FIFA 18 will see the return of Alex Hunter in the second part of The Journey.
The popular game mode comes back for a second season after EA Sports revealed The Journey was played almost 14 million times on FIFA 17.
Sadly, EA announced that you will not be able to create your own character, so you’re stuck with Hunter – however, you will be able to customize your player, with thousands of options available to change his look and style.
But what will actually happen to Hunter during The Journey 2? Well, in a word: lots.
They’ve broadened out the storylines, given it loads of new branches, meaning your Hunter character isn’t guaranteed to end up in the same place at the end of the season as one of your friends.
So, with that in mind, Dream Team actually got to play a few scenes from the new game, and this is everything we saw during the 20 minute preview session.
Of course, the following bits does contain minor spoilers – but it only covered a couple of weeks in the game, so you are probably safe to read on. Let’s begin…
The scene begins with Hunter in his apartment with his granddad and Mum
So the earnest Jim Hunter is still in the game, as well as Hunter’s Mum Catherine.
Alex is just doing his thing, before his agent, Michael, turns up at his door.
It’s a familiar scene, as Michael bundles in with his voice raised, Jim Hunter wary, while Alex gets off his sofa to chat.
Michael, his agent, says an offer from Real Madrid is on the cards
Yup. Now we don’t know if this will happen for everyone, but Michael says due to his good performance in pre-season, Los Blancos have come in for Hunter.
Hunter responds, by saying it has been his dream to play for Madrid his whole life, listing heroes such as Roberto Carlos as the reason why he would be open to the move.
Jim Hunter isn’t so sure, and says Alex is too young – however, tells him that it is his decision. Cut to…
Alex Hunter is now regarded as a snake in the dressing room
The preview we played included Hunter as a Chelsea player, but this may obviously differ according to the options you might be offered at the start of The Journey 2.
We’re reliably informed that there’s a couple of other events that lead to Hunter being seen as a bit of an outcast by his fellow players and fans, but we didn’t get to see them.
Eden Hazard shakes his head disapprovingly, as he leaves the changing room.
The fans boo Hunter as he’s left on the bench
For the reasons we’re not sure of (see above), Hunter is clearly disliked by his club’s fans now.
He is booed when he is accosted onto the pitch, and coach Butler asks him if he’s up for the challenge.
We’re given the standard three options – either completely dismiss the fans, say you’ll prove them wrong, or go for a more moderate approach.
Basically, you lose the game he’s brought on for
In the simulation we played, Chelsea were trailing 3-0 to Manchester United with 15 minutes to go.
There’s not a lot you can do about it – though we did score with Hunter in the game, and he was still booed.
Now comes the twist…
Following the game, we’re back at Hunter’s flat. Michael arrives, and tells him he has to leave immediately.
Hunter is then rushed into the back of a cab, but is held up by the notoriously terrible London traffic.
But here comes the plot twist – Michael is complaining about the traffic, Hunter asks him why he had to be rushed out of his flat, and Michael turns to him and says: “I’m trying to save your career.”
Unfortunately, that’s all we got to play – and it ended on a cliffhanger!
As we mentioned earlier, this is just a few scenes from the Journey, and it might all be different for each individual player as you will still have to be making decisions starting, presumably, from pre-season.
The scenes we played were two games into the season, with only a week left until Transfer Deadline Day… which could get very interesting indeed.
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