FIFA 18 DEMO - REVIEWS & OPINIONS

I tried the demo today, and as someone who hated Fifa 17 I can say that this feels infinitely better.

I can see myself playing this more than PES this year for the career mode alone.
 
Agreed. I've had a blast with this demo. That said, they're really going to need to tighten some things up or else this could really be a goal fest of a year - I'm at the point now where I'm crushing the demo on Legendary.

Feels great and lots of fun, but definitely needs some balancing and refining.
 
There is something that pulls me into wanting to play the game, but this god damn obnoxious pace is killing me. Everything is fine until you pass or shoot, then this amazing facade collapses and you are left in a cocaine infused state, where everything feels ultra fast and unease...
 
Having such a great time with this demo, however the keepers are slightly spoiling it. I've scored a few goals now that would have been saved in FIFA 2016. Having said that, the shooting feels amazing and the weight of the players is awesome.
 
Erm....I love this. Spent all day yesterday on it

Can't stop playing it this morning

Tele broadcast camera

Zoom at 0

Height at 20

Legendary difficulty

Just had an amazing match as Juventus v LA Galaxy

The variety of goals both me and CPU AI is scoring is astonishing
 
I had a blast playing this game. I can`t remember some football game after pes on ps2 make me eagerly waiting to play. First thing, this is first ever Fifa game when things are balanced! To start with defence, I play on tactical defending, this is first year that EA have set the tactical defending properly and balanced, not becouse they change something drastic but becouse of general player movent, players don`t run like chickens anymore and have weight so after 2-3 hours playing the game you can learn the flow of the game and start to think before you make any tackle and win the ball. I was impressed that for the first time I can play defence in Fifa and feel rewarding of reading opponent game, cut the ball before it reaches the attacker manually and start a counter attack. Defending in this game is art, definately!!! Soo rewarding and bring so much joy when you get used to it.
To move gradually through the pitch :D
Midfield play is there like never before in Fifa games. Tactics matter a lot!!! If you want to play on counter attack and have your players on your own half, after that when you win the ball and launch counter attack through the wings you can do that with tactical setting and formation for that purpose. Want to have strong midfield and central defenders pushing higher on the pitch, have more aggressive aproach, you can do that! There is so much variety in playing styles this year that make me wonder how good Carrer mode will be when I can set longer halves and make tactics matter even more. And one more thing before I move from this midfield talk, like in football manager games, you must have squad for style that you want to play. For example playing with Atletico and put Griezman like attacking midfielder before the strike and give him free roam role makes him true playmaker, his abbilities and creativity make him shine, but put him on the wing and playing against teams with good wings like Real`s Madrid Marcelo will disposses him easily...
That things were missing in previous Fifa games, individuality.
When you move forward this is where your tactic really start to matter, if you set fast attacking football and lose the ball you are screwed, playing this way you have to really know what you want in your attacks becouse AI will punish you. If you set slowly building attacking play and have more time on the ball and wait for right time to pass ball in space will make your players hold their position more so you won`t struggle if you lose the ball. This were just simple examples that I experienced so far and make me want to play the game more and more...
Dribbling is best in any football game by far, so free and so natural, no more weird changing directions in same speed, no more weird movements when player recieves the ball but opposite that little 2-3 touches make the real difference from arcade to simulation! For shooting I don`t know what to say becouse it`s best in any football game by now.
This is not a fairy tale, this is my experience enjoynig this game a lot more than any other game in ps3 and ps4 era. Of course nothing is perfect, there are little niggles here and there but they are minor of what I enjoying in this game becouse in the end of the day it`s a game.
All this on full manual, classic cam with zero zoom and zero height on semi-pro. You may think ahhh it`s too easy, try it for yourself, you can lift the difficulty level but with this settings, this camera options I enjoy like I watching football match on tv, players are not gods, they defend great and cut your balls, there is midfield play and every game is different.
Sorry for long read, but this is my impression of the game, best Fifa until now for sure but will it be best football game until now time will tell, I only hope fifa don`t screw the gameplay with patches, I like a lot the balance and changes they have made in the things like passing with R1, long balls with L1 and stuff like that, it gives freedom and reward if you play it right with right player.
 
I had a blast playing this game. I can`t remember some football game after pes on ps2 make me eagerly waiting to play. First thing, this is first ever Fifa game when things are balanced! To start with defence, I play on tactical defending, this is first year that EA have set the tactical defending properly and balanced, not becouse they change something drastic but becouse of general player movent, players don`t run like chickens anymore and have weight so after 2-3 hours playing the game you can learn the flow of the game and start to think before you make any tackle and win the ball. I was impressed that for the first time I can play defence in Fifa and feel rewarding of reading opponent game, cut the ball before it reaches the attacker manually and start a counter attack. Defending in this game is art, definately!!! Soo rewarding and bring so much joy when you get used to it.
To move gradually through the pitch :D
Midfield play is there like never before in Fifa games. Tactics matter a lot!!! If you want to play on counter attack and have your players on your own half, after that when you win the ball and launch counter attack through the wings you can do that with tactical setting and formation for that purpose. Want to have strong midfield and central defenders pushing higher on the pitch, have more aggressive aproach, you can do that! There is so much variety in playing styles this year that make me wonder how good Carrer mode will be when I can set longer halves and make tactics matter even more. And one more thing before I move from this midfield talk, like in football manager games, you must have squad for style that you want to play. For example playing with Atletico and put Griezman like attacking midfielder before the strike and give him free roam role makes him true playmaker, his abbilities and creativity make him shine, but put him on the wing and playing against teams with good wings like Real`s Madrid Marcelo will disposses him easily...
That things were missing in previous Fifa games, individuality.
When you move forward this is where your tactic really start to matter, if you set fast attacking football and lose the ball you are screwed, playing this way you have to really know what you want in your attacks becouse AI will punish you. If you set slowly building attacking play and have more time on the ball and wait for right time to pass ball in space will make your players hold their position more so you won`t struggle if you lose the ball. This were just simple examples that I experienced so far and make me want to play the game more and more...
Dribbling is best in any football game by far, so free and so natural, no more weird changing directions in same speed, no more weird movements when player recieves the ball but opposite that little 2-3 touches make the real difference from arcade to simulation! For shooting I don`t know what to say becouse it`s best in any football game by now.
This is not a fairy tale, this is my experience enjoynig this game a lot more than any other game in ps3 and ps4 era. Of course nothing is perfect, there are little niggles here and there but they are minor of what I enjoying in this game becouse in the end of the day it`s a game.
All this on full manual, classic cam with zero zoom and zero height on semi-pro. You may think ahhh it`s too easy, try it for yourself, you can lift the difficulty level but with this settings, this camera options I enjoy like I watching football match on tv, players are not gods, they defend great and cut your balls, there is midfield play and every game is different.
Sorry for long read, but this is my impression of the game, best Fifa until now for sure but will it be best football game until now time will tell, I only hope fifa don`t screw the gameplay with patches, I like a lot the balance and changes they have made in the things like passing with R1, long balls with L1 and stuff like that, it gives freedom and reward if you play it right with right player.


this is exactly how i feel, i havent played a fifa game since fifa 09
 
Been having a blast with the demo as well.

Initially didn't like the ball physics, but I think I didn't fully appreciate how much of a free entity it really is, and how much that changes the game (and what I take for granted when interacting with the ball).

Only thing I'm not so sure about right now are the keepers. It seems like they generally went from "superhuman" in last years game, to "really poor" sometimes. Very powerful shots are almost sure to go in, and the keepers don't react (as in, don't even move) nearly as much as they should.
 
I'm genuinely absolutely gutted, because this ONE THING spoils the entire game against the AI, and they're not going to change it, because they've done it on purpose. They've said several times that "people complained about the AI enjoying possession too much in previous games" so now the AI is much more direct. Because IT'S FUN. That's what we want, right? FUN FUN FUN...
FULL game ai is different
 
I've read Darkoj2007's thoughts on the FIFA 18 Demo, and I must admit, I 100% agree, this year it really is awesome and game changing for lots of reasons, and hopefully I won’t bore people with my thoughts, becauses my word its positive, and sadly this is a long winded but hopefully a good read!


I come each year to all the PES and FIFA demos (and full versions) from a different angle to most people, as I spend 90% of my time watching CPU vs CPU as I am so into looking at the progression of AI and how it will hopefully, in future, play a Human level of game with its decisions and thinking processes.



The PES2018 disappointment re: CPU AI


Coming onto PES 2018 for a moment, I can honestly say that I am so frustrated, to echo Chris Davies’s thoughts and others on here, that the CPU AI has so many attacks that aim a high ball to the wing, and if its Neymar on the end of it on the left whilst in pre-Transfer Updates Barcelona mode, he always seems to attempt the ball spin (left foot rollover) and out move (often twice in succession) and then fires a shot to the top right corner, it’s so repeated that it really does grate with me. The CPU AI is a fair bit better this year on PES 2018 in general, but these scripted moves to the wing and cut inside with the same tricks to shoot wrecks everything for me. Here’s hoping that Yair/Nesa and the other talented guys on here can work their usual magic with that though, as I genuinely love both games.


FIFA 18’s attacking too much, but boy do those attacks vary more than Slur Alex and Mourinho’s excuses…

With FIFA 18 though, and even though as Chris Davies points out, much to his understandable anger, that its always attack attack attack from the AI, I can honestly say that even though that is indeed the case generally, I have not seen the same attack move, in terms of its variation, twice from the CPU AI, and every single move is unique, every shot on goal has been unique in terms of the technique on the shot, the timing of the player hitting the shot and the angle of the ball coming to him, the outcome is just so organic, just like the rest of the gameplay, and remember, I am only watching CPU vs CPU here. The whole build up to the eventual shot on goal might be a touch over the top in terms of more often than not subtle skill moves slipstreamed into the dribbling mechanics that just flow and flow, but the overall effect is that it convinces me that I am watching a real match in this modern age where most players in real life are doing subtle skill moves as they receive the ball, dribble, move the ball to a team mate etc.


Them damn legacy FIFA animations, but that’s just a tiny gripe

Even though it still has similar (they just won’t go away!) twisty annoying animations at times that seem to have been there since 2002 (is that 3 or 4 engines ago?), but the sheer fact that its possible to sit back and watch the CPU AI on each side make decisions, and control or miscontrol the ball, use a dribbling sequence and maybe use a skill trick "within the dribble" (possibly too often, but at least unlike FIFA 17 they are in there, and oh are they so organically portrayed), but that they always look unique and it seems as if they are incorporated into the dribbling mechanics now so as not to stand out as being those 2012 era "Ronaldo stand still and then do a skill trick that always looks the same").

The skills they use are uncannily 99% of the time contextually related to the position of the player on the pitch and his distance/angle from an opposing player, whilst at the same time taking into consideration the fact that he might be a skilled player in the first place, i.e. Ronaldo will often do his chop, but will still subtlely (htf is that word meant to be spelt?), at the right time it seems, use other moves to beat his nearest opponent.


My word, FIFA 18 is contextually, graphically, and organically amazing! Loving the ball physics affecting skill moves internally…

I’ve mentioned skill moves a lot so far because my hope has always been that the CPU AI in PES or FIFA would not necessarily mean that a CPU controlled player receiving the ball would do them every single time, but that they would do them at the right moment and, more importantly for me, each skill move attempted would have realistic ball physics showing within the move, for example the Scoop Turn move has been attempted so far by Bale and Ronaldo, and each time, being the sucker I am for detail, I have noticed on replays that the turn distance each time varied. It’s a bit like the Iniesta Double Touch move that in both PES and FIFA these days, has a varied organic amount of angles that the ball moves between the feet and the direction the ball travels after, for Human controlled players and CPU players attempting it, so unlike in previous years, clearly the ball physics as well as the touch each CPU player has that is doing it, affects the outcome, just as we feel when we attempt them ourselves. I’ve seen Thiago of Bayern Munich attempt 2 x dragback’s of the ball in succession but on his 1st attempt to drag it back, with the ball not behaving as he hoped, the animation went onto the side of the ball and the ball sliced slightly to the side, which meant his 2nd attempt to do the same thing missed the ball entirely. How lifelike is that! Not a dig at Thiago as he is highly skilled, but the way that the ball was clearly on this occasion not wanting to...................play ball.


FIFA 17 was a pile of………for CPU AI anyway….

FIFA 17 for me was a pile of tosh, the new no ball touch fancy body movements, as well as the over the top shielding that the CPU AI kept doing (even though it led to a better implemented version this year it seems), meant that most team moves they made towards goal looked very unconvincing, added to the fact that they never tried a single skill-move except the regularly used back heels (I don’t call them “skills”), and the Heel to Heel flick.


Back to FIFA 18 and its array of organic Dribbling/Skill Move amazingness

I cannot stand Man Utd, being a lifetime Liverpool fan (not a great week to be posting this…), but I mostly put Real Madrid vs Man Utd at the Bernabeu on to watch, and I set my LG TV to HDR Effect mode, and believe me, it really is like watching a real match in terms of the organic and uniqueness of every move the CPU AI on both teams approach the game. It may not have PES 2018’s superior, in some respects, animation, but there have been no occasions when the player in possession in the middle of the pitch sends a blind outside of the foot high ball out to Neymar on the left, or Messi on the right……but back to the Man Utd aspect, the reason I like to watch them on the demo (mostly to see them face a top quality opponent, and to not see them play against them 5 teams from the bottom 8 of the Premier League, yet again, that they have already been gifted as "initial fixtures to get you back where us, the authorities, simply must have you belong as you are Manchester United Football Club"………tossers, and Jose fits them just so well.......…) is down to Pogba, as he is loaded with skill moves it seems, he did an amazing Hocus Pocus pass where he dragged the ball around the back of his other foot and sent it towards the big fat Lukaka bloke (!!) with a “pass” at the stage where the Hocus Pocus is literally doing a Rabona movement. It looked sensational, only downside was Romelo’s big gormless face looking towards me as I watched the replay over and over.


That Goalgerd moment…

When I first loaded the FIFA 18 demo up on PC, I had a similar feeling to Goalgerd with his “that moment in time” comment, it felt very Istanbul 2005 for me, hairs on the back standing on end etc (not sure where I am going with this…….<help!!>) , in that not only were the Stadiums full of life but instantly the realistic passing and movement, the skill moves within dribbles being used contextually, and those very same dribbling sequences were organically happening without any of them looking like anything previously seen in that same game session or in fact any future sessions with FIFA 18.

It’s all so Human like in the way the players move intelligently (except the twisty animations of course), dribble, and do occasional mistakes such as a corner by Real Madrid where the corner taker miskicked it, and it went behind the goal with the miskicked spin that the ball had on it, so amazing and just so unscripted.



The Wife, and Di Maria………….. ;(

Sorry to go and on but I do get a bit excited…………………………now, where DID that Wife go, is she in bed??? Maria? Maria???


Oh well f**k it, no response from her, I will spend the rest of the night watching CPU AI “Di Maria” instead then….



We won it 5 times..........we won it 5 times.............in Istanbul, we won it 5 times

Always a nice thing to sign off with......
 
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That's true, Thespeedster84, in respects of most games that were released "in the past", i.e those that didn't have any modern AI aspects incorporated into them.

There will always come a time though when true CPU AI surpasses the "PES 20XX - 2018 lets do that blind outside of the foot pass to the obviously waiting out there Neymar or Messi" move (depending on whether its a right footed or left footed player doing the "kick" and of course then Neymar or Messi would receive it as per my pre-Transfer Barcelona example earlier).

PES 2018 doesn't do this every time, don't get me wrong, but as many have pointed out, it happens often during a match, inexcusable really, and it's clearly scripted.

FIFA 18 has none of this, its moved on big time, and I bear in mind that FIFA also, in the not too distant past (.e. FIFA 15 & 16 and to a fair extent the frail FIFA 17) had some very recognizable and often repeated attacking moves. Not anymore. The game has changed, and no, I don't work for EA!!

FIFA 18 will be seen, in the next few months, to be ground breaking I think, and it saddens me for PES as my heart was mostly siding, in the past, with PES, but over the years, buying both games without fail, I would always be praying for these kind of advancements in either game.

I don't take sides as I don't play either of them competitively, and I want them both to be as brilliant as they can be and keep up with the fact that we are now in 2017, which both games on PC, and PS4, have finally done this year graphically that is for sure, oh my word they are both so awesome in that respect now.

This year though, even if EA tone down whatever the demo has offered.................its light years ahead.....
 
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That's true, Thespeedster84, in respects of most games that were released "in the past", i.e those that didn't have any modern AI aspects incorporated into them.

There will always come a time though when true CPU AI surpasses the "PES 20XX - 2018 lets do that blind outside of the foot pass to the obviously waiting out there Neymar or Messi" move (depending on whether its a right footed or left footed player doing the "kick" and of course then Neymar or Messi would receive it as per my pre-Transfer Barcelona example earlier).

PES 2018 doesn't do this every time, don't get me wrong, but as many have pointed out, it happens often during a match, inexcusable really, and it's clearly scripted.

FIFA 18 has none of this, its moved on big time, and I bear in mind that FIFA also, in the not too distant past (.e. FIFA 15 & 16 and to a fair extent the frail FIFA 17) had some very recognizable and often repeated attacking moves. Not anymore. The game has changed, and no, I don't work for EA!!

FIFA 18 will be seen, in the next few months, to be ground breaking I think, and it saddens me for PES as my heart was mostly siding, in the past, with PES, but over the years, buying both games without fail, I would always be praying for these kind of advancements in either game.

I don't take sides as I don't play either of them competitively, and I want them both to be as brilliant as they can be and keep up with the fact that we are now in 2017, which both games on PC, and PS4, have finally done this year graphically that is for sure, oh my word they are both so awesome in that respect now.

This year though, even if EA tone down whatever the demo has offered.................its light years ahead.....

100% agree.

I've gone from ISS Pro Deluxe right through to PES 6, pouring in thousands of hours against the AI. I owned every version of PES back then (thought PES 4 was awful fwiw). I kept on with PES 6 right through until last year, never played a newer version until I got a PS4 last year. Wow, so glad I didn't waste so much of my life on newer titles based on feedback I've read. So, 2017 was an abomination of PES to me; it was like a whole different thing with the PES badge on it. Just no. I finally relented and tried FIFA, my first since FIFA 98 on PSone. Absolutely blew me away. I couldn't believe I'd missed all this.

Anyway, I've been spamming the Fifa 2018 demo for days now and it's so, so near-perfect. Can't wait to get the full game, released on my birthday FTW.

It's so sad to see what PES has become. I'm staggered at all the high review marks and people describing it as the best version ever made. I suppose when you've been fed dog shit for 10 years in a row you'll take any slight improvement and hold it up as a force to be reckoned with. It you substituted the graphics in PES 2018 with the graphics and 8 directional movement from PES 5, I wonder how everyone would have felt about it then.
 
100% agree.

I've gone from ISS Pro Deluxe right through to PES 6, pouring in thousands of hours against the AI. I owned every version of PES back then (thought PES 4 was awful fwiw). I kept on with PES 6 right through until last year, never played a newer version until I got a PS4 last year. Wow, so glad I didn't waste so much of my life on newer titles based on feedback I've read. So, 2017 was an abomination of PES to me; it was like a whole different thing with the PES badge on it. Just no. I finally relented and tried FIFA, my first since FIFA 98 on PSone. Absolutely blew me away. I couldn't believe I'd missed all this.

Anyway, I've been spamming the Fifa 2018 demo for days now and it's so, so near-perfect. Can't wait to get the full game, released on my birthday FTW.

It's so sad to see what PES has become. I'm staggered at all the high review marks and people describing it as the best version ever made. I suppose when you've been fed dog shit for 10 years in a row you'll take any slight improvement and hold it up as a force to be reckoned with. It you substituted the graphics in PES 2018 with the graphics and 8 directional movement from PES 5, I wonder how everyone would have felt about it then.


im in exactly the same position
 
It you substituted the graphics in PES 2018 with the graphics and 8 directional movement from PES 5, I wonder how everyone would have felt about it then.

If you substituted the graphics in FIFA 18 with the graphics of Mortal Kombat Ultimate and the Fatalities from Mortal Kombat 4, I wonder if it would still be called a Football Game.
 
Listen around 5:15.This is footage from the capture event. He speaks about an updated gameplay engine.. interesting. The demo plays much worse than this footage as well
 
Listen around 5:15.This is footage from the capture event. He speaks about an updated gameplay engine.. interesting. The demo plays much worse than this footage as well
Love the AI move and shot on goal around 7:42. Delicious little breakaway.

But I'm still seeing absolutely no midfield play from the AI in that video. None.

Also, Arsenal are doing the same "pass around the box until a tap-in arrives" that Real Madrid do to me in the beta, which concerns me a little (though I'll concede that they do seem to shoot a little earlier).
 
I was just going to try a single game of the FIFA demo tonight, before firing up Pes, but ended up playing it for hours. Damn. Sure, it's not perfect, but it just plays so much better against the CPU it's actually a bit difficult to compare (much due to the CPU spamming long through balls out on the flanks in PES). I'm only a few games in, though, but loving the variations in attack and in finishes especially.
 
That "something's odd" feeling for me has been something that probably popped up when they introduced the "360" dribbling along with fifa 10. I really like the demo and the more weight it has, but it's just something that doesn't feel right when making passes when the players legs makes a small a little bit too fast movement sometimes.
I've said for ages that EA still haven't nailed 360 movement. Fifa 09 was the last game where 360 movement wasn't an option and to be honest, it felt great. Players felt like they were connected with the ground and that they had real inertia. I do think they are getting there now though. It's much less skatey than it was a few years back.
 
Still can't get on with the demo, hopefully improvements are made to the full game where it doesn't feel so scripted.

Least get to try the full game for 10 hours on Thursday.
 
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