Have You Got the FIFA World Cup Update for FIFA 18? Our Update Impressions

The 2018 FIFA World Cup is just around the corner in Russia, but gamers can get in on the World Cup action early by getting the free update for FIFA 18. Already available on Xbox One, PS4, and Nintendo Switch, the FIFA 18 updates brings new menu visuals to the game, as well as complete tournament layouts for you to enjoy. Who will you take all the way to the championship!

The FIFA 18 World Cup experience will be rendered in Frostbite for the first time, and will include all participating countries – RIP Netherlands… – match balls, stadiums, kits, and of course, the iconic World Cup trophy! The 12 stadiums that will be used around Russia for the tournament have all been recreated with dynamic fans – team banners will fly all over the place – and much more. EA is creating the most immersive World Cup experience ever!

The update isn’t just adding one mode, however. Ultimate Team is back and better than ever with a new World Cup experience, allowing you to create a roster from players on all the participating teams, as well as World Cup legends! Build that team, compete with others, and create your own personal World Cup squad!

Are you ready for the update? We’ve been playing it for a while now, and are thrilled with what we’ve seen.

World Cup Tournament

Of course the main feature of the update is being able to take to the field as one of the 32 countries participating in the FIFA World Cup, and making a push to win the coveted trophy. I’m really enjoying the country overlays to the stands and stadiums, and everything about the presentation screams, World Cup. When EA promised to deliver more dynamic stadiums and environments for this update, they definitely delivered on that promise.

The teams seem pretty balance and accurate to their real world counterparts, which means getting through the tournament playing as Peru on Allstar will be much more difficult than playing through the tournament as, say, Germany or Brazil. For a challenge, going with Peru provides a great opportunity to bring World Cup greatness to a country that is least likely to make it to the end!

Free Play Mode

If your favourite country isn’t participating in the World Cup – say Canada, or for myself, the Netherlands – you can still take those squads on the pitch to play in some international friendlies. It will function much like free play would in the regular modes in FIFA, but once again, the fields will have that Russia World Cup 2018 feel to them. The new stadiums are fantastic, and can even bring these international friendlies to life!

World Cup Football Ultimate Team

The World Cup Football Ultimate Team is the mode I’ve spent the least amount of time with, and will likely be publishing a separate article on this mode once I’ve spent more time with it. Like the regular FUT mode, the World Cup FUT will allow you to play matches and earn coins, which you will use to purchase packs of players to add to your roster. The difference here is that you will be getting players from the 32 World Cup teams, not from the entire football world itself. That means the likelihood of you obtaining better players more often is higher here than compared to the regular FUT mode. Remember, while your roster looks better, so does everyone else’s, so it balances well when playing against other FUT teams online. As far as I can tell right now, this content cannot be moved over to your regular FUT team.

Playing FIFA 18 on Nintendo Switch has been a blast. While the game definitely lacks some of the polish that the other versions do, the added perk of being able to take my game on the go more than makes up for it. Whether waiting for the doctor to call me in, or getting the oil changed on my car, I always have my Nintendo Switch within reach, and my FIFA World Cup squad ready to take to the pitch, in hopes of obtaining that elusive trophy!

Will you be playing the World Cup update for FIFA 18?