Ultimate Team Expansion Breathes New Life into FIFA

[BlyGilmore]

It took a month, but I finally put down the PS3 controller and gave The Show a break to try out the new Ultimate Team downloadable expansion for FIFA 09.

The expansion does a great job of breathing some life into a game that’s almost six months old at this point – creating a completely different way to enjoy the same on the pitch action, while adding some new wrinkles and challenges to team building.

But with that said, if you aren’t a FIFA fanatic who was likely to play FIFA for another few months anyway, the expansion might not be for you.

Ultimate Team Expansion Breathes New Life into FIFA

[dr logic]

Im happy someone took the time out to write a full bodied article on FIFA 09's Ultimate Team Mode.

I personally enjoy this mode a great deal for many of the reason that you stated. Obviously FIFA is not as huge in the states as it is around the world, so I will chalk up the lack of interest in UltimateTeam on OS to that reasoning.

I also agree that this mode with a league component would be phenomenal, and would propel this mode into a basic Online Franchise. The most exciting aspect of this mode is the trading card system. I can only hope that this mode can act as an example of the proper blueprint to use when designing an online component involving trading cards, as no one had really figured out how to do so thus far. Hopefully games like NBA 2k and Madden can take something from the success of a worthy and im sure profitable Downloadable Add-on like Ultimate Team.

Could you imagine if NBA 2k created a fleshed out replica of what FIFA has done that allows you to purchase and play for coins thatcan be used to acquire packs of cards containing all Current and former NBA greats.

With the same type of system(run & gun, half court, Defensive minded etc.) and team chemistry restrictions that exsist in the FIFA model I think this new 2k mode would have tremendous impact.

Last but not least.
One of my biggest gripes about the Utimate Team mode, and really all the sports games of this generation, is the lack of team asthetics customization. Having the option of buying any team logo and uniform through the coins system is very cool. But I also think being able to design your own uniform using all of the NIKE, ADIDAS, REEBOK, ETC templates and selecting your own color ways would be much cooler. It also wouldnt hurt to be able to design your own stadium and custom logo as well.

All in all, this mode was a success in my eyes. I had written FIFA off this year because of all its buggy tendecies, freezing issues and overall staleness. While a few of those issues still exist in the Ultimate Team mode, EA has done a great job of realing me back in to dump some more time and money into a game that I stopped playing months ago.

[BlyGilmore]

btw guys I added another blog on the topic - this time some tips for building your Ultimate Team ...

http://www.operationsports.com/BlyGi...ultimate-team/

[cepwin]

I have to agree. It got me back and playing FIFA...and delving more into it than I had before.

[BlyGilmore]

yeah i damn near ODed on this over the weekend lol. between the trading feature and the actual game, i'm spending way too much time playing FIFA.

At this point I only have two silver players left on my team (an American RB Spector and my created player), built entirely with earned coins (no bought packs) and shrewd trading (grabbing guys all over the place for 150, like Mascherano).

[Fluffhead]

Anybody know if this mode going to be included with FIFA 10 or will it be a seperate add on again?

[southernbelle]

i am looking for a stop gap before FIFA 10, or at elast the demo. what was the OS community's overall view of Ultimate Team?

[Tomasperez9]

Quote: Originally Posted by southernbelle

i am looking for a stop gap before FIFA 10, or at elast the demo. what was the OS community's overall view of Ultimate Team?

It was fun at the beginning, but now, after months of it being out, the vast majority of people have created teams of all 99 OVR players. The player progression cards were completely ridiculous (for example, Palladino and Del Piero are both 99 OVRs on my team and have forced David Villa to the bench, while Kleber Santana of all people is now better than my Diego in the midfield) and in a way ruined the game. If you were to start now, you would be completely overmatched if you were to play online. However, if you only are going to play offline, then you should be fine, that is, if you can actually stand playing against the CPU. I'd give UT a 6/10; it's worth purchasing only if you're a huge FIFA fan who is bored of the game as it is out of the box and cannot wait for 2010.