FIFA Soccer 09

"Taking the joy out of football"

After being disappointed with FIFA 08 I decided to give EA another chance with FIFA 09. I will never make that mistake again.

Absolutely nothing has been improved from last year, the only thing that is different is the 9 where the 8 used to be. Let's start with the cosmetics:

Firstly in manager mode you cannot have night-time matches and the much promised weather effects are nowhere to be seen. Every match, even weekday games in December, are in bright sunlight. Also, after you win a hard fought trophy you get nothing, no award ceremony or players celebrating.

As for the gameplay, it's as terrible as before. The AI is simply far too good at defending. No matter how well you pass the ball around there will always be a group of at least five defenders waiting to take the ball off you at a moments notice. Also, no matter how strong your players are they will always easily be pushed aside by the computer players and lose possession. But, of course, you cannot do this to the computer yourself.

Players, no matter how good, are always slow and sluggish to control. Staggering their way around the pitch, clumsily falling into each other and often just standing and watching as the ball rolls to a computer player. Throw-ins in your opponents half are almost always lost as players are dreadful at bringing high balls under control.

Shooting is awful too. The ball feels like it has been filled with helium as it constantly flies high into the air for yet another goal kick. Why football games insist on thinking that more power must equal more height is beyond me yet I don't believe they will ever change this terrible shooting mechanic. Even slight taps of the shoot button will usually see the ball break into orbit. This is just unacceptable.

The referees are very poor too. They are effectively the AI's 12th man. You are not allowed to go anywhere near an AI player or else it's a free kick, however you will constantly see your players hurled to the ground without the referee giving it a second look.

In a seemingly bizarre attempt to level the playing field the AI is absolutely awful at scoring themselves. They have little interest in shooting at your goal and every single team you play will simply come for a 0-0 draw.

The must hyped Be a Pro mode is rendered almost pointless due to the fact that it is limited to four seasons, presumably so the developers can make it last six seasons next time and call it a new feature.

In conclusion:

EA clearly haven't tried to improve this game in any way whatsoever and it is not worth £10 let alone £40. It is infuriating to play, is shoddily made and will give you only minutes of fun before the anger sets in.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 10/07/08

Game Release: FIFA 09 (EU, 10/03/08)