FIFA 09 is, as its predecessor was, a terrific Soccer game and a must-buy for any fan of the sport. It brings back most of the elements that made 08 so successful and adds some new ones to essentially become the best soccer game on the market. Rarely does any game of any genre have as much depth and replay value.
The first thing you’ll notice when you start playing, especially when you score your first goal, is how much the graphics have improved. More specifically, the players’ looks in this year’s game hardly can be compared with that of 08, in which you thought you were looking at drawings of the players, some better than others. Now, it looks as though you’re looking at the actual player. The fans have also received some love. They now waive flags and even the visiting team’s fans can be seen in small packs with their own flags. The stadiums also look gorgeous.
Speaking of fans and stadiums, the game’s sound has also been honed since 08. The crowd actually sounds like it’s present when a goal is scored. Also, even if you play in one of the game’s many generic stadiums, the announcer will speak in the language of the host team’s country. No more English announcer in Spain when the home team is not Valencia, Atletico Madrid or Barcelona. All this being said, the staple of the game’s sound is the commentary by Martin Tyler and Andy Gray. Most of their 2008 dialogue returns, which is fine considering its quality. New lines have been added, and there is still that enjoyable camaraderie between the duo, which leads to lines such as “that’s an Andy Gray special right there” or “Even Tyler could have scored there.” I am not yet familiar with the soundtrack, but it contains songs from many Europeans artists and is very similar to that of 08.
Going back to the subject of stadiums, quite a few of them have been added, such as Ajax’s stadium. Of course, the mainstays present in 08, such as Old Trafford, Milan’s San Siro and Barcelona’s Nou Camp, return in this edition. That being said, the biggest improvement stadium-wise is the drastically increased variety in generic stadiums. Some of them actually resemble the arenas they are meant to mimic. Gone are the days when ¾ of the teams play in the Estadio de las Artes.
The game features many leagues from numerous countries such as England, Spain, Italy, France, Germany and the United States’ Major League Soccer. The new Adidas Live season update allows you to download more. My disappointment is not having the Russian League as a default league to play with. It seemed like a worthy addition to me since the Zenit St. Petersburg’s UEFA Cup victory as well as the emergence of some of the league’s stars like Andrei Arshavin. The updates also track players’ performances during the season, so if a given player is doing well in real life, his rating will increase in the game. The same goes for the reverse. An injured player is more likely to drop until he returns to action. It sounds great on paper, but it’s quite expensive and the price will turn off some.
The overall presentation of the game is excellent. Not only are players rated accurately, but teams in the game actually possess their strategic identities from real life. For example, play a team like Arsenal and you’ll recognize their pass-happy, slick-looking offense, while a squad such as Juventus thrives because of its powerful defense and organization.
Fans of online play are sure to find their match with this game. In addition to being expanded to last four full seasons, the Be-A-Pro mode can now accommodate up to 20 players should they want to join in with you. The idea is still the same. You take a player, either one from real life or one you’ve created, and you go through a career with him. You’ll play for club and eventually country, aiming for the captaincy of your national team. The game forces you to be a team player, as you’ll pick up more experience points based on your player rating for the game as well as accomplishing certain feats the game sets for you.
You'll definitely want to create your own player to fully enjoy this mode. It is a lot of fun. Depending on which team you choose to align yourself, you'll spend more or less time (more if you choose a team like Manchester United or Chelsea early, less if you pick an MLS team) competing with the reserves at the academy, and as you progress, you'll be noticed by your team's head coach and then by your national team. For the most part, the game plays well in be-a-pro, although your teammates sometimes come up with frustrating bone-head passes that will leave you scratching your head.
It's great fun and the game really centers on you as climb through the ranks. Perhaps even a little too much. Aside from the very few exceptions, your teammates are somewhat useless with the ball on their feet and you'll find yourself stuck doing most of the work on your own. A glitch in the mode also has your starting players disappearing after a while, and only simulating a match will bring them back. It's usually not a tragedy, but sometimes the timing is rather bad. Another thing they should fix is that time stands still in this mode as players don't age. Also, apart from you if you decide to sign for another team, there are no transfers. They should adjust that next year.
For those like me who are still offline players, there are plenty of goodies for us as well. The main and best one is the returning manager mode. It is almost intact from last year. You still assume control of a team as its manager and control training and the transfer market. Training is done through improving your coaching staff, which you do by spending money on it, until each department reaches a rating of 10/10. Your players’ rating will climb faster when you’ve cranked up the quality of your coach. It’s good that players improve faster compared to FIFA 08, because it was hardly worth investing time in a future star. Getting his rating to go up would take forever, so it was good to see that EA solved that problem. However, another one remains. Your priority when you get started with Manager Mode will be to spend significant money to increase the quality of your fitness coach. Failure to do so will once again result in your players being so appallingly out of shape that one week’s break will hardly be enough for them to recuperate. However, get your fitness coach up to 10/10 and your players will be able to tack on three games a week. Who needs a second team when you can do that? The problem is that the teams who won’t need the second team because their first team is in such great shape will be those who could afford the second team. Let me explain. The money spent on your fitness coach will seem like peanuts when you control a rich team like Manchester United, Chelsea or Real Madrid, but you’ll feel the pain should you take a smaller team or, God forbid, choose to coach in the MLS. What this does is hamper your ability to spend money on the transfer market before the beginning of your first season. It is also a little unrealistic that little-known small clubs can buy great players. EA caught up Manchester City acquiring Robinho, but not on the part where they could afford to do so because the Abu Dhabi group has a ton of cash flowing into the team. Their initial resources are still the same as in 08.
I would also like to know why (a) you can no longer add to your initial salary offer when trying to buy a player and (b) why you can’t change your players’ numbers anymore. In spite of these flaws, manager mode is still great fun.
The game plays well for the most part. The controls are just about the same. However, precision is the name of the game, with passes requiring even more accuracy than in 08 and long shots just lift up into the stands if you put too much juice behind them. As it was the case in 08, the difficulty level is quite high. On the default difficulty setting, the computer challenges experienced players and makes mince meat of inexperienced ones. It is a little too good at taking the ball away from you and at countering crosses, which means that offensive success depends on winning midfield battles, launching quick counter attacks and passing the ball accurately. Once you get effective at that, you’ll do fine. Actually, at that point, most of your problems will come from AI lapses such as goalkeepers running out to punch away a ball when it’s clearly headed wide of the box or the CPU giving you control of your last defender when you least expect it, causing you to take your man out of the play. Thankfully, these incidents don’t occur often enough to spoil the experience.
It should be noted that the CPU plays onside traps and leaves himself vulnerable on the wings. Most attacking sequences start that way. The problem is that the CPU always has a man at the right place at the right time to defend crosses, so you’ll have to cut inside and hope to outrun your defender. The left-trigger moves are fancy, but since the computer is so good at stealing the ball from you, they rarely work, especially if you play as a whole team in manager mode.
These flaws pale in comparison to the depth and overall quality of the game. There are so many modes, most of which are fun, and so many possibilities that you’ll keep playing the game for months and will still find yourself discovering new things about it. The learning curve might be a little steep for beginners, but every Soccer fan should buy this game. Now.
Video Games. FIFA Soccer 09 returns to the pitch with a focus on refining the controls and tactics established in previous versions of EA Sports' long...More at DeepDiscount.com
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