FIFA 18 Wishlist: 10 Things That Must Be Included

Crowds are another minor presentational detail that EA Sports never seem to get right. FIFA’s use of the Frostbite engine means the game is capable of some truly impressive graphical feats these days, but for all the series’ recent graphical advances, crowds are still lagging behind. FIFA 17’s were bland, washed-out, and blurry, and while this doesn’t have an impact on gameplay, it’s highly noticeable every time the camera swoops down to pitch-level.

It can’t be easy capturing and rendering so many individual supporters, but FIFA’s crowds look laughably amateurish at times. As with botched player/manager likenesses, this is another presentational botch that takes the shine off of FIFA’s typically immaculate veneer, and a small detail that breaks player immersion several times during a game.

EA Sports’ priority should probably be preventing the crowds from looking so low-res, but there’s plenty of room for improvement when it comes to the atmosphere too. Club-specific chants and songs are still relatively thin on the ground, and greater variety in this department (as well as additional play-specific songs) would unquestionably improve the match experience. Such tweaks might seem minor, but they’d go a long way to making FIFA feel more like an actual football match, and not just a game.