ICON STORIES
The biggest hitter of FUT Live was the reveal of the all new Icons Stories which will see three card variants of each Icon based around the most significant moments of their illustrious career’s. With one standout “Prime” version of each Icon set to be released at intervals throughout the season. The different Icons will also have their own unique in-game appearance based on how they looked at that point in time - a very nice touch.
Everyone (perhaps quite rightly) cacked themselves at Henry’s LW 90 version so it was nice to have that bit of deliberate miscommunication resolved and as well as the new triple Icon model, it was great to see some brand new faces in the mix with Ronaldinho the standout most requested community addition.
I guess the thing I would have liked to have seen extra from Symbol Stories was an actual story element. Perhaps an in-game scenario we could play to try and recreate one of their most famous goals, or moments? Scenario Mode was a great addition in the World Cup and Euro games, as well as I’d hoped it may be leveraged here to play in to the stories behind why these versions were picked?
Also it would have perhaps been nice for the “Prime” versions of each Image card to perhaps look a bit more special in style? A different frame colour, or a slightly different texture. I don’t know; just something to make those pinnacle variations of each Icon really standout, perhaps.
SQUAD BATTLES
As someone who found FUT Champions incredibly stressful last year, Squad Battles for me is the standout new addition to Ultimate Team for FIFA 18. An offline variant of the Champs reward model was a much requested community feature, so it’s great to see EA respond to that. And even if Squad Battles are only used by the majority to mix things up when you just can’t face the actual Weekend League grind, the chance for players of all abilities to get those coveted monthly rewards is a truly positive step forwards for FUT.
The addition of Featured Squads is another nice touch because when your favourite YouTuber, Pro Player, or even real footballer’s squads appear in Squad Battles it will undoubtedly draw people in for the particular bragging rights alone. But for everyone else the fact community squads are also in the spotlight could make for some really unique moments for lots of FIFA gamers this year.
How the rewards from Squad Battles are being handled is yet to be determined but expect them to be (like all offline rewards) below that of the online FUT Champions tiers. fifa 18 coins But as long as they are comparable to a degree, there will still be plenty of motivation for new and old players to tune up their skills before going online. www.fifa-coin.com