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PreviousFIFA 09 Review
PlayStation 3 Xbox 360 Review by Tom Bramwell
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The myth that EA makes the bimbo football game and Konami makes the cultured one is probably dead by now, but just in case, I have sent it to McDonald's at 2am to spill Joey Barton's pint. FIFA has long since put its dark, deformed days of knee-length grass and knee-deep gameplay behind it, and with this 2009th instalment it delivers solid, realistic football along with its trademark compellingly polished presentation. And careful, because it probably is trademarked.
What's more, it's got more good ideas than FIFA's dad, Sepp Blatter, has had in his entire career. There's Adidas Live Season, which allows you to download form updates for your favourite league, and benefit from them in exhibition, ranked online matches and Interactive Leagues. Interactive Leagues were a good idea from last year, you may remember; you pick your favourite team, and then play against people who represent your next real-life opponent. Worldwide results in these fixtures determine worldwide positions on the Interactive League table. (The game will also support the FIFA Interactive World Cup.)
FIFA 09 also allows you to define tactical presets, and then map these plans to a d-pad menu, so if you go behind late in the game, you could push your full-backs forward and press for an equaliser at the touch of a button, or if you're 2-0 up you could load the midfield. There are slider bars for all sorts of variables, and toggles for things like playing the offside trap. As ever, whether your team can do all the things you ask of them is down to their individual stats, and you still have the option to pick and tweak standard formations, set up man marking and kick takers, and drop Dirk Kuyt even though you love him, in the standard way.
Getting to grips with Be a Pro is like being on Faking It, but in time you can make a serious impact.
All of this comes in handy when you're playing with friends, and there's a new mode for that too. Lounge mode invites you to set up a league with up to 19 friends and then use "cheap shots" to give yourself pre-game advantages, like extra goals and reduced opposition performance stats. Or you can play them online in the 10-versus-10 games that rely on the "Be a Pro" mechanic introduced in FIFA 08, where you control one player for the whole match. Pre-release we couldn't get enough people together for this, but we wouldn't recommend anybody trying it out without practicing offline first.
Good thing, then, that there's a companion single-player mode, Be a Pro: Seasons, where you get four campaigns to try and rise through the reserves and first team to become captain of your country, as the game puts ticks and crosses against your name for moving into the right positions, completing passes and tackles, scoring goals and contributing to positive results. Online FIFA 09 Clubs allows you to set up a clan, effectively, and then compete for selection in Be a Pro online games. Whether online or off, you can use a typically robust character creation suite to define your player; from the name on his shirt to the sweatbands on his wrists. Well, that's just his torso, thinking about it, but you can also do how he looks, and whether he's got a stupid headband and poncy boots.
The PS3 and 360 versions both run smoothly, although the PS3 version lacks Trophies and seems to have Vaseline on it, while the 360 has more tearing.
Manager Mode, EA's attempt to compete with Konami's revered Master League, also returns in tweaked but not expanded form, even though it's not mentioned on the box or in the manual. It puts up another stern test, allowing you to play around with a transfer budget, field weakened teams in the cup and get turfed out by your board if you don't win enough games, which you control in standard fashion. Konami purists may feel it's a bit light next to their obsession, but it's buckets more shiny water in a vast, vast well here, which also includes licensed leagues from across the world (Premier League, Championship, League 1 and 2 and FA Cup from England), albeit with randomised fixture lists.
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Latest News
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FIFA 09 gets new online mode [20]
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Price cut for FIFA 09 Live Seasons [13]
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UK charts: FIFA 09 still top of the table [7]
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FIFA 09 was best-selling game of 2008 [17]
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FIFA tops UK Charts at Christmas [17]
Latest Screenshots
10 February, 2009 [0]
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justsomeone
03/10/08 @ 05:58
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can you make the footballers go away from your banner advertising now? i find their faces ugly, and filled with madness.
please make them go away... |
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Thamuhacha
03/10/08 @ 06:23
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>can you make the footballers go away from your banner advertising now?
Firefox + Ad blocker. Hooray. 2009 might be a fifa year for me tbh. Although my PES loyalty could come back if they sort out the frame rate and the horrid crowds as well as some proper gameplay. |
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AusFreelancer
03/10/08 @ 06:27
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Just bought this for PS3, after playing both PES & FIFA demos...CANNOT wait for online interactive leagues, that was the nail in the coffin for PES for me.
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Payday can't come quick enough! I badly want this and have nothing to trade (which means it's gonna be an expensive October/November!) :(
/ curses the games industry for starving him through a lot of the summer and now giving him everything at once in the space of two months, yet again. (and they wonder why people download and buy 2nd hand) Anyway well done EA FIFA 09 is great from the demo. |
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I was hoping for a 9 to sway me. I'm still on the fence - not really been impressed by any football game for a while. All the buzz (hype) pointed at this being near flawless (as usual) and whilst 8 is still a great score - I dunno if I have the patience for it. Pure is gobbling my time massively.
A 9 would have seen me sprinting down the shops. Fair enough review, and the score reflects the body of text. Tearing you say Tom - is it bad? |
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This has got to be a 9, even says it is brilliant, got to the score then an 8? ay? It's a 9 from the demo, i was a pro addict till they fluffed it this year, and from the demo of pro, they need to up their game, it's just pro 5 with up to date graphics, come on Seabass there should be a good overhaul. Fifa is again better this year, and i hated EA for bringing out crap games all the time, not this time. Best football game ever. Anyone else tried the demo of Pro, am i being overly critical?
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superjag86
03/10/08 @ 06:40
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PES 09 is definately ALOT better than PES 08 - but since PES 6 nothings really changed (and you could argue that since PES 2 nothing much has changed either).
So this year it's FIFA for me! |
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Having spent a couple of days now with this it's definitely a 9/10 game, the only downside personally is that Manager Mode has no new additions since Fifa08 and actually has a couple of small things removed (no longer can assign squad numbers, players don't have traits, a few player stats removed, no free transfers available), funny how reviews don't spot those things eh? Also disappointing is no night games in manager mode, no seasonal weather changes in manager mode. Despite that it still urinates on the competition from a great height.
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Finally a review that rightly acknowledges Fifa as the new King as opposed to all those deluded copy and paste from 2004 review Pro Evo fanboy reviews that refuse to acknowledge the truth.
And I don't want to sound like a tard but only 8? Didn't Fifa 08 get 8, an inferior game? Could be wrong. Anyway I've played the demo so can make up my own mind. This is a must buy, can't wait for poxy work to finish so I can get stuck in! |
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@Les
You can change the controls, but come the only controls you have to worry about are sprint and slow control, R2 and L2 or RT and LT depending on the system it's hardly a hardship for a massively better game than pro this year. Serious try it it's dead easy to get used to the different controls, you can change them to Pro controls anyway. |
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oliem2000 gameplay wise it's a huuuuuuuuuuge improvement over Fifa08, almost every aspect has been tweaked or significantly improved, jostling, tackling (the new collisions are amazing), heading (timing and strength make a big difference), shooting etc. etc. the only area where it's not an improvement is manager mode as I mentioned, although they have made a couple of small tweaks to it (players get much more experience when they play than when sat on the bench and players can earn negative XP points if they do really bad, for example come on as a sub and get sent off as happened to Franny Jeffers for me). All in all even if like me you don't play online and only play manager mode then the improved gameplay still makes it a far more enjoyable proposition than Fifa08.
I don't recall the review mentioning you can adjust the game speed? That also makes a big difference as well, if like me you prefer Fifa08's slower pace you can play it on slow, if you like PES' uber unrealistic speed then play on Fast, Normal is in between and more akin to Euro 2008's speed. |
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I call a 9/10 too after a day of play.
Strange review this, lots of small discrete sections and only gets to the gameplay meat at the end. No mention of the massive improvements to the physical play for instance. I just played a great online game where my small nippy striker was constantly bullied off the ball by the big bully centre half, and only once did my tactic of trying to release him down the channels work; he hit the post the idiot. But the point is, it feels a lot more realistic this time around. EURO got an 8 here and Kristan said it was close to a 9, so I'm somewhat perplexed by Tom's take. For me it's certainly advanced significantly since EURO; which itself was a great game lost to many no doubt. Captain Your Country was the best mode in a football game EVER! This Be a Pro Seasons thing isn't fit to lace it's boots. 10 vs 10 is brilliant for me. I am crap 1 vs 1, but I know how to play the real game so the single role positioning aspect of 10 vs 10 I LOVE. I even enjoy playing in defence, but can I just say will you tossers pass the ball instead of running straight into trouble all the time!!! Anyway, enough waffle for now. Played the PES demo a few times and not feeling it yet. It's stopped feeling like a weighty football game and now it's more like Road Runner. Meep Meep!!
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 03/10/08 @ 09:24
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Both play different games of football. FIFA is the serious game now, and PES, while not arcade to the core, definitely has a quicker, more arcadey approach.
Reading through that review I was expecting a 9, then that 8 shot out of nowhere. I've played both demo's now (I know, no real comparison as they are demos) but I think I'll get PES this year. Much as FIFA has improved and I think it plays a dam good game of football, when you have your mates over, sinking a few beers, I know which one will provide the most out and out laughs. And that's what a football game needs in my opinion. With PES you can watch it like a real game of footy, laughing at soft goals, watching the worldies screach into the top corner. With FIFA it just seems too much about the midfield hustle and bustle, and that doesn't translate to good watching. /gets coat before fifa fanboys dive in |
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Hi t8yman:
"Tearing you say Tom - is it bad?" I had done most of the review on the PS3 version, which runs very well, but got a 360 copy in the post yesterday, so I threw it on for a few games (and did other Special Reviewer Things to compare the two, obviously), and it was noticeable a couple of times in each half of a five-minute games. I wouldn't say it was off-putting, but I have a relatively high tolerance for tearing so your mileage may vary. I expect the demo will be a good decider for those concerned about it. oliem2000: "Fifa 08 got an 8/10 so does that mean 09 isn't much of an improvement?" That's a good question: Does the same score for a series update two years in a row mean it has or hasn't improved? What I usually say to people is that it's improved sufficiently to sustain a high mark. Had it remained largely unchanged, it would have slipped a bit. I would certainly pay for it even if I'd bought FIFA 08 (which I did, come to think of it). absinthe: "No mention of the massive improvements to the physical play for instance." To be fair, I did say the emphasis is on physical battles. It's true all over the pitch. In terms of the score though, that felt slightly divisive - it's the sort of football that may not be to everyone's taste. Agree with most of your points though - terrific game - and in terms of the continuity with our FIFA 08/Euro reviews, Kristan and I felt much the same about 08 but I probably wouldn't have said Euro was close to a 9. I think this and that are pretty strong 8/10s. |
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Is it possible to configure the controls just like PES (or have they done that in this iteration)? I tried out last year's demo but the controls were so completely counterintuitive that I just couldn't be bothered to invest any more time in the game. So I'm still playing PES 4 and loving it.
Yes you can but it doesn't help, you're better off just adapting to Fifa's default controls. While Fifa's improved there is something about the game, that doesn't give me the impression that i'll be playing on it the whole year long, a couple of months and i'll get bored and trade it in without a second though, who knows online might change that, but i've been capable of playing Pro Evo offline for the full 12 months since PES4. While the animation looks fly and realistic, sometimes that can be detrimental to how the game plays which is what I feel at times, there are also little niggles like having a power bar for normal passes that creates a lag that ruins the crisp passing game I like in Pro Evo also, I can see why Eurogamer would slap an 8 on the game, the core gameplay still needs improvement in a few areas to get at where Pro Evo was. |
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Mugwum Can I ask please why you went into no depth at all about manager mode? You said it had returned in "expanded form" which isn't true.
There are no new additions to manager mode since Fifa08 and there's actually a couple of things removed (as I mentioned previously), plus the fact there's again some pretty significant omissions such as no night matches in manager mode, no seasonal weather variations in manager mode, how come they don't rate a mention at all please? Thanks. |
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So am I right in saying that FIFA 09 on the 360 has screen tearing but the PS3 doesn't?!?
Why? :O One of the reasons I got rid of PES 2008 on the PS3 for the 360 version last year was because of the tearing (and slowdown) and now EA has decided to add it to FIFA? Good grief! I must say that I'm disappointed and may even trade in the 360 version for the PS3 one if that doesn't have tearing. I can put up with any graphical glitches but tearing annoys me. :( |
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HandOfBeadle
03/10/08 @ 07:51
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Steroyd
The power bar on the passing is actually one of the best parts about the game. Personally I've found from the demo that passing is extremely responsive and that the power bar only comes into play when picking a pass in space. I've been able to get some simply fantastic one-touch play going, and the power bar has made through balls in FIFA a real advantage over PES - Pirlo has hit some absolutely stunning 40 yard balls both along the ground and just above head height for me. I have to say online seems to be woefully overlooked, presumably because it isn't really in place yet. Surely, SURELY both PES and FIFA should have their online modes reviewed in isolation from offline once both are up and running? Online was completely broken on PES 2008 (and most would argue that the offline was just as dire) and is pretty much the tipping point for all the PES fence sitters, while FIFA 09 has included some quite revolutionary ideas this year - clubs as clans, 10 vs 10, massively multiplayer leagues.. Surely this is worth more than one or two very short paragraphs?!? |
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Looks good, actually might be enough to get me back into the world of console footy, though the mention of holding down a shoulder button while using the right stick fills me with dread... I just can't get my head (and fingers) around the controls in FIFA & PES anymore. I can do a million things at once on the controller when playing FPS games, but with footy it just doesn't happen for me.
For all you guys who've played this already - can you have a fun experience playing this without having to get to grips with every single little nuance of the controls? |
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Same here, I almost never use the tricks, can never remember the combinations! What I like to do to make space is use the shot feint, good way to draw a foul as well, it's simply charge up shoot then hold down short pass (whilst still holding shoot) and pull a direction to fake towards.
Because of the responsiveness in 09 you can actually beat defenders with a turn of pace and change of direction (hold down the skill button for extra close control). |
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HandOfBeadle: The power bar on the passing is actually one of the best parts about the game. Personally I've found from the demo that passing is extremely responsive and that the power bar only comes into play when picking a pass in space. I've been able to get some simply fantastic one-touch play going, and the power bar has made through balls in FIFA a real advantage over PES - Pirlo has hit some absolutely stunning 40 yard balls both along the ground and just above head height for me.
But the X passing power bar adds nothing, it's no different than PES's press X for short pass hold X for a longer pass, and PES 09 has modified the manual pass so you only have to push the right analogue stick in the direction you want rather than direction + clicking R3 down. |
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Well, I think that the game is awesome to say the least. Sure it has some bugs still but not as nasty as last year's "can't change player when the ball was in the air" thing. That was perhaps the only one that really annoyed me.
I played single player all yesterday afternoon and after a couple losses I finally realized that I have to play real football to get a way with it. Not so different (compared to 08) in the attacking part but in the defending part. The opponent strikers always stick to your CBs and when they break away they break away fast. I was constantly chasing the strikers down the pitch and got a LOT of red cards. So to be good in this game (against the AI at least) you have to defend good. I learned to use the pace control / jostle button very quickly and start winning matches with goals from all sides and for once defending actually started to fell awsome as well. Counter attacks, slow build-ups, even crosses, I scored from lots of different positions. I played on world class at first than switched to professional, after around 20 matches I will now switch back to world class because it became to easy for me. And I think that if Tom would play the game for a few more days the score would be higher, because it's hard to "get it" in a few days. |
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Eighthours
03/10/08 @ 08:23
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Tom, were you reviewing this from the 95% complete review code or the full retail version? I ask because I haven't seen this through ball bug - is it a PS3 exclusive or something that got ironed out in the final version?
By the way, from the PES demo Konami's game is nowhere near as good as this. 10 vs 10 is utterly hilarious mayhem.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 03/10/08 @ 09:24
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creepylizard
03/10/08 @ 08:28
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I'd rather be stuck in a cabin bed-ridden with that woman out of Misery than play this
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andywilkie35
03/10/08 @ 08:33
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played the PES demo last night and it convinced me to stick with it, even though I was impressed by the FIFA demo.
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Definite purchase today, especially as you can find it for £30-35 quid everywhere (think some super markets it's £30).
PS3 version me thinks. Didn't like using the 360 pad with this game for some reason, felt clunky. Hopefully NBA Live will be at least as good as this. The demo was pretty enjoyable. |
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The Bodybuilder
03/10/08 @ 08:53
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"but it's odd to see the likes of Torres coming up so short."
Not suprising really, he isn't what you call on the physical side. Well that's what you get when you constantly use liverpool (obvious with kuyt & torres references), a team notorious for it's lack of width and wing play. Maybe you should try using the likes of drogba and adebayor for wing play. Will there be a seperate review for the online 10 vs 10 be a pro mode? |
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