FIFA 09 (Xbox 360) Review

Posted by Sean Garmer on 12.12.2008

Come see what EA has for the footy fans. This is probably the best soccer game ever made.

The beautiful game may not be the favored flavor of football on these American shores, but just like EA it is slowly improving its chances year after year. Until the 08 season, Konami’s Pro Evolution series of footy games was by far the leader when it came to the round checkered ball. However, something changed last year as EA finally stepped it up and at least for the next generation consoles surpassed its longtime rival. With FIFA 09, EA looks to get one-step closer to etching its name at the top of the Soccer gaming charts.





Title: FIFA 09
Publisher: EA Sports
Players: 1-4, 2-20 (Online)
Genre: Soccer Simulation
Rated: E for Everyone
Also Available On: All Systems


Graphics:


With each iteration of Sports games that come out the appearance of better graphics fades away, while the attention to minute details is what shows up to those with a keen eye. The arenas and the facial animations of the players are more realistic than ever. The camera doesn’t have to get too close for players to differentiate the superstar from the journeyman. Cristiano Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, and Michael Ballack are all recognizable. The most important thing is that along with that, player weight and speed are evenly distributed. So you will see Didier Drogba easily muscle Robinho off the ball, but in the same manner the speedy Robinho can find ways to compensate. Any sort of clipping together of players is for the most part non-existent, which is good.

Let’s get to the part that matters though, when players are on the ball. For one, the default camera is closer to the field, similar to UEFA EURO 2008, so it allows you to see the field a lot better, especially since the game has become a tad more technical. The player animations are no longer canned, the players move in a very real manner and it makes you feel in control, instead of being at the mercy of the game. You’ll see players stick out a leg to extend a pass or reach for a shot, on defense they do all they can to keep the ball from going in the net, plus this makes those tricks a lot easier to do as well.


Gameplay:


EA apparently made over 250 changes in total to this year’s game and that is most evident in the computer A.I. As I mentioned weight and speed play a factor, but so does time and space in the game of Soccer. FIFA veterans may have to take some time to adjust, as even on the normal difficulty, the A.I. is relentless in getting the ball from you and moving it forward. They especially like to come at you with rough slide tackles that usually result in yellow cards. The A.I. is also smart enough to know when to cut off passing lanes, playing the offside trap, and even at guessing your tactics. The game does help you find ways to combat that however. When making runs forward your players will point to tell you where to place the ball, they tell you when an opposing player is offside, and seem to pick just the right spot to be during free kicks or set pieces. You can really trust the A.I. as they actually follow the play on both sides of the ball, unlike in FIFA 08 where they seemed to stop in their tracks if the ball went past them.

EA has also changed the header mechanic. Now instead of jostling for position and the ball warping to the player’s head, the player must now be able to determine where the ball is going to drop because it is possible for you to be in position just for you to completely miss the ball. I’ve heard complaints about this and I do not understand why? That’s how it is in real play, you are taught to go for the ball it doesn’t just appear right on your head. Sure if you miss a header in the box it can cost you a goal, but that’s how it goes sometimes. I like the feeling of knowing anything can happen when the cross goes in, instead of the ball instantly going either towards goal or away from it.





Thanks to EA changing the animations the ball seems to finally feel free, instead of being on a rail with whichever player happens to be possession. This makes the ball feel weighted as well making it a lot easier to judge how strong and what type of pass or shot to do. This also means that true to life the directions are sensitive, so you must really pay attention to where you want the ball to go because if you decide to point the D-Pad backwards that is where the ball will go, and it doesn’t matter if you have a player there or not. The pass and shot strength are also sensitive, so very much like the players, you have to think about what you are trying to do, you can no longer getaway with just pressing A and seeing the ball go up the field.

EA also instituted a new feature called Custom Tactics, which uses 11 different sliders to give you full customization of your team. You can decide whether you like to play through the air or keep it grounded more. Whether you like your team organized or free form and even what kind of marking. It may seem like a feature for those footy diehards and EA does a good job of mimicking the real-life settings for each team, but if you like to have things a certain way this is a good feature to have.


EA did bring back the Lounge, Tournament, and Manager modes. However, they have very few changes to them. I would like to hopefully, see EA actually use the real-life fixture lists at least for the league games for the first year (as the cup games are done by random draws) as the random generated schedule that exists now doesn’t make it feel special to have a certain years game at this point. Overall, though, I don’t really know what more they could add to the Manager mode as it is full to the brim with options. I hope one day EA will put the UEFA Champions League into the game and stop making separate games with the license.


Now onto the two new modes that are making noise for this year. First on the off-line side of things is the new Be-A-Pro Seasons. Where you can control a created player or an existing one and go through a four-year career mode. If you haven’t played a Soccer game in the last year, Be-A-Pro puts you in control of a single player on the pitch. Very similar to Madden’s Superstar Mode or the Be-A-Pro feature in EA’s NHL or NBA games. If you choose to create your own player, you will be given experience points and the ability to choose what position you want him to play. Choose wisely, as you are stuck with that position for the most part. You do have the ability to be moved around if you play a certain way. For example, if you are a Right Back and you tend to defend better than when you go forward in attack, you may get moved to a Center Back position in your next game. For the inexperienced players there are options available to allow the game to guide you in playing your chosen position. The game will have arrows to point you to where you should be, and add or deduct points visibly on screen to let you know how you are performing every second.

For the most part the Be-A-Pro works just fine, the only issue I had is that it is still a little too picky. You should not be deducted points just because you call for a pass in the wrong situation, or miss a cross. As it is not your fault the ball couldn’t get to you, or that the A.I. moved out of the way of your pass. Other than that, I felt you are rewarded and punished fairly based on the position you play. I would say that they should have a difficulty level for this feature, as right now, it tends to cater to the soccer enthusiast who knows the game. For those casual players that wanted to try it out it can be rather frustrating if you don’t understand where a player’s general position on the field is, and also because the point system is so demanding, the casual player may not understand that they can’t just go look for the ball. I feel a difficulty level would help casual players adjust to the intricacies of the mode and get the hang of it a lot easier.


Lastly on the gameplay front, is the online 10 vs. 10 Be-A-Pro mode. Where up to 20 people on 20 different XBOX 360’s can all play in one game against each other. The first two that choose the two teams are deemed the captain and get to mess with the team sheets. After that, you play the game just like you would Be-A-Pro offline. Except that, you may have nine other people screaming at you to pass the ball. Thankfully, you can only hear the voices of the people on your team, as long as you play correctly it probably won’t get confusing. Surprisingly, for the amount of people that can play at one time there was little lag that I could tell, which is always good. The mode is pretty fun especially getting to hear some angry players when they miss a shot, or when a defender lets in a goal.





EA did bring back the Interactive Leagues from last year, they also have full 32 team leagues, and a new feature called Clubs. This is similar to UEFA EURO 2008’s nation battle thing. You can create a club and recruit players from around the world to play games representing your club (it’s not a create-a-team feature), you just play the game, and any points, wins or loses you rack up are reflected on the club’s board. EA has also given players the ability to qualify for the Champions of Gaming Tournament by playing matches online as well.


There are some small issues I found with the game. There is faulty Goal Keeping A.I. EA has improved it some, but the Keeper still goes for balls they should never even think about touching, and then they also dive for balls they could easily pick-up, thus making it very easy to score on rebounds. Then sometimes they don’t even go for a ball they could have easily gotten to as well. The A.I.’s only blip in general is that there are still times where they seem to lose track of the ball. There are many times where they will take the ball too far right into the path of a defender or take the ball out of bounds seemingly without even noticing it has done that. They also seem to play the offside trap a little bit too much, to the point where the game confuses itself. It is very good at picking up even when you are a hairline offside, but then if you’ve been called offside a little bit more than normal in a game, sometimes the game will give up one that was obviously offside. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen.

Lastly, the referee’s are actually quite good in this game and they will even retroactively give yellow cards after they have given the advantage rule, which is cool. However, they are a bit too card happy. Seriously, not every slide tackle that results in a clip is a yellow card. The game does do a good job of not giving out too many second yellow’s to players that already have one. However, I did notice on a few instances that the referee’s pulled a Graham Poll and it took three yellow cards to get a sending off, or the game happened to forget that the player already had a yellow card. In the end, it actually ends up more amusing than frustrating, because if you are hoping to win a game because your computer opponent went a man down, maybe you shouldn’t be playing on that difficulty. Regardless, I thought I should point that out.


One last thing I’d like to add, I hope that EA can eventually add the Argentine, Russian, and Greek leagues to next year’s FIFA. As I really feel that the Argentine and Russian leagues are gaining in popularity and should be recognized as such, plus it’d be really nice to be able to include other Argentine teams besides Boca Juniors and River Plate in a tournament.



Sound:


Every blip, whack, and hit of the ball going somewhere is heard quite well. EA has done a fantastic job with the crowd this year as they really react well to the action going on screen and for the bigger clubs you will hear team specific chants as well. Martin Tyler and Andy Gray again prove why they are the best commentary team in the business; they just do a great job each year with these games it truly does make me feel like I’m part of a real game broadcast. They still replay Martin Tyler saying adjectives about certain players a little bit too much, but other than the commentary is fine. The soundtrack is good as usual, I think it is not as good as in past year’s but there are still some cool songs to listen to while surfing the menus. Of course, if techno, dance, and indy stuff is not your cup of tea you can always turn the trax off or listen to your own stuff.



Lasting Appeal:





Sadly EA did remove the challenge mode from this year’s game which always gave some extra length to the single-game experience. However, it still has all those tournaments, achievements, the online play, and manager mode to whet your appetite. Not to mention the Be-A-Pro stuff should keep you entertained for quite a while as well. For the Soccer diehards EA instituted a new feature called the Adidas Live Season. Where in online play, lounge mode, and exhibition mode similar to NBA Live’s Dynamic DNA, real stats that are updated each week are used. Buying the game gives you a code for one free league. You can choose from the Barclay’s Premier League, Spanish La Liga, Italian Serie A, German Bundesliga, France’s Ligue 1 and the Mexico First Division. Every other league costs 560 Microsoft Points, or you can buy them all for 1,600 points. That’s kinda expensive for a league roster and form update, but it is also an optional feature. Really, unless you have a lot of friends to play exhibition matches against you probably won’t even use it. However, it is something cool to have if you want to pay for it. Overall though, there is a lot for you to do in this game, so this should last you until next year’s FIFA comes out.


Fun Factor:


I have a blast with every game of FIFA that I play. Whether I win 6-1 or lose a 3-2 thriller. EA did a great job of fine tuning the A.I. to give FIFA veterans and casual players a challenging experience that inches us ever closer to a real life simulation. Be A Pro offline and online is fun, and the online portion has little to no lag. Trust me, if you like Soccer there is no way you can’t enjoy this game. It has 27 licensed leagues with all your favorite players and it includes customizable international squads too. Seriously, I don’t know how you can go wrong picking this up.


The 411: EA has really stepped it up this year. They have finally brought the full Soccer experience to the next-gen arena. The A.I. is challenging, there’s plenty of different modes of play, and it is just plain fun by yourself or with friends. If you are a footy lover like me, or just a World Cup fan, if you’ve been looking for a way to get your Soccer fix this is the game for you. In my opinion, I think with this game EA has surpassed what Konami’s Pro Evo has to offer and I think EA can be crowned the new king of the world’s game.

Graphics	9.0	Players look and feel like the real thing
Gameplay	9.0	Except for some Goalkeeping issues, the A.I. is fantastic, Be-A-Pro is fun, and online has little to no lag
Sound	8.5	The sound effects and commentary are great as usual but the soundtrack is a little lacking this year
Lasting Appeal	9.5	Online leagues, Be-A-Pro online and offline season mode, Manager Mode, Clubs mode, Live season there is a whole lot here
Fun Factor	9.0	If you love soccer, you will enjoy this game no doubt about it.
Overall	9.0   [  Amazing ]