FIFA 18 for Nintendo Switch hands-on: The beautiful stopgap

FIFA 18 on the Nintendo Switch is a half-measure. Electronic Arts should bring the “real” FIFA to the hybrid handheld/home console next year. But, for what it is, I still came away impressed.

EA Sports did not use the latest build of its FIFA games from the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One when porting the soccer sim to Nintendo Switch. While FIFA 18 on Sony’s and Microsoft’s consoles runs on the Frostbite engine that powers games like Battlefield 1 and Star Wars: Battlefront, the Switch is running on older tech from last-generation systems. What that means is that the Switch doesn’t look quite as dynamic, its dribbling tech isn’t quite as advanced, and it won’t have The Journey story mode. But I didn’t really care while I was playing the game in Switch’s portable mode, because FIFA 18 is easily the best handheld soccer game ever.