Previously when playing Career Mode, you were able to look through a player's statistics and data to see how good a player they were. That meant if you were in the market for someone new, you were able to spend some time looking for someone who fitted in with your playing style. That database was easily searched and quick to rifle through, making it great for when you wanted to get nerdy.

But because in the real world, where there's no guarantee that the player you're going to sign will turn out to be Eden Hazard or Eden Massouema, the spreadsheet is gone in FIFA 18. In its place, there's a process of hiring scouts to look at each player you may decide to look at, which can take weeks, or months. And then it's mostly down to the accuracy and reliability of the scout.

It's a similar situation when it comes to negotiating transfers and contracts with players, now with added theater. Rather than simply offering them a price and a duration, you have to endure a branching, RPG-style cut scene with dramatic music. The player's agent basically insists on whatever they say, and there's no point negotiating with them because they always say no.

In one regard, I get it -- in the real world, players won't simply take a pay cut in exchange for more bonuses, or more playing time. Not that I necessarily want to do that -- but I would like to give all of my first teamers the same flat salary. After all, in my football utopia, that's how it would work, especially at the cash-strapped club I'm currently managing.

"Ah Dan," you may rightly say, "but this is about realism and bringing a true and accurate version of the football world to your home." But were that the case, then surely as soon as I put the disc in, the game would refuse to play, given that I haven't studied for the UEFA A-License. Playing FIFA isn't about the grinding mundanity of football if you don't want it to be, and I don't.

It's also irritating when a player complains about being dropped from a single game, saying they're not getting enough game time. Especially when they've played every minute in a league so far, and I was only resting them for the big cup tie three days later. The game has no sense of internal logic to understand why and how you would rotate players... which is surely more realistic?

And then there's the UI, which is far too busy, overcomplicated and badly laid out compared to its five-year predecessor. Why is player contracts, a seemingly crucial part of the game, buried in the squad hub rather than in transfers? Why do you have to shortlist a player and then go back out of search and into transfers to make an approach, rather than doing it there?

Why, rather than an easily-navigable squad selection, does everything involve so much extra scrolling? Player selection in FIFA 13 was so much better and easier than it is now, and I'm baffled that EA thinks this is somehow better.

Of course I'm still playing it, if only because of the better graphical fidelity and the fact FIFA 13 isn't available on the PS4. But I'm still gonna grouse about it.

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition

Igor Bonifacic

Contributing Writer

In between all the high-profile releases this fall, you may have missed the fact Microsoft released Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, a part remaster, part remake of one of the best real-time strategy games ever made. Recreating a masterpiece is fraught with all sorts of downsides, and it's especially tricky with a game like Age of Empires II that has so much history behind it.

Definitive Edition is technically the game's second re-release. Back in 2013, Forgotten Empires, one of the studios involved in Definitive Edition, updated the game and its excellent Age of Conquerors expansion with high-definition graphics, releasing the package as Age of Empires II: HD Edition. It was a serviceable if uninspired update to a classic. In the intervening years, however, Forgotten Empires continued to work on the game, creating new expansions that add additional playable civilizations and single-player campaigns.

And so Definitive Edition feels like the work of a group of people who have spent the better part of a decade devoted to a game they love, and it shows. The beauty of this re-release is that it stays true to what made Age of Empires II great in the first place, while adding a new level polish. Take the game's presentation, for example. By standards of most modern games, a lot of what Age of Empires II offers on that front is modest. For example, the briefings that play before each campaign mission are a simple affair, with just some drawings and a lone voice to guide you through to the next scenario. And yet they do an excellent job of setting the stage and establishing the stakes.

Forgotten Empires didn't try to reinvent the wheel here; instead, the team gave the briefings (and everything else, for that matter) a fresh coat of paint. The sum total of all these enhancements is that Definitive Edition feels both just as good and better than you remember it, and that is a rare feat for a remaster to achieve.