EA SPORTS™ FIFA 09

True virtual football

FIFA 09 brings virtual football into the 21st century with a host of superb online features.

Since 1995, EA Sports has delivered its yearly update of the FIFA football series and while each update has refined its predecessor, none has taken as great a leap forward in the football simulation genre as FIFA 09.

Visually, it's stunning; player likenesses are uncanny and their movements have an organic feel to them, as if they are reacting to the situation as opposed to following a scripted animation. This is particularly evident in tackles, with players tripping over each other and the ball deflecting off shin pads with astonishing realism. From packed stadiums to shirts billowing in the wind, FIFA 09 is the best looking football game ever made, bar none.

The gameplay takes a step back from the simulation style that defined previous games and edges towards an arcade feel. The result is more freedom and control over what happens on the pitch and a greater sense of satisfaction when you manage to thread a perfect through ball.

Bringing the game to life

Players are weighty and you can feel their momentum as they lunge into tackles. Player attributes have been adjusted to take this into account, and you'll often see a speedy striker bouncing off a brick wall of a defender, or a player adjusting his body to head the ball as he leaps into the air; all with excellent animation.

If you prefer to play alone, there's Manager mode, in which you control both the playing and running of a football club, and have to deal with player transfers, sponsorship deals and training. The game's second career campaign, Be a Pro: Seasons mode, expands on a similar idea in FIFA 08 giving you control of a single player, only this time, you guide that player through four seasons, starting in the reserves of your chosen team and trying to impress your way into the first team, and then international football.

This mode is excellent, thanks to the challenge of achieving international football within four seasons and the superb on-screen information that makes playing matches so enjoyable. Simple yet effective, a small arrow shows roughly which position you ought to be in and a red ring around the feet of an opponent suggests you might want to mark them. You gain points for completing passes, winning tackles, scoring goals, staying in position and generally contributing to good play, whereas you lose points for mistakes. You are given a rating out of 10 at the end of the match which determines your reputation and how many skill points you earn. Skill points can be used to upgrade attributes. It's a rewarding experience taking your player from the reserves and training them into an international goal machine.

Networking

As good as these modes are, FIFA 09 truly comes into its own when you take it online. In Be a Pro mode, you can play 10 vs. 10 matches where every outfield player is controlled by a real person. Brilliantly, you can assemble your own Be a Pro superteams, using the brand new FIFA 09 Clubs feature, which works similarly to the clan features often seen in first-person shooters. You can put together a squad of players, either comprised of friends or people you have met online, and take on other teams in ranked matches that contribute to a team league table. You can even scout talent from other teams and make an approach to sign them.

Be a Pro mode could revolutionise the way we think about football games, and the FIFA Interactive World Cup is the online jewel in FIFA 09's crown. The annual competition, which aims to find the world's greatest virtual footballer, comes with a prize that money can't buy: the winner will receive their trophy at the FIFA World Player Gala in front of the best football talent on the planet. It's free and easy to enter, and the online qualification leaderboards are automatically updated with the results from any ranked online matches you play.

This gives FIFA 09 something few other online games have: a tangible reward for playing. It is a sport unto itself; a version of football that is accredited by its governing bodies, has its own World Cup Final and will create its own history and personalities.

It all adds up to an incredible package that will keep football fans entertained throughout the season.