FIFA Soccer 09

"Easily the best in the series."

Big things were expected when Peter Moore left Microsoft to take over as head of EA Sports; as big a sports fan as they come, there wasn't a man better to improve on the solid bedrock of sports titles laid out bare. This influence is evident in FIFA 2009, where the small details sit in the background waiting to be noticed rather than trying to share the limelight. A quest for realism in a football simulation has already seen an impressive effort last year as well as a remarkable success for last summer's European Championships, and the title for 2009 has come along further.

FIFA Soccer has always been renowned for its atmosphere. Banging tunes in the menus, recognisable fan songs and chants, fully realistic grounds and everything licensed - it's all here. Rosters include young, up and coming players as well as the recognisable stars, and there's a nice download feature to keep teams up to date. A form monitor mimicks the happenings in the real game for when you choose a tournament or exhibition match. As far as realism goes, FIFA has it knocked on the head.

The one gripe that has always stopped me from getting along with FIFA is the core gameplay. Too often, the players feel clumsy, like a baby elephant trying to find its feet for the first time, and slow to react to situations. The players are supposed to be fit and healthy athletes, instead playing on a Sunday morning on a freezing pitch after a long drinking session the night before. In FIFA 2009, this is almost no longer the case. Players will move to find space and jostle for position, wave their arms when making runs and generally act like a pain to get through on goal. Defending can be a nightmare as it takes one eye to track the opposition runners and the other to watch the ball.

However, these silly mistakes haven't been completely resolved; often enough, defenders will let a striker glide past them, because they're moving out of the way for your selected player. Running down the line, it's possible sometimes to run the entire length of the pitch because they seem frightened to dive in and give away a throw or a freekick. The middle of the pitch is no different, more than three players coming together can feel like a button mashing affair as the players seem to want to shield the ball instead of getting it out of harms way. The over-encumbered feeling of the players also makes it nigh-on impossible to jink through a defence, instead having to pass around the opposition, because you just can't change direction quick enough. You also can't take the ball around the goalkeeper because of this oversight, so once the man between the sticks narrows down your shooting angle, the chance has gone.

These gameplay problems seem to step away in this year's new mode - Be A pro. Taking control of one player on the pitch allows you to focus fully on the job in hand instead of button mashing to get the ball up the pitch. One thing FIFA does well is it encourages you to get into the box to score goals - standing outside of it or on the wings will see little to no goal-scoring action and you'll be feeding off scraps and creating the chances. Shame then that no camera angle seems to do it justice. The default Pro camera swings around the pitch, zooming in and out as the ball get further away from you, and then zooming right in when you have the ball for any length of time. The problem with it swinging around is that you have to change direction on the analogue stick if you're to carry on running on the same line, making it extremely frustrating. One moment you'll be running at goal, the other towards the touchline. Every other camera cuts your player from view, so you have to watch the radar to see your position.

Each action you take appears to have consequences, such as passing being cut out lowering experience in that area. At the end of the match this experience is used to boost your stats. The problem is most stats aren't needed; strength and balance outweigh stand-up tackles and position, vision and tactical awareness aren't needed when you're controlling the player. Another annoyance is only having a 4-year career - who decided that? It would have been awesome to make your way from the lower divisions, using cup matches as a chance to get noticed, all the way to playing for your country. As it happens, Be A Pro mode is short lived, if you haven't had enough after a 38-game season. These gameplay frustrations are summed up by how many goals you can score in a mere 15 minute match. Jose Mourinho would be horrified at the scorelines here, often enough you can be 5-0 up at half time and just spend the second half keeping possession.

On the whole, FIFA 2009 is easily the best game in the series to date. Everything is licensed, there's a 10 vs 10 online mode, plenty of leagues and cups to contend for and the nice yet poorly thought out Be A Pro mode to get stuck into. Unfortunately there are still gameplay annoyances that continue to bug the series and stop it from becoming the football game of choice; everything you need is here, it just needs to evolve one or two steps further for us to start saying “Pro Evo who?”

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/06/08

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