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FIFA 09: Ultimate Team

April 13, 2009 by heraldo

ut-official-pic1Last week due to work related courses, was the first time since I downloaded Ultimate Team could I sit down and give it a solid play-through.  I wasn’t to be disappointed, I played my  trial matches and then purchased the full pack.

Ultimate Team has breathed fresh life into a game that I have played solidly for six months and over 700 games.  As much as I love FIFA 09 I was suffering a little from FIFA fatigue with the annoying at times Manager Mode in which I had to apply house rules to create a level playing field and maintain a realism to the mode.

Ultimate Team, whilst  the same on the pitch action  has created a completely different way to enjoy the game-play whilst refreshingly providing a more  challenging and strategic team building system than manager mode.  

Let’s be honest, whether you’re playing with Man Utd or Aldershot in Manager Mode you can (1) sign the same players if you have the cash (2) create a superstar if you increase all your positional coaches.

With Ultimate Team you are juggling a number of factors and making strategic decisions about your team almost from the moment you jump in.

Creating a Team

You start off choosing your team name FCB CELTIC and then are handed a started pack of playing cards.  In this pack you will get you’re starting club info (stadium, practice arena, club badge, home and away kits) and your squad of players.

From here your managerial career and decision making starts and if like me your addiction to Ultimate Team.

Team Chemistry

Building a squad in Ultimate Team is so much deeper than Manager Mode. No longer is signing the player with the highest overall stats the MAIN factor.   In the all important Team Chemistry you are taking 3 things into consideration (1) A players natural position (2) The formation you play versus the players formation he is comfortable with (3) The players nationality and the nationality of the players around him.

These all contribute to whether your Team Chemistry increases or decreases.

Team Chemistry was in FIFA 08 Manager Mode, I may be proven wrong but I did not see it having a major bearing in results compared to Ultimate Team.  

Ultimate Team then takes this one step further, adding Managers to the equation, each with their own preferred formation and giving chemistry boosts to players of the same nationality.

What happens if, in your next pack of cards, you grab a superstar who doesn’t fit your current makeup? Do you try and build the rest of the team around him? Try and squeeze him into your existing line-up and potentially end up with a worse team? Or do you sell him and reap the rewards? (some players, like Fernando Torres, are selling for tens of thousands of coins!!!!! CRAZY)

Building and maintaining my dream team

Do I (1) buy packs of cards or (2) hit the trade market looking only for players that match certain criteria, formation/nationality? 

Even something as simple as buying a pack of cards needs to be thought about.  Do you risk buying a pack with no guarantee of the cards you desperately require at that time or do you choose to scour the trade market for the all important cards to maintain your squad?

Your ability to scour the trade market, can help you find good deals and get fantastic value.  Cards you’re getting rid of also play a role, you can put them up for trade or send them to your collection earning coins in the process 9-16 coins for bronze players, 190-214 silver and 494-515 coins for gold players.

sbrown-ut

Getting a player for your team at a fraction of the cost can be a huge advantage and help you in other areas, like buying individual contract cards for both players and staff, opposed to full packs with no guarantee of the cards you require.

I have become somewhat a trade junkie, spending hours in the trade search screens due to the thousand upon thousands of cards looking for bargains (such as the Scott Brown one pictured).  The search system could be quickened by using a Buy Now option in the search. Using the trade system late at night is noticeably quicker than daytime.  I do my business then.

I will be looking to change the initial club info cards I received, I am aiming for 

  • Celtic Badge
  • Barcelona home kit
  • Celtic away kit

Summary

Ultimate Team provides the customisation of PES’s Master League with the excellent game-play of FIFA 09.  The best of both worlds and a mode which is right up there with Master League for enjoyment (I can’t give it higher praise than that).  I really enjoy the trading aspect of the game and the constant thinking and tinkering of the player and staff contracts.

I love this mode and will definitely miss it when I return to work. Bit of a bummer that you can only play the game whilst connected online. Anyway I still have 4 weeks to enjoy it and attempt to win those 18 off-line tournaments.

Posted in Ultimate Team | Tagged , | 2 Comments »

Halfway through the ‘Console’ Football Season: Part 2 FIFA Manager Mode

April 10, 2009 by heraldo

Last post saw me speak Pro Evolution Soccer’s ‘Master League’ and how much I enjoy the customisation of putting Celtic (the team I support) into an EPL or European Super League.  I want to play my football games using Celtic and wearing those famous hoops (I have no affinity with any other club, maybe Barca).  Creating my own virtual team of world beaters and using my own football philosophy.  That’s what football games are for me, creating those magic moments with the hoops.

FIFA 09 is the closest thing on a console that resembles the ‘beautiful game’.  It is an amazing game and one which I have clocked over 700 games on the Xbox 360 and PS3.  Six months and 700 games later, I am still seeing new player animations which make me go ‘wow’.  It is the first game since the old PS1/PS2 ISS and PES games that I play EVERYDAY.  It is simply that good.

I said in the last post that all Career Modes in Sports Titles are only as good as the game-play allows.  This is why FIFA’s Manager Mode has seen more attention than PES’s Master League for me.  It’s all about the game-play for me.

BUT, Manager Mode is so infuriating.  I have to set up HOUSE RULES to maintain a level playing field.  It is so easy to develop a team of Harlem Globetrotters with the side you choose.  I don’t buy any of the big stars, that’s my preference and each to their own.  That’s why I rarely play online, playing the Man Utd and Barca’s every 2-3 matches, no thanks.  Give me a Leeds Utd vs Coventry, Valencia vs Atletico, Dundee Utd vs Hibernian, etc. 

My HOUSE RULES  

  1. Choose my starting Sponsorship and keep.  The sponsorship rise with success is obscene.
  2. Set Ticket Sales to LOW
  3. Set Player Development to OFF.  The development is crazy this year, which ruined my Celtic career.  All players overall stats rose 8-11 in ONE SEASON. I allow development to my created player at the January and summer transfer windows.  This is the only exception.
  4. No STAFF UPGRADES with the exception of FITNESS COACH which I put to 5 which still allows a squad rotation when you have midweek games.
  5. When INCOME still gets to an insane level, I will renew Player Contracts with a hefty increase in salary.

I should never have to apply these house rules in the first place.  The mode is set for players to assemble ALL STAR teams with the ease of generating income and signing whoever you wish with ANY TEAM regardless of league position.  Again each to their own, I prefer my approach.  No player development keeps the game more realistic for me.

With the game-play nailed in FIFA 09, I would like Manager Mode to be revamped in the 2010 instalment which has been rumoured/confirmed?  All which would make the mode perfect for me.  Here is my FIFA 10 Manager Mode wish-list.  

  1. Bring in differing weather conditions to matches (which are in Tournament Mode).  Shocking that it is omitted.
  2. When midweek and European matches, play the games at NIGHT.
  3. Allow kit numbering changes, which was in FIFA 08 but omitted from FIFA 09.
  4. FIX the transfer system.  Make it more realistic, you shouldn’t be allowed to sign star players with any Championship side.  Use your manager prestige as a stat when signing players.
  5. FIX the player development to realistic levels.  It is overpowered.  This is tied in with STAFF Upgrades.
  6. Introduce running career statistics for all PLAYERS .  Eg, total matches played, total goals scored, etc.
  7. Allow when applying the Stadium Upgrade, the option to choose your new stadium.

There is more I would add, but these are the BASICS and a MUST for me, especially numbers 1-3 which are shocking considering they are in the other game modes in FIFA 09 and kit numbers was in FIFA 08.

To finish off, in spite of my ‘house rules‘ and ‘wish-list’ FIFA 09 Manager Mode is still my mode of choice in this seasons football gaming calendar.  Game-play, game-play that’s where FIFA excels.

I have amassed 11 seasons in Manager Mode with Celtic, Valencia, Portsmouth, Norwich and Leeds United.  Although this has been put on the back-burner due to being totally immersed in FIFA Ultimate Team which I will be blogging about in the next post.

Posted in FIFA Manager Mode | Tagged , | 4 Comments »

Halfway through the ‘Console’ Football Season: Part 1 PES Master League

April 8, 2009 by heraldo

It’s been a long time since my last post, unfortunately my work takes me away from home for 4/5 months and maintaining a blog is difficult when you are sailing outside of UK waters.

I last left off with my 1st impressions of PES 2009 and FIFA 09.  That was a long time ago.  

A new game mode has seen me blogging again.  FIFA 09 Ultimate Team is the most addictive game mode I have played since the introduction of PES’s Master League.

Over the next 2 posts I want to give my insight on the career modes in Pro Evolution Soccer’s Master League and FIFA’s Manager Mode (I predominantly play Career modes in all Sports titles, PES/FIFA/NBA 2K/Tiger Woods) .  This will give an insight into how I have embraced FIFA Ultimate Team.

Part 1, todays post will focus on Pro Evolution Soccer’s Master League.

Master League has been my favourite game mode for years, especially since the introduction of Celtic or (Old Firm Green) as they were originally known in PES 4. A couple of years later they became fully licensed along with their Glasgow rivals. It gave me the opportunity as a Celtic fan to put them and Rangers in a fantasy EPL or European Super League and battle with the big guns of English/European football.

I have read many people wanting realism similar to EA’s format of fully licensed leagues.  Yes, I would like to see Master League revamped in the 2010 version with more leagues and integrated European Cup competitions, a MUCH better transfer system with REAL currency and the option to move between clubs (apart from Celtic and Barcelona I have no real affinity with any other club so not a biggy for me) and manage a national side.  I like the fact that PES allows me to customise a format using Celtic, I hope that continues in the future.

In my opinion to get the best out of Master League, playing on Top Player difficulty and starting off with the default fictional players is the way to appreciate the joys of Master League.  

The default guys are the bread and butter of ML, although they are not good enough (an understatement), the attachment is there after years of playing with them.  The initial struggle and playing those few extra games just to get to the next negotiation period and searching through the groups of players to obtain players that will bring success to your team is the real joy of ML.  

Building your OWN squad through the sales or trades of the default players and signing players from a combination of the Master League youngsters and real life players is satisfying after the initial struggles.

I have built arguably my BEST squad ever in my Master League adventures.  I have played over 300 games of PES 2009.  5 full seasons in ML winning the Division 2 Title, 2 Division 1 Titles, 1 Division 1 Cup, European Masters Cup (UEFA equivalent) and the European Championship Cup (Champions League equivalent).

Here is a picture of my unbeaten season in 2010-11, I don’t remember the last time if ever in which I was unbeaten in a league campaign.  The game definitely feels a lot easier this year.pes-2010-11-unbeaten-season

PES 2009 I found was a decent game which has given me hours of fun, I wouldn’t have played over 300 games if I thought otherwise.  Now, with EA stepping up to the mark with FIFA 08 and taking it (in my opinion) to a whole new level/ballpark with FIFA 09.  I want PES to be more than a decent title, as it was once the pinnacle in football gaming on the PS2.  The series requires a hell of lot of work to compete with EA’s FIFA.

The series needs a major overhaul in terms of graphics and animations.  They are still using the animations from the PS2 days which were revered, the animations flowed so smoothly on that platform but on todays platform it is shocking. Somehow despite the more powerful consoles they have removed animations and somehow sped up the ones they do have!  The running, oh my god and every player having the same 90 degree shot fake animation is laughable.

The career modes in any game are only as good as the ‘gameplay’ allows. Sadly PES has fallen way behind FIFA in terms of gameplay.  As much as I enjoy playing in a customised European Super League as Celtic, I do feel that’s why I played over 300 games of PES 2009.  Unfortunately, PES does not get much if any playtime on my console at the moment.  I did plan on returning to grab the achievement for a full unbeaten season but that looks a long way away now that I am totally immersed in FIFA’s Ultimate Team.

Gimme hope Joanna

After writing this article, the First official news of PES 2010 has been released.   After reading these articles I am more optimistic that PES 2010 will be the REAL DEAL that all us PES veterans have desired on next-Gen consoles.  Here is the official press release taken from WENB.

Official Konami PES 2010 Press release from WENB

Posted in PES Master League | Tagged , | 3 Comments »

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