Ultimate Team has quickly risen from a downloadable game add on initially in FIFA 09 and Madden 09, and has since become a staple game mode across the sports video game landscape. Ultimate Team has so many varied levels of appeal it is hard to even figure out where to begin.

We’ll let this article serve as a as an introduction and explanation as to what makes Ultimate Team so enjoyable, and why you should try it out, in the event you are not one of the millions of people already hooked.

What makes Ultimate Team so appealing is that it has a little bit of something for everyone. The most common draw to ultimate team is the sheer customization options available. It may also be the cool looking cards or the intriguing name of the game mode which is the visible tip of the iceberg, but before you know it what lies underneath quickly leads you down the rabbit hole which has already claimed the countless hours of so many people before.

The most addictive feature of Ultimate Team is the endless customization and the obsessive tinkering which results. For those of you who are not familiar with Ultimate Team the formula simple: (1) start off with a starter team of lower grade players (2) play games (3) earn coins, (4) buy packs and cards with those coins, (5) build and improve your team, and play with any combination of cards you happen to have acquired. This leads to a wider variety of possible teams for you the user to create and play with, as well as giving you a greater combination of possible opponent lineups.

This game mode has much more to offer, and this article will certainly delve into those elements. But for those who play friends and match made games online, the ability for you and your opponent to customize your ideal roster is huge. No longer in your chosen respective sports titles are you forced to play the same matchups over and over, and over again. Every year online play is plagued by the same problem; everyone wants to play with the same handful of superstar teams. In the event they do not want to, they are bullied into picking them to avoid being at a sizeable mismatch personnel-wise.

For instance in Madden online versus, your opponent picks the 90+ rated Seahawks which leads you able to pick only a handful of comparably ranked teams in order to remain competitive. In Ultimate Team however you and your opponent are each able to hand pick your own roster of talent from the players you have collected through opening packs and buying on the auction house.

This makes the game between you and your opponent a test of skill of player versus player and play style versus plays style; as opposed to a math equation of predetermined overalls and existing mismatches. Madden is used in this example, but this the case in terms of the benefits across every sport which carries the mode.

The beauty of Ultimate Team is that building and maintaining one’s team is part GM, part coach, and part mad scientist, trying to fit all of those pieces together within the confines of the game. Within ultimate team, the developers are always releasing new and better versions of both cards people already have, as well as cards nobody has ever seen before. So even though in your mind your team may already be set, there is always an acquisition you can make to make it better to climb the leaderboards. It keeps the incentive alive to play more games and rip more packs.

Once you are able to wrap your head and time around the enormity of possibilities for making your team there is still the number of game modes and varied possibilities still hidden within the game. In addition to standard head to head games Ultimate Team also offers the ability for a bevy of tournaments and tiered season play similar to that already found in FIFA’s online seasons. These different game modes give the user more of an end goal, incentivized by greater coin, pack, and item payouts as they progress through the ranks.

The most addicting feature arguably within Ultimate Team is the collecting portion of the game, possibly due to tapping into the player’s youthful days opening packs of cards hoping for that card you wanted, and organizing those cards, with the intent of completing collections. Madden has been able to capitalize the best on this collector's euphoria based on the amount of collections within the game, providing users with the widest variety of collections and resulting rewards. Hopefully the other sports titles will begin utilizing the same philosophy to make it so the team building and card collecting element coincide to reward one another for an even more complete experience.

Ever since its introduction in 2009, Ultimate Team as a game mode has certainly garnered enough of my attention, so much so I even made a pet project website for it. Ultimate Team was addicting back in 2009, and continues to grow as a game mode and in its addictive nature. If you are reading this article and happened to make it this far I am assuming two things: (1) you are interested in Ultimate Team, and (2) you have yet to try it.

Let me take this time to recommend Ultimate Team as a game mode worth your attention and time. You won't regret it.

I would like to take this time to thank everyone at Operation Sports for the opportunity to be a writer for a site that I began checking ever since NFL 2K4. If you have any questions in terms of tips, tricks, or general guidance please do not hesitate to comment below. If you would like to reach me directly please follow and tweet @UltimateTeamHQ