Fifa 18 Xbox One X Enhanced Impressions

Fifa 18 is an important game, it's well known across the globe just like the sport of Football/Soccer that it emulates. When it comes to new console generations, the sports games are typically one type of experience that gets a huge boost. With Fifa 18 Xbox One X Enhanced you get to see that improvement right away as it's the first sports game to get the update. The game runs at native 4k 3840x2160 at 60fps with HDR. At first I just somewhat shrugged off seeing this updated, but once you get into it the game looks fantastic. There's just something about the way the pitch is highlighted with the light and the increased texture quality.

The players seem mostly the same in cutscenes visually though slightly better with the real improvement being the zoom out view of the entire field area. It's not to say that everything in the game has been tweaked, but there's enough of a boost here to present a fresh look at the sport. Hopefully future entries get even more of a push for visuals and if this is the standard for sports titles there's great potential. I'm really looking forward to seeing how NHL 18 and Madden NFL 18 look with their updates, as the grass is just sharp here. The lighting matches that as the HDR creates a natural look across the pitch.


The other sports titles should be similar to the Fifa 18 Xbox One X Enhancements as they share the Frostbite engine. At least Madden NFL 18 does now, I imagine the NHL series will soon as it's still on Ignite (fairly similar). The technology is still relatively shared as that's a goal for EA at the current time so I can see the technology being easier to implement across the multiple games. While I mostly focused on playing some quick kick matches as I enjoy just trying out the different teams, The Hunter mode that provides a campaign is well worth checking out if you've ever been curious.

I'm not sure that Fifa 18 will be the hugest draw for players, but I know there are some that just buy sports games every year. If you're wanting the best looking and performing version for many years to come, the Xbox One X will provide that. Even with this initial quick update it's looking better than ever before and seeing a full entry take advantage of the console will be really interesting. I was impressed, I don't even get too hyped about Football/Soccer, but I've played a lot of it this year for review and there's a distinct change with this switch to native 4k with HDR.

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