NCAA Playbook #3 - Ultimate Team

[SGdirtyburt]

Hey College Football Fans, EA SPORTS Game Changer SG Dirtyburt here to discuss the latest NCAA Football 14 Playbook reveal, Ultimate Team. You may ask, what is Ultimate Team? The Ultimate Team mode has been in other EA Sports titles (Madden NFL Football, FIFA, and NHL) for several years now. Ultimate Team is a combination of Fantasy Football and Card Collecting allowing you to put together a “Dream Team” of players from different teams by opening card packs. You will start this journey by choosing your favorite team and opening their Starter Pack to fill the positions on your team. One thing you will notice about the players in the Starter Pack, they are all former College Football players. The Starter Pack also gives you the Stadium, Jersey, and Playbook of the team you choose as your favorite. Now you are ready to begin building the next Dynasty in College Football.

The best way to build a Championship Team in College Football is by recruiting or adding the best players in the country to your team. This is accomplished in Ultimate Team by opening card packs that contain different players to improve each position on your team. There are a couple of different ways to acquire card packs to open. You can earn coins in the new Head-to-Head Seasons Mode or Solo Challenges. The more difficult the opponent or challenge, the more coins you will be awarded. If you want to improve your team immediately, the option to buy card packs with Microsoft Points or Sony PSN Credit is also available. Once you have earned or purchased card packs, it is now time to open the packs and see what players you pulled to improve your team.

Now that you have the basic concept of what NCAA Football Ultimate Team is and how to get started, let’s revisit the players and possibilities of building your team. As I previously mentioned in the opening paragraph, all of the players will be former College Football players. NCAA Football Ultimate Team will not feature any current or fictitious College Football players. I had mixed feelings about this at first, but after getting hands-on playing time at a Community Event, my feelings changed. The sheer number of former College Players that were heroes to their Universities and fans but never made an impact in the NFL is what sets NCAA Football Ultimate Team apart from the professional game franchises. The first player that came to mind was Charlie Ward. Following his Heisman Trophy winning at Florida State, Ward bypassed the NFL and joined the NBA’s New York Knicks. Having a 99 rated Heisman Trophy Winner Charlie Ward QB card running today’s Spread Option attack is only scratching the surface of the possibilities NCAA Football Ultimate Team offers. Just think of all the players from your favorite school that never made a “splash” in the NFL, but on a College Football Saturday meant everything to their University. There will also be current and former player cards that went on to become NFL Superstars. Currently there is not a cohesive list of all the players that will definitely be in the game at launch because EA SPORTS is still in the process of signing players. I can assure you that the number of players in the game will make very diverse teams to play against.

The statement “You Play to Win the Game” from Coach Herm Edwards leads us to the final segment of the Playbook reveal. The goal of assembling your Ultimate Team is to earn coins and cards by winning games in two different ways. The first is the all-new Seasons mode which will make its debut in American Football games. In the Seasons mode, you will play head-to-head against other human controlled teams for a coveted playoff spot. Winning throughout the playoffs and championship game will earn you huge coin rewards and exclusive player cards. In FIFA Soccer, the Seasons have tiers based on player’s skill level and overall team rating. When I play tested Seasons at the community event in March, all of the attendees were set to the same tier and similar rated teams. We played each week in head-to-head games through the championship game. The goal of the Development Team is to allow games, weeks, and seasons to progress at a faster pace than user controlled Dynasty leagues. The second way to earn coins and cards is the Solo Challenge mode. Solo Challenges will be you versus CPU controlled teams of various ratings and difficulty.

With the additions of Ultimate Team and Infinity Engine 2.0, NCAA Football 14 is shaping up to be the best College Football on this generation of consoles. The Ultimate Team mode will bring a plethora of new players to the NCAA Football experience. Stay tuned to thegamingtailgate.com for news on the Legend Player vote-in contest and a beginners guide to getting started in NCAA Football 14 Ultimate Team.