Madden NFL 18 Will Transition to the Frostbite Engine

[bad_philanthropy]

I play a ton of FIFA, and have played a ton of 16 and 17. The move to Frostbite imo was an overall minor leap. I'm not saying that it won't eventually be the groundwork for huge advances, and workflow improvements, but I was actually surprised how much the game felt and moved like FIFA 15 (rather than 16).

Player models, and certain visual flourishes like lighting and sweat did make a decent jump, but it's not monumental, and the game still uses a lot of old assets that look poor. The lighting on the grass also took a bit of a step back. Animations are more or less the same.

More notable is the lod for the general gameplay view makes it look very similar to FIFA 16 and mutes some of the lighting and model improvements.

There are some nice physics upgrades with the ball and player interaction, but there are also some new and glitchy issues with both. For instance, at times the animations feel too long and control when involved in certain situations and interactions feels less responsive than years past. The game feels like a work in progress here.

Overall 17 just feels like it's still in the transition phase with its tech. Its Frostbite innovations seems partially implemented or not completely mastered by the devs. It's not really an indictment, but I'm not expecting anything monumental or all that dramatic for Madden 18 this year. I suspect it will be very similar looking and feeling to 17.

[dmslapped]

Can't wait for a helmet to explode like a battlefield building.
Kidding obviously, but wouldn't it be cool if the jerseys and field got a bit torn up

[johnnyg713]

Very exciting. I passed on madden 17 because of the announcement of the frostbite engine last year. I'm going to Be optimistic and say madden's jump from 17 will be greater than fifas jump from 16 - 17. The tech has been out longer which gives the dev team the luxury of learning from fifas experience. Not to mention madden has probably been developed using the frostbite engine for quite some time now.

[Americas Team]

Just get the player movement realistic already, add custom camera angles, and dynamic weather.

[carnalnirvana]

new engine same AI....

same issues that look prettier

[shadowkaga]

I'm just hoping for madden to return to pc with frostbite

[bad_philanthropy]

Quote: Originally Posted by shadowkaga

I'm just hoping for madden to return to pc with frostbite

One thing worth noting about FIFA 17 PC and its move to Frostbite is that the game is no longer moddable.

The community is working on it, but it's been a tough nut to crack so far.

Of course EA does not support modding for the game either.

[Rebel10]

I think this is driven by Sony and Microsoft's incremental hardware releases w/ PS4 Pro and Scorpio. Frostbite is a powerful engine that scales better across variable hardware, and the transition to Frostbite should enable the team to progressively enhance the game for the PS4 Pro and Xbox Scorpio next Fall.

It's a good change to make from a technical point of view, but I wouldn't expect it to change anything in regard to locomotion, living worlds, or anything like that. Not that those changes are ruled out, but they don't come along with adopting a new graphics engine.