But this year EA Sports made the right choice by making the World Cup content free and not skimping on features. On the Xbox One X, the FIFA 18 Russia World Cup graphics look gorgeous, thanks to detailed stadium renders that are life-like and a crowd atmosphere that makes you feel as if you're watching an actual match on TV. If you're playing with Mexico, as I was, you'll notice fans in the stands going crazy every time you score, some wearing traditional sombreros and their faces painted green, white and red (the colors of the Mexican flag.)

As always, it helps that EA Sports has the FIFA licensing rights for the event. That's what allows it to bring the 12 official Russian stadiums to the game, as well as the players representing their countries, including Lionel Messi for Argentina and Cristiano Ronaldo for Portugal. The gameplay itself isn't different than regular FIFA 18 matches, so you can expect the same type of player movements and controls.

Once launch the Russia World Cup mode in FIFA 18, getting started is simple: You can either begin a tournament with the 32 teams who qualified to play this summer, or you can create a custom one where you can swap in the teams of your choice in. This is going to come in handy for members of the USA squad who are spending the summer sitting at home playing FIFA 18 just like you, after managing to drop a deciding match to Trinidad and Tobago last year.

There's also an Ultimate Team mode, which will let you play the World Cup with a team of players from different countries. So, if you have enough virtual currency or luck, you can win the tournament with Messi and Ronaldo on the same team.