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What's the story?
EA Sports is slowly putting all the pieces together when it comes to the much-anticipated release of their annual gaming franchise, FIFA 18. The developers have gone all out this year with new features being added and a new ICONS edition also being released along with Standard and Deluxe editions.
The next piece of the puzzle was revealed yesterday as the ratings of some important players in the game made their way to us. Sportskeeda had earlier revealed that in a leaked pack opening video Cristiano Ronaldo was rated 94 in FIFA 18, and it appears that it was indeed the correct rating as Ronaldo, Asensio and Isco are among the players who have been given a high overall rating in FIFA 18 as per the newest pack opening video.
That apart, Sergio Ramos has been rated 89, while Luka Modric has also received a high rating of 89. Marcelo, arguably the best left-back in the world, has been shown to be rated a lowly 86, while Casemiro is rated 82.
In case you didn't know...
FIFA 18 pack openings have become synonymous with thrill and anticipation and that can be seen manifold in this video as well with the player ratings being accompanied by new animations and walkouts in a slick piece of videography. Ratings have been rumoured for a while now but with the ICONS reveal, FIFA has gone a step further and told us exactly who may be atop the ratings pile again this year.
The heart of the matter
The reveal video includes Atletico Madrid star Antoine Griezmann who managed a healthy rating of his own, walking into the game with a rating of 88. Thomas Muller of Bayern Munich also got a decent rating of 87 with Spurs playmaker Dele Alli getting 84 for his troubles.
The main one, however, was the reveal of cover star Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese star's numbers didn't disappoint either with an overall rating of 94 and shooting 92, pace 92 and dribbling 91. A surprise, however, came in the form of Madrid's Isco. The Spaniard was given a rating of 90 with very healthy attributes, to say the least. 93 dribble, 91 shooting and 92 passing did the player more than just justice and the pack didn't end there.
Upstart Marco Asensio managed a rating of 84 of his own with 86 dribbling and 87 passing being his major contributors. An 81 pace rating is satisfactory but arguably does not do him enough justice. New signing Dani Ceballos managed a rating of 77 and Borja Mayoral was rated 72, while Theo Hernandez is rated 74 and Marcos Llorente 76.
What's next?
The next set of reveals could be on their way soon and with the feature reveals heating up as well, we could be in for a real treat on 29th August.
Author's take
Ronaldo's rating comes as no surprise but Isco has been rated very highly and Asensio probably deserved a little more pace in his game. Nonetheless, the game looks really good from what we can see so far and we can't wait to get our hands on it once it is out.
