EA's quadrennial FIFA World Cup sub-series comes around as often as the global sporting event does, but this year's version will still include some familiar modes. EA Sports announced six core modes for 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil this week, each celebrating the cherished soccer event in different ways.

First up is the game's Road to the FIFA World Cup mode, which allows players to take one of the 203 international teams through the World Cup competition starting in the qualifying rounds. That's separate from the game's "authentic" 2014 FIFA World Cup mode, which begins with the teams that qualified for the group stages and can be played online or locally.

The game also includes the Road to Rio de Janeiro mode, which has players competing online at each of the 12 Brazilian World Cup venues, similar to FIFA 14's Online Seasons mode. 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil also includes two historic modes: Story of Finals follows this summer's competition and issues challenges based on the results of each real-life match while Story of Qualifying features over 60 matches from the two-and-a-half year qualifying cycle for the upcoming World Cup event. The latter mode also features challenges specific to the outcomes of those historic games as well, such as scoring two goals as a 10-man France team against Spain in 11 minutes to qualify for the event.

Lastly, players will be able to guide an individual athlete, either real or created, through the World Cup process in Captain Your Country mode. While a similar mode from 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa allowed players to use their created footballers from FIFA 10 in the mode, it's unclear if 2014 FIFA World Cup maintains the same compatibility with FIFA 14. The game will also feature standard online and local friendly matches in addition to 50 new skill games. 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil launches April 15 in North America and April 17 in Europe on Xbox 360 and PS3. [Image: EA Sports]