you adequate players.

I mean seriously, how does a player with 89 pace beat out another with 93? What kind of sorcery is this? I cannot even anymore…

Aside from its career mode, the one redeeming quality of FIFA 18 is Pro Clubs. Instead of having to gain stat levels through playing, you will also receive attribute points to spend on a skill tree to further enhance your player’s stats.

The EA Store is also up-to-date with the latest boots already added by the time I got the game. Sadly, I still have some ways to go before hitting level 55 and unlocking Cristiano Ronaldo’s latest boots, the Nike Mercurial Superfly V.

Bless the EA Gods

Much like most games, EA has its very own God as well. Just when you thought the game was going your way and you’re cruising to a hard-earned one-nil lead that will promote your FUT to Division One, the game just decides to go “nope” and grants your opponent two goals in the space of two minutes through horrible goalkeeping.

As I cursed and cussed which will make my late grandfather roll in his grave, I stopped to think about my actions before I threw my controller towards the wall on instinct. Already filled with marks, scratches and chipped paint from previous controllers (all due to FIFA, mind you), I slowly pick up the broken pieces, dispose them and start looking for another controller. Yes, I bought quite a few of them beforehand because I knew what to expect and so should you.

Score: 8/10 (invest in extra controllers)