FIFA

Review: FIFA 18’s World Cup mode

05/30/2018

Ladies and gentlemen, the day has finally arrived. The new FIFA 18 World Cup mode unveiled earlier today, and now players can spend hours winning the World Cup with their favorite teams, packing incredibly gifted players into their ultimate squads. Personally, I’m looking forward to spending every waking hour bringing minnows to World Cup glory in this mode. The new model is an authentic replica of the official 2018 FIFA World Cup, with authentic teams, stadiums, kits, badges, official match ball and the Official World Cup trophy.

Before we go any further: If you haven’t done so or would like to download the game; first you need to buy FIFA 18, then you need to download the free update, and you’re all set for World Cup fun. Now that you’re up to speed let’s take a look at the new FIFA 18 World Cup mode.

World Cup Tournament

As the name implies, the prominent feature in this mode is the ability to create a custom World Cup tournament. There are new features and tweaks in FIFA 18’s World Cup mode, such as allowing you to swap in teams who did not qualify for the World Cup. To all my fellow Italians, THIS IS OUR MOMENT TO SHOW VENTURA HOW IT’S REALLY DONE. (Sorry about that little rant, I’m still having some PTSD about Italy not making it.) But back to what matters, you can customize your own tournament. If playing with the official squads gets boring, the new game mode gives you the chance to create a whole new tournament.

Below is a list of teams that didn’t qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, included in the update:

Austria
Canada
Chile
China PR
Czech Republic
Greece

Ireland
Italy
Netherlands
New Zealand
Northern Ireland
Norway
Romania
Scotland
Turkey
United States
Wales

The only downside to this addition is that these are the final squads for the teams. This feature is a little lack-luster, considering the previous World Cup game allowed you to select your official 23 man squad from all the eligible players from that nation. Here we have a small problem, as clearly FIFA 18 did us a favor by including the teams who didn’t make it, but it would’ve been nice to have full control over your squad.

Ultimate Team

FIFA 18’s most significant feature for many years has been the Ultimate Team, a fan favorite for years, and the World Cup mode has brought some changes this time around. Packs are split into two types: Standard and Premium. Another exciting part of this feature: All the coins earned in the World Cup mode can also be used in the regular FIFA 18 mode and vice-versa. You are also given an equivalent FUT pack for every World Cup pack you purchase.

The Standard packs will cost you around 100 FIFA points, or 5,000 coins each. This pack contains 13 items, which include:

At least three untradeable FIFA 18 World Cup players
A guaranteed FUT Gold Pack redeemable.

The Premium packs will make a bigger dent to your wallet, as they will cost 7,500 coins each, or 150 FIFA points. This pack also contains 13 items, which include:

At least five untradeable FIFA 18 World Cup players
A guaranteed FUT premium Gold Pack redeemable.

This Ultimate Team mode is pretty similar to most FIFA Ultimate Team modes in the past. The only difference here is that the new player ratings, stadiums, kits match balls, and icons, as well as the FUT equivalent pack. As seen above, the mode also made changes to the player chemistry in the game. The goal will be to link your players through their nationalities and confederations, rather than the clubs and leagues. It will also reflect real life performances, meaning that players will always be up to date, depending on their real-life performances.

Last but not least, there are a handful of other modes and activities that you can participate in, such as:

Single-player and Online Tournaments
Single-player and Online Drafts
Squad Building Challenges

Stadiums

As I mentioned before, the new game mode brings an authentic experience to your screen. The mode has a licensing agreement to feature all 12 of the real-life tournament stadiums in their likeliness, making you feel like you are actually in the FIFA World Cup. The stadiums featured are: