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EA Sports has done a great job pushing out updates for FIFA 14 after having a positive reception last year (read our review here), and the latest update is by far the most ambitious. The FIFA series is usually completely separate from the official FIFA World Cup title that comes to consoles every 4 years, but this year EA Sports decided to launch two huge World Cup modes within FIFA 2014 for fans who might not have picked up the separate World Cup game on consoles. Considering the separate World Cup game came out for previous-generation systems, it's a healthy nod for those who felt left-out after buying into the next-generation.
It's no secret that Ultimate Team is the most popular game mode within FIFA, with plenty of players actively trading and playing against each other in a competition to build up the best team with the best chemistry. World Cup Ultimate Team brings this experience to the World Cup stage, allowing players to build new teams based off of any player in the 32 nations which qualified for the cup — and lead them to glory in the most prestigious competition of them all.
Teams in World Cup mode have chemistry based off of their governing football body and nation, as opposed to individual leagues. Gamers won't be able to port over existing squads from Ultimate Team, allowing World Cup to be played completely separately — and for everyone to start on even ground. As a bonus, each World Cup card pack will feature a Gold Pack for the regular Ultimate Team mode.
The update also adds the Estadio do Marcana from Brazil, which is the stadium that will host the World Cup Final this year. The official World Cup 2014 matchball also becomes available for World Cup matches. The update doesn't bring unqualified countries into contention, so those from places like Canada looking to bring their country to glory would still have to buy the official FIFA World Cup 2014 game, which includes all 203 countries which take part in the cup.
EA Sports also included a regular World Cup Kickoff Mode, so that players could enjoy the atmosphere of Brazil with the regular World Cup teams. It's a big breath of fresh air for the franchise, and the fact that the developer is supporting the title with such a large update mere months ahead of the eventual launch of FIFA 15 is a great demonstration of EA's continued support for the game. As if this wasn't enough, the update is also completely free, and weighs in at over 500MB.
What do you think, Ranters? Are you excited for the World Cup free update, or would you rather just play the FIFA World Cup 2014 game separately?
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The FIFA 14 World Cup Update is currently live for Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3 and PC.
You can follow John Jacques on Twitter @Makelevi.
Source: EA Sports