Ronaldo - The Face Of The Gaming Industry
Even Ronaldo's biggest fans struggled not to raise a smirk at the bizarre bronze statue unveiled in his honor this year. While the sculptor could maybe use a little more tuition before taking on their next big project, the good news is that the Portuguese star is going to be the cover boy for the upcoming FIFA 18.
However this year there is a very special twist about scoring the highest profile promotional gig in the game. It stands to quite possibly change the way that top games are designed, bringing photo-realistic movements and facial expressions truly to life.
Somewhat surprisingly this is actually the very first time that Cristiano has featured on the cover of a video game. In contrast, his footballing nemesis Leo Messi has already featured on the front of four from the last FIFA releases, so it is something of a coup for this year's Ballon d'Or, European Championships, La Liga and Champions League winner to replace the Argentinian maestro - but hardly underserved!
Even at 32 Ronaldo seems to have the ability to maintain his supreme standards, a knack that he attributes primarily to maintaining an extreme training regime that transformed his Sparrowhawk angles when he was still a developing player at Manchester United.
Anyway, even better is the news that this year's FIFA is looking like being a real step forward in the development of the franchise. Sure the graphics get better every year and there have been various experiments with the Legends and gameplay tweaks recently - but FIFA 18 really is shaping up to be the best release from the series in a while. Here's what we know so far:
Revamped Interface & Graphics
EA has listened to their fans who were slightly disappointed with last year's version, noting that the new control method wasn't intuitive to enjoy and even that the graphics seemed a little stilted. Although FIFA 18 uses the same engine we're assured that the graphics have been thoroughly remastered. From what little we've seen so far, it sure looks like they're right. We're led to believe that the set piece and penalty kick controls from FIFA 17 have also been simplified slightly.
'Legends' Is Scrapped But 'The Journey' Remains
The polite way to describe Legends would be that you either loved it or hated it, and while an interesting experiment it simply really didn't quite work. The Journey, however, received high praise from fans and critics, offering a level of immersion usually only found when you've settled down to play blackjack at WildJack.com! The details remain a closely guarded secret but expect even greater control over the direction your career heads. EA has introduced an 'Icons' side game which fittingly this year is led by Brazilian ace Ronaldo.
Any VR Or Supplemental Controls?
We're probably a release away from seeing fully Integrated VR in our FIFA, but rumor has it that it could be an aspect of the PC release. In all truth it's one of those leaps forward this is essential to get right from the very start, so we don't think EA will rush it just yet. Hopefully not long though!
One aspect of the game that could very well add a fresh new dimension is having weather conditions actually affect the flight of the ball. Hopefully, this will be done right and not too frustrating to use, but it could certainly help keep each match feeling unique.
FIFA 2018 is released September 29th on all major formats, and we can reveal this year's soundtrack will be presented by the likes of Kasabian and Blur among many others.
It's going to be hot on the heels of Pro Evolution 2018 (September 12th) which, interestingly enough features Messi and some team mates on its cover this year. These two are just inseparable!