FIFA Soccer 09

"It's almost brilliant. Almost."

Another year, another war wages between FIFA and PES. They've both had victories at certain points in time, but it's an unpredictable war now with FIFA getting better every year and PES seemingly dropping a little quality every year. I have played both games so I'm not talking out of my ass here. I won't say whether it's better than PES or not because people will have different opinions and I respect that just as they should respect mine.

With that said, let's get started.

GAMEPLAY

The most important part of any game. I'll start off by saying that when it works, it really works, and when it doesn't work, it really doesn't work. You'll find yourself playing brilliant free flowing football in some games but in the next you'll be furious at your players who look like complete amateurs. I'm not entirely sure why this is, but you can work around it. It's a game with a learning curve but thankfully it isn't as steep as last year's.

First off, the passing - it genuinely is really really good. It's realistic but if you know how to play and execute your balls, you can play free flowing beautiful football that will keep bringing you back. At other times your passes will be intercepted alot. There usually isn't alot of space in the final third of the pitch so you do feel that you really have to work it around. It's not like PES at all where you can just use a fake shot to go around 3-4 defenders - you're gonna have to patiently work it across the pitch, sometimes even having to go back. But in the end when you get the final ball through and score the winning goal, it's all worth it. Long balls are a paticular highlight - they really do work. Play a long ball up to your tall front man and he's likely to get a head up to it and flick it on to another play to take a shot at goal.

The defending is significantly better than last year's, for both the CPU and yourself. The new collision system will make it easier for you to get the ball off of players if you're stronger than them or in a better position than them. Certain tackles will take them off balance, but others will give them the chance to keep moving and get away from you. It's not really something you can control but be careful when defending because they can trick you. On the other hand, the CPU is very good once again at covering gaps left in defence and they'll always do all they can to hook the ball away when you go for a through pass. The heading feels changed from Euro 2008 as well, if the CPU whips in a cross they no longer get their head to it automatically because they're attacking. Instead it takes into account the height of both players and their positioning when going to win the ball. You have a say in this part, you can jostle around before both players go for the ball, sometimes even taking your opponent out of the equation completely. Top class.

The way the computer attacks and utilizes their strength on the higher difficulties is very well done indeed. Play a team like Chelsea and you'll genuinely feel in trouble every time they get on the ball, especially when they use the long ball. They realize that they are a very strong team with players like Ballack and Drogba dominating the play and they won't be afraid to try and barge through, using nothing but brute strength to carry them past you.

The dribbling is very hard, almost too hard, compared to previous FIFA games and PES. In FIFA on PS2 you can use close control to trick your opponent and go past him, leaving him sliding on the ground while you make a run into the box. In PES, you can just simply use a fake shot to trick everyone. In FIFA, you have to time your tricks almost perfectly (which is VERY hard to do) and make sure that no-one can get to you. When you do pull it off, it feels good, so it's a rewarding feature but maybe should be toned down a little for next year.

The goalkeepers as usual are hard to beat, you'll often try a shot and wonder just how they managed to get a hand to it, but again it makes it more rewarding when you do score. They can be very easy to beat at some times though - if you go clean through they'll usually come off the line to try and intercept the ball when you get close enough, and a simple chip will have them beaten all ends up.

The newest feature of the gameplay is the new custom tactics engine, where you can use sliders to change the way your team approach the game. When I first tried it I thought it'd be something that wouldn't really effect the game, but it does - if you spot a weakness against a team you can usually exploit it by changing the way your team moves around, such as pushing the play wider or making it more narrow so you can pass it down the middle. It's especially useful online if you see your opponent is using a tactic that can be compromised. A good addition that works well.

Online play can be pretty brutal sometimes. The button lag is quite bad - you'll go for a shot or a pass and your player won't do it until 2-3 seconds later, which is eternity online. You usually have to press the button about a second beforehand to get the timing right, which is really annoying. It makes going past a player almost impossible because they won't do tricks at just the right time. However when you don't get that much lag, it's a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Passing it around the opponent online is easy at times and very satisfying.

The new clubs feature is pretty good too. You can play with up to 19 other players and even join registered clubs if you get invited to them. I haven't played that much so I don't have much of a say here but the lag wasn't really a problem for me when I was playing on an Italian host where 6/10 of the other team were Italian.

There really aren't that many flaws but the utter realism of the game at times will annoy you when you can't play the way you want to. You'll often find yourself quitting a game and going to another team if you can't be bothered adjusting your playing style. 8.4/10

VISUALS AND SOUND

Typical FIFA here with lovely graphics. The player models in FIFA seem very well made but the faces aren't really up to scratch - alot of players look nothing like their real life counterparts. Something to be improved on. Kits and stadiums all look top class as usual, and even the weather is very realistic.

Crowd sounds and commentary are almost unchanged from last year. There are player-specific commentary lines for when a goal is scored which adds to the realism but no big deal.

The soundtrack as usual does nothing for me. A bunch of unknown songs and most of them are rubbish. Shame the 360 doesn't have the ability to import songs. 8.6/10

FEATURES & REPLAYABILITY

The usual is back, manager mode, tournaments, be a pro, thousands of teams to play as and there are a couple of new features to keep you interested as well. Adidas Live Season is one of the new features. If you picked up the game new, you'll get a Live Season trial where you can pick a league and have that league automatically updated every time games are played so the players on the game are as good as they are in real life. Personally it's one of those things that I didn't really see much fun in, they drastically under/overrate players after one good or bad game, and it shouldn't work that way. The editing options for players are really poor, you can't edit their stats yourself at all when you should be able to. When you make a new player you have to go through a be a pro season with him to get his stats up, another unwelcome feature. But eh, what can you do.

Online should keep you coming back for more and more if the lag isn't that bad, with the ability to play as one in an entire team adding more options for you. 8.5/10

OVERALL

It's a step in the right direction again. They took the good stuff from Euro 2008 and fixed the majority of the bad, and I applaud them for that. There are still a few little niggles here and there and a sense of over-realism at times, but still this remains a very good game and if you're a football fan, you should at least rent it.

8.5/10 (rounded off to 8/10)

SHORT VERSION

THE GOOD
Realistic
Excellent passing
Looks fantastic

THE BAD
Very annoying at times
Too realistic?
Online button lag
Poor soundtrack

Gameplay: 8.4/10
Visuals & Sound: 8.6/10
Replayability: 8.5/10
Overall: 8.5/10 (rounded off to 8/10)

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/06/08

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