FIFA 18 is out, here and now- the world’s most popular franchise globally offers a new take on its ever evolving take on the beautiful game, with refined mechanics, and some changes to how things work. These changes will perhaps be most evident when you get to make a kick uninterrupted- such as a free kick, or a long shot.
That’s when you will find that things are a bit different this time around compared to last year. You might even feel a bit confused. That’s where we come in with this guide, where we explain with quick overviews how to handle these kicks.
DRIBBLING
The first section of this guide is on the exact opposite of what I mentioned- this is the section that teaches you how to dribble, which is an advanced maneuver you will only have to pull when you are being crowded by an opponent. Dribbling is initiated when you press L1 or LB, and when you push the analog stick to a direction, but only slightly- this causes your player to move with the ball in a zig zag motion, confusing the opponent, and letting you bypass them. By pressing the analog stick in a backwards half moon motion, you can also ‘shield’ dribble, which lets you block an incoming interception, and retain possession of the ball.
CORNER KICKS
The first thing you need to keep in mind is that when you take a corner kick, you want to take it with a player who has a high CRV skill. After this, you want to set full power to the corner (or lower power, if you plan on doing a close range play), determine the curve with the analog stick, and shoot. That’s all there is to it- how exactly you choose to execute a corner will also come down to exactly how your players are positioned.
LONG SHOT
For Long Shots, you need to press R1 or RB along with the shoot button, and then wait till you have at least three bars in the power meter. The important thing to keep in mind about these is that you need to be cognizant of your player- Long Shots should always be taken with a player’s strong foot, so you need to not only know what player you are playing as when you try to pull one off, but also what their strong foot is.
FREE KICKS
- Curve Free Kick: 2-3 power, and use the analog stick to curve the ball
- Dipping Free Kick: 1-2 power, and hold the analog stick forward when you run up to the ball
- Power Free Kick: Hold the stick forward, press R1 or RB, and apply maximum power. Pulling the stick in the opposite direction at the last moment performs a knuckleball free kick
- Trivela Free kick: 1-2 power, except you use the right analog stick to position yourself on the wrong side of the ball