If it’s possible for a non-existent pile of virtual pseudo cash to collect dust, then my most recently-purchased Microsoft points were due for a good Mr Sheening.
Imagine then the grin on my little face when I realized that – on the same day that I had moved into my new digs and gotten my replacement Xbox 360 up and running – the resurgent EA had released an entirely new feature as DLC for this year’s best football game.
The combination of the tinkerman’s wet dream, Football Manager, and every football fan’s pre-pubescent hobby, ‘Ultimate Team’ threatens to deny millions what little exposure to sunlight they might have gotten this summer.
The new mode is the amalgamation of the existing Manager Mode and a trading card collection game. The player controls the whole team to win coins and skill points, which in turn are used to buy booster packs and entry to tournaments. What we’re left with is something that falls between a sports game and crack. Initial frustration with results is quickly overwhelmed by satisfaction with just about the right amount of perserverence. One thing’s for sure, it pretty much isn’t worth going online before the majority of your team is made up ‘silver’ cards.
The cards themselves grant the player anything from new players to new kit to game-changing power-ups, such as ‘Strict Referee for 45 Minutes’. The option to transfer any cards to the mind-blowingly extensive Collection (complete with page-flippable sticker book – flashbacks of “got, got, got, got, NEED!”) mean that this won’t just be a walk in the park for completists. Extra bonuses can even be earned for permanently condemning groups of cards to the collection. For example, completing your Preston North End collection will earn a sizeable coin boost.
While FIFA’s Manager Mode might not be as painfully detailed as Football Manager, the tactics are deep enough to dramatically affect the AI behaviour of off-the-ball players. The fact that the team has been constructed and the tactis hand-picked by the player makes it all the more important that the team plays well. I found myself giving pep-talks out loud to the little virtual men running around on my TV, so there’s no questioning whether this mode evokes the same fatherly demand for success that is usually associated with a management sim.
The only real gripe is the apparent inability to challenge one’s friends to a bout of extreme fantasy football in an exhibition match, although this may just have been overlooked, such are the pitfalls of a 2-hour review.
The verdict: You’re thrown in at the deep end, but once you learn to stay afloat, the addiction takes a hold pretty damn quickly. And it looks like a lack of depth will certainly not be an issue any time soon. Buy it.
Popularity: unranked [?]
