FIFA 18 World Cup Update – Winner or Loser?
FIFA 18's free World Cup Update is finally coming home, but will it step off the plane to a rapturous reception?
THE BEAUTIFUL GAME?
Released just in time for the excitement to start kicking in, the World Cup update for FIFA 18 is available to download for free now. But how does the new update, which promises to deliver the World Cup of your dreams (yes, that means England might win) hold up? We took to the pitch to find out.
SELECTION WOES
First off, it’s clear the squads for the update were put together before Gareth Southgate announced who he’d bought plane tickets for, because Joe Hart starts in goal for England and Jack Wilshere’s on the bench. Awkward. Still, with 22 reserves to choose from in each squad, you can easily right whatever wrongs you think the boss has made, but without the ability to draft in any alternatives, there’s very little you can do to address the chronic lack of natural attacking width in Southgate’s side.
BEST VS. THE REST
That can make playing with England feel just as stodgy as you might expect, but with 48 other teams to choose from, including 17 that didn’t qualify such as Italy, Wales and the Netherlands, you can take part in customised versions of this summer’s tournament. Online matchmaking seems to be a bit more laissez faire than normal. Playing as Nigeria or Denmark (they have the best kits) we were frequently drawn against Spain, France and Brazil. You have to play the best teams at some point if you’re going to win it, but you can imagine how tedious it gets coming up against the Give It To Neymar brigade over and over again. It’s exactly what spoiled the online mode on PES 2018.
ULTIMATE INTERNATIONAL TEAM
The most curious inclusion is a special World Cup version of Ultimate Team. As EA’s real money spinner you can see why it’s there, but because everything is now centred around national teams, the whole fantasy football conceit no longer makes much sense. Chemistry is based on nationality or confederation, but seeing Paul Pogba, Marco Asensio and Xherdan Shaqiri wearing England shirts is just a bit odd, especially considering you take on the regular national sides in single-player games.
STRIPPED BACK
It’s a more limited version of FUT as well, with no marketplace for buying and selling individual player cards – you have to rely entirely on packs, which means you have to rely on pure luck to build a squad. There’s also no crossover with your standard FUT side, which will surely mean it has limited appeal for anyone who’s spent the past nine months constructing a team of world-beaters.
BUT STILL A WORTHY CONTENDER
In general, though, it plays exactly like FIFA 18, so don’t expect any hints as to which direction EA might be taking the next game in. This is not FIFA 18.5. As a free add-on, it should keep you entertained over the next month or so, but don’t expect to be playing it after the trophy has been lifted in Russia on 15 July.
