Big Evil
08-29-2010, 07:36 PM
Building up your own team and turning them into a bunch of superstars is what every Franchise Mode is about at its core. While traditionally the game mode presents you with a stable of established athletes, NHL 11 is putting a different slant on the popular feature by giving it the Ultimate Team treatment that both FIFA and Madden have enjoyed over the past few years (but this time it'll come with the retail release, not as downloadable content). For those that don't know, Ultimate Team lets players live out some of their childhood fantasies by collecting player trading cards and then using them in-game. NHL 11 is taking the idea a bit further by putting your Ultimate Team up against the throng of others that are out there in the new EA Ultimate Hockey League (EAUHL).
It's what EA Sports is touting as the largest dynasty mode to ever be featured in a sports game and, judging from the fact that it incorporates every other EAUHL team at least somewhat into your experience, I'm compelled to agree.
See, EAUHL divides everyone into three separate divisions once playoff time rolls around. There's amateur, pro and elite. Players begin with the pre-season where you'll earn your first deck of cards, and then they'll play through the month-long regular season, followed by the playoffs which carry into the first three days of the following month. If you take the crown for your league, every time another player enters your arena they'll be treated to a championship banner raising to your ceiling, just to remind them that they're playing a former champ. If that wasn't enough, the ice in your rink will also be adorned with a championship logo.
So how do you actually go about building your teams? Well, as you might expect, it's done through building out an impressive roster of cards. Of course, there are modifier cards in the form of contract cards (increases the number of games you can use a player) and training cards (improve attributes) to go along with cards for coaches, logos and arenas. At the end of the day there's a ton of depth to be had within NHL 11's Ultimate Hockey League.
While I didn't have the time to build up teams of my own while spending a day at EA's Vancouver studios, I did get a chance to toy around with a few that had already been beefed up for me. One team had been crafted free of microtransactions and in only a few hours, the other had been scrutinized over for days with more than fifty bucks in microtransactions. There's no doubt that the microtransaction-less team could be brought up to the level of the cash-happy squad with a few more games, but for now the difference was huge. I scored three goals in a period and a half with the more expensive of the two, while the other didn't put one in through a full two periods.
The thing I really enjoyed about Ultimate Team is the fact that team chemistry and player potential play a big role in your success. There are clear diagrams presented to let you know exactly how well a given line is going to mesh. Players who come from the same league, play on the same team and are of the same type are going to mesh better than others. It's the risk/reward of sacrificing the chemistry of many for the skill of one and vice versa that EA Sports hopes will provide some of the depth that NHL fans crave. That is, of course, if the 4,100 player cards across 10 different hockey leagues and more than 500 rare player cards isn't enough depth for you.
Once you actually get on the ice with your ultimate team, things are pretty standard fare. The one difference that EA Sports emphasized to me was that fatigue will play a slightly larger part in Ultimate Team, with the goal being to get players to utilize all four of their lines instead of just one. Everything else is ripped straight from standard NHL 11 gameplay, new physics system and all.
No Ultimate Team Mode would be complete without some online accoutrements. Thankfully leaderboards, trades and auctions are all built into the experience. You'll be able to compare yourself against the rest of the world or just your friends, and you'll be able to trade away any of your cards at any time. You can also put your cards up for auction for the highest bidder to claim.
NHL 11's Ultimate Hockey League should provide playability far beyond the standard franchise mode (which is still included). From building your bank roll by accumulating wins, to actually signing fresh talent (whether player, contract, training or coach cards), there's a lot to manage within the confines of Ultimate Team.
Credit - IGN.com
It's what EA Sports is touting as the largest dynasty mode to ever be featured in a sports game and, judging from the fact that it incorporates every other EAUHL team at least somewhat into your experience, I'm compelled to agree.
See, EAUHL divides everyone into three separate divisions once playoff time rolls around. There's amateur, pro and elite. Players begin with the pre-season where you'll earn your first deck of cards, and then they'll play through the month-long regular season, followed by the playoffs which carry into the first three days of the following month. If you take the crown for your league, every time another player enters your arena they'll be treated to a championship banner raising to your ceiling, just to remind them that they're playing a former champ. If that wasn't enough, the ice in your rink will also be adorned with a championship logo.
So how do you actually go about building your teams? Well, as you might expect, it's done through building out an impressive roster of cards. Of course, there are modifier cards in the form of contract cards (increases the number of games you can use a player) and training cards (improve attributes) to go along with cards for coaches, logos and arenas. At the end of the day there's a ton of depth to be had within NHL 11's Ultimate Hockey League.
While I didn't have the time to build up teams of my own while spending a day at EA's Vancouver studios, I did get a chance to toy around with a few that had already been beefed up for me. One team had been crafted free of microtransactions and in only a few hours, the other had been scrutinized over for days with more than fifty bucks in microtransactions. There's no doubt that the microtransaction-less team could be brought up to the level of the cash-happy squad with a few more games, but for now the difference was huge. I scored three goals in a period and a half with the more expensive of the two, while the other didn't put one in through a full two periods.
The thing I really enjoyed about Ultimate Team is the fact that team chemistry and player potential play a big role in your success. There are clear diagrams presented to let you know exactly how well a given line is going to mesh. Players who come from the same league, play on the same team and are of the same type are going to mesh better than others. It's the risk/reward of sacrificing the chemistry of many for the skill of one and vice versa that EA Sports hopes will provide some of the depth that NHL fans crave. That is, of course, if the 4,100 player cards across 10 different hockey leagues and more than 500 rare player cards isn't enough depth for you.
Once you actually get on the ice with your ultimate team, things are pretty standard fare. The one difference that EA Sports emphasized to me was that fatigue will play a slightly larger part in Ultimate Team, with the goal being to get players to utilize all four of their lines instead of just one. Everything else is ripped straight from standard NHL 11 gameplay, new physics system and all.
No Ultimate Team Mode would be complete without some online accoutrements. Thankfully leaderboards, trades and auctions are all built into the experience. You'll be able to compare yourself against the rest of the world or just your friends, and you'll be able to trade away any of your cards at any time. You can also put your cards up for auction for the highest bidder to claim.
NHL 11's Ultimate Hockey League should provide playability far beyond the standard franchise mode (which is still included). From building your bank roll by accumulating wins, to actually signing fresh talent (whether player, contract, training or coach cards), there's a lot to manage within the confines of Ultimate Team.
Credit - IGN.com