FIFA 09
Reviewed by : radd
Original Date: November 17, 2008
The football season is back in full gear and its time to rejoice for both the fans of the sport and the videogames. EA and Konami both have released latest iterations of their football franchises and the score hasn’t changed since the last time. Fifa09 is faster, focused and more fun than the Konami offering for a second time in a row but things aren’t all goals and free kicks either. While Konami has parked the proverbial team bus in front of the innovation attack, EA has fallen prey to tinkering just for the sake of it.
Compared to its sequel, Fifa09 is a huge step forward, but that’s hardly a fair comparison. A lot of improvements in the game play are carried forward from the excellent Euro 2008 game that EA released earlier this year. Regardless of that, a lot of nagging problems from the 2008 edition have been fixed.
The game is noticeably faster with players responding more quickly than ever. You can really sense the urgency in a player’s movement. This has resulted in a pleasant change in the pace of the game, while Fifa 08 was about probing for an opening through the opponents’ defense, this year’s game is more about showing attacking intent and going past players. Goalkeepers have received the most attention and it shows. They aren’t sitting ducks anymore and leave their line to clear through balls and corners. The referees’ behavior has also been tweaked and they now award advantage more often and are intelligent enough to call back play if the advantage yields to nothing.
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The game is not without its problems though. Be a Pro mode has been expanded to a manager mode like career but it still has small annoyances that have not been fixed. Some passes and shots don’t register at all while a failed pass is recorded every time you press the pass button while the ball is in the air or out of play and your team is not in possession. Furthermore, the great GUI from last year has been tweaked for the worse. The transparent borderless look has been abandoned in favor of dark boxes which take up way too much screen space and are a distraction. The arena mode, while still an awesome feature yet unmatched by Konami, has been left as it is when they could have added more training opportunities.
The highlight of Fifa09 is without a doubt its online capabilities. The game introduces Adidas Live Season which is an amazing feature. Basically, it updates the teams and players’ rating throughout the season based on their performance in the actual matches. So while Kuyt and Reira are initially rated in the 70s, Liverpool faithful will be glad to discover, once they download the update that, they are now in the 80s due to their great starts to the season. Then there’s the big one, Be a Pro Online, where 20 people can play together. This is without a doubt the defining feature of the game. Coupled with the interactive leagues introduced last year, Fifa is a guaranteed stay in your online gaming library till the season ends.
This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 1280x720.
The offline features of the game a somewhat a let down but online more than makes up for it. EA has tinkered here and there to create bullet points for the back of the game box and Fifa 09 plays it safe without taking much chances. It still is the best footy game in the market by a long shot. You could do a lot worse than get yourself a copy of Fifa09.
RATING: GREEN
Note: This review applies to the PS3 and X360 versions only. The PC version is, rather frustratingly for PC gamers, still based on the tweaked PS2 engine from last year and does not feature all the new game play updates or the graphics.
Reviewed by : radd
Original Date: November 17, 2008
The football season is back in full gear and its time to rejoice for both the fans of the sport and the videogames. EA and Konami both have released latest iterations of their football franchises and the score hasn’t changed since the last time. Fifa09 is faster, focused and more fun than the Konami offering for a second time in a row but things aren’t all goals and free kicks either. While Konami has parked the proverbial team bus in front of the innovation attack, EA has fallen prey to tinkering just for the sake of it.
Compared to its sequel, Fifa09 is a huge step forward, but that’s hardly a fair comparison. A lot of improvements in the game play are carried forward from the excellent Euro 2008 game that EA released earlier this year. Regardless of that, a lot of nagging problems from the 2008 edition have been fixed.
The game is noticeably faster with players responding more quickly than ever. You can really sense the urgency in a player’s movement. This has resulted in a pleasant change in the pace of the game, while Fifa 08 was about probing for an opening through the opponents’ defense, this year’s game is more about showing attacking intent and going past players. Goalkeepers have received the most attention and it shows. They aren’t sitting ducks anymore and leave their line to clear through balls and corners. The referees’ behavior has also been tweaked and they now award advantage more often and are intelligent enough to call back play if the advantage yields to nothing.
The game is not without its problems though. Be a Pro mode has been expanded to a manager mode like career but it still has small annoyances that have not been fixed. Some passes and shots don’t register at all while a failed pass is recorded every time you press the pass button while the ball is in the air or out of play and your team is not in possession. Furthermore, the great GUI from last year has been tweaked for the worse. The transparent borderless look has been abandoned in favor of dark boxes which take up way too much screen space and are a distraction. The arena mode, while still an awesome feature yet unmatched by Konami, has been left as it is when they could have added more training opportunities.
The highlight of Fifa09 is without a doubt its online capabilities. The game introduces Adidas Live Season which is an amazing feature. Basically, it updates the teams and players’ rating throughout the season based on their performance in the actual matches. So while Kuyt and Reira are initially rated in the 70s, Liverpool faithful will be glad to discover, once they download the update that, they are now in the 80s due to their great starts to the season. Then there’s the big one, Be a Pro Online, where 20 people can play together. This is without a doubt the defining feature of the game. Coupled with the interactive leagues introduced last year, Fifa is a guaranteed stay in your online gaming library till the season ends.
The offline features of the game a somewhat a let down but online more than makes up for it. EA has tinkered here and there to create bullet points for the back of the game box and Fifa 09 plays it safe without taking much chances. It still is the best footy game in the market by a long shot. You could do a lot worse than get yourself a copy of Fifa09.
RATING: GREEN
Note: This review applies to the PS3 and X360 versions only. The PC version is, rather frustratingly for PC gamers, still based on the tweaked PS2 engine from last year and does not feature all the new game play updates or the graphics.
