14 DAY TRIAL // The development team at EA Sports is taking advantage of the Gamescom 2014 press conference of parent company Electronic Arts to reveal all the new features that will be added to the Ultimate Team mode in the new FIFA 15, designed to significantly improve the overall player experience.
One of the major new ideas introduced is the Concept Squads, which will allow gamers to use the entire catalog of players to plan how they want to develop their own roster, with options to plan future purchases on the Transfer Market, find replacements for weak players, and test out various Chemistry compatibilities.
The official EA Sports announcement also talks about Friendly Seasons, which will allow gamers to “challenge your friends in a 1 v 1 version of the fan favourite Seasons format and track your stats. Win seasons to earn the current title holder position and the bragging rights that come with it!”
Ultimate Team in FIFA 15 will include a new Loan player mechanic, which introduces a simple way to test out all the players you like for a limited number of matches and use them in order to boost the performance of a team for a time.
Basically anyone can get access to Lionel Messi as long as they can pay for it, and gamers will probably need to balance the need to loan superstars with the fact that teams need a good Chemistry every time they face an adversary.
EA Sports is also adding an entirely new base attribute for all players, called Physical, designed to enhance the realism of the title.
They state, “It is a measure of key physical traits such as Strength, Stamina, and Jumping. PHY is important to FIFA 15 and FUT because it will help you determine a player’s ability to win physical battles across the pitch and keep their fitness throughout.”
Its introduction means that the Heading attribute is no longer part of the Ultimate Team mode for FIFA 15.
The experience has become very successful since it was first introduced, and more than 12 million players have engaged with it in this year’s version of the football sim.
The Ultimate Team mode will also get access to more players in the Legends mode for the Microsoft next-gen console.
FIFA 15 will be out on the Xbox One, the PlayStation 4, last-gen consoles, and the PC in late September both in North America and in Europe.
