The FIFA
franchise at EA Sports is about to take a step in another direction, one that
should please those who wish to do a little more than playing the core game.
For FIFA 09
Ultimate Team, the EA Sports dev team is introducing virtual cards that will open up a host of
new gaming options. The game will
be a strategic downloadable element that goes live on March 19 for $9.99 or 800
Microsoft points. It will be available on both the 360 and the PSNetwork and is
an add-on to the FIFA 09 title.
How the
cards come into play is that they will allow players to open player packs that
also have gameplay cards that could improve training, formations, will offer
contract extensions or give speed boosts and other match elements.
Because
nothing is guaranteed with the card packs, the pricing on the cards has been
kept low. As players build teams, they will have to pay attention to different
elements, such as team chemistry. Three ways to affect team chemistry is to play
athletes in the proper position, play the formation that players like to play,
or play several players from the same country. When it comes to formation, if
you have players that prefer the 4-4-2 formation, a player that favors the 5-3-2
formation will disrupt team chemistry. Therefore, you can go online and trade
off players that do not help the chemistry or trade for players who do.
Other
features include:
-
The ability to collect
every element to build your ultimate team. -
There are 30 types of cards
to collect that include: Players, Managers, Staff, Player Contract, Advanced
Training, Injury Healing, Formations, Tactics, Team Talk, Arenas, Crowd,
Celebrations, Stadia, Kits, Badges and more. -
New items for use in
customizing your created player that include new hairstyles, tattoos, and
bandanas. -
You earn coins by playing
games and use those coins to acquire new cards. -
There are new leaderboards
and new tournaments. There are six new online tourneys and six offline
tourneys.
This is a
bit of a new direction but one that fits seamlessly into the FIFA title and
should bring a new element to the game that gamers have been looking for. The
Ultimate Team element was on display at the EA Sports Season Opener event held
for the media in San Francisco Thursday. While there was no real hands-on
available, the entire aspect worked very well and seemed to run seamlessly on
the 360 display unit.
