FIFA 09 Review
- Posted October 22nd, 2008 at 11:19 EDT by
- 9,026 views
- 19 Comments
Review Score
- PSU Review Score
- 8.5
- Avg. user review score:
- 9.4
Summary
With FIFA 09, EA Sports has the reigns of the soccer industry firmly within its grasp, delivering a prominent title that will appease the large majority of fans of The Beautiful Game.
We like
- 10-on-10 online play
- Authentic attributes
- Improved animations
We dislike
- Sideline AI is sketchy
- Be A Pro could be more exciting
See PSU's review on Metacritic & GameRankings
[Editor’s Note: I understand soccer should be respectfully labeled as football, but because the majority of our reader base is from North America, we’re going to utilize the word soccer instead. Don’t be so offended and please don’t litter the comment section with Soccer> American football -- we get it.]
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EA Sports appears to be experiencing something of a turning point this season. While the company may have struggled during the initial development process the latest generation of consoles, it’s starting to become evident that any kinks are now few and far between.
Last year’s FIFA 08 took the appropriate steps forward by improving on physics, visual detail and most importantly, the way the sport played. As a result, this afforded EA the chance to capitalize and ultimately expand upon these improvements with FIFA 09, resulting in one of the best overall soccer titles in recent years.
Quite simply, is there any sport that exemplifies the dreams of millions more than the game of soccer? Often regarded as the world’s premier sport, soccer is played in almost every country around the globe. FIFA 09 offers gamers the opportunity to fulfill those virtual dreams, become a hero on the pitch, and ultimately earn legendary status -- that is, at least until the next installment arrives. FIFA 09 provides this through the in-depth Be A Pro mode, a feature that has quickly become a staple among EA’s titles for this season.
Those of you who played FIFA 08 should recall that EA included the Be A Pro option in the feature set. Unfortunately, this mode was only playable on a per game basis, resulting in a lot of wasted potential. Things have been tweaked this season, however, allowing gamers to expand their Be A Pro experience across four full seasons of play. During this run, you’ll work your way through the reserve squad in hopes of landing a full-time gig with the starting team. Those of you with enough talent can take the process one step further and potentially find yourself with a spot on the national team. Keep in mind though that not every nation has a team within the game. Thankfully, EA gives a heads up on which countries will offer this experience when it comes time to create your pro.
Creating your pro is quite an intricate process. Much like the standard create-a-player function, you’re able to change any aspect of your appearance. This provides you with full freedom in determining the look of your jaw, cheeks, mouth, lips, eyes and ears. EA has done a great job in providing the user with true customization for their pro player. After the long sculpting process, expect to take some time fine-tuning your player’s attributes to better reflect what position you’ve chosen to play. Gamers start off with 10,000 points to dispense, which is sufficient enough to build you up to a 65-67 overall rating.
Sadly, unlike the NHL series, some gamers may find FIFA’s Be A Pro Mode a tad monotonous. NHL offers a fast-paced atmosphere where your player will touch the puck numerous times per shift. However, with soccer being a more patient sport, chances are you may only see the ball 2-3 times a game, if not a tad more. This will appeal to hardcore fans that enjoy the speed of play and the teamwork involved, but it may put off more casual gamers who want to have a larger impact on the outcome of the game. Of course, this does make every touch that much more important, which in turn adds a lot of excitement once you have the ball at your feet.
Fortunately, for gamers who have no interest in Be A Pro, EA has delivered on their promise of significantly improving over 250 aspects of their title, the most noticeable of which happens to be the physical style of play. Whereas past soccer games have always allowed for the smaller individual to have the ability to overpower a player twice his size, EA has now switched things up ensuring that a player’s physical attributes play a much more prominent role in a match. As such, not only does this ... (continued on next page)
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Comments
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richkaos |
richkaos- 11:46am BST - October 22nd, 2008
- 2
Although this is the best fifa yet i found it still has some dodgy AI, especially when presented with a loose ball, sometimes they just stand there or move backwards and forwards, also the ref needs to chill out and play the advantage, sooooo many times have i made the killer pass only for the passer to recieve a late tackle and the ref call back play for a free kick......WHAT rant rant this is so annoying. Love the manager mode as well plus it gives you the choice to play or SIM the game, nothing quite like the Gunners crushing the Yids at white heart lane
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IndianaJones1936 |
IndianaJones1936- 12:38pm BST - October 22nd, 2008
- 3
yh it does have its bug, i was playing in one match slide tackled early in the second half, ref plays advantage and play does not stop until fulltime and then my guy got a red card wtf the tackle was 40mins ago
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Lozt_again |
Lozt_again- 12:39pm BST - October 22nd, 2008
- 4
What I don't get is why you can't just call it Football. No one is going to peeved. I'm sure most will notice it's not called Madden or have NFL anywhere in the title.
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markwesker
- 12:45pm BST - October 22nd, 2008
- 5
its a good game its got the addictive element to it.the be a pro season is a bit boring after a while.the part i hate is when i press for a pass to me and they take the shot for themself.selfish s**t they get sub`d straight away.
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dannysutton2003 |
A_LengendKiller- 1:39pm BST - October 22nd, 2008
- 8
its the best fifa ever....and sure it has glitches...(that can be stressful in ranked games eg..my keeper when running past the ball and left the guy a open net) but hey...i just love it haha...best fifa yet, looks good feels good atmousphere is good....good game
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rockstarnun23 |
rockstarnun23- 2:21pm BST - October 22nd, 2008
- 9
love fifa 09. it's the best so far but still has it's problems. i would like a more involved be a pro mode (include specific cups, champions league, world cup, things like that) and hold out longer for more than four years. also touch up the AI a bit. we're not slow we can stand a good challenge from the computer. love the 10v10 online, played my first game and had a blast doing so. i think this year the franchise really has a great jumping off point for the next fifas to come.
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jimbo0 |
bravotangosix- 3:28pm BST - October 22nd, 2008
- 10
PES rockes!!! What if we called American football, "American Soccer" would YOU be happy with that? I don't think so! And yes, I did read the blurb at the start. Each to their own I say. If you love FIFA then get your rocks off to this as I think its the best one yet, but I'm sorry as I personally LOVE PES. It makes my trousers clostrophobic!!!
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DINAMO788 |
DINAMO788- 6:20pm BST - October 22nd, 2008
- 13
shooting is atrocious. this game tries so hard to mimic realistic game responses that it wont let you do the simplest of things such as lightly tap the ball into an open goal after the goalie rebounds it right to you. it'll go over everytime.
and there are several other gameplay mishaps just like that
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Untildeath89 |
willmakenewonesoon- 9:40pm BST - October 22nd, 2008
- 15
dodgy AI can cost you a game, but its fun when its working
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PS3-The Ultimate Machine
- 10:32pm BST - October 22nd, 2008
- 16
I personnally found it a blast on my psp,the Be A Pro mode was awesome,and the online is always good.
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g-r-i-p-w-i-n-g |
gripwing- 6:49pm GMT - November 6th, 2008
- 17
to place the shot simply press and hold the skill button its r2 or l2 on ps3 the shot will stay low and more accurate :D..i was a pes fan since ps1...but frankly this fifa is brilliant i love manager mode taking a low team to the top..:)
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