Its that time of year again when the big 2 (EA and Konami) release their annual football games. FIFA 2009 brings something new to the table this year which has really caught our eye, more on that later. This year the team at EA have looked closely at the physics of the game and less on the Graphical side. This isn't to say that the graphics have gone downhill, just that the improvements have been a little more slight on that front than the actual gameplay this year.

This year EA have added the Be a Pro mode found in many of the other EA sports titles. Be a pro allows you to take control of a single player throughout his career. Take them through the highs and the lows and vow to become the best in the world. While be a pro mode will go down very well with the hardcore football fans the gameplay of only using a single player on the field can be a little tiresome for some. You may spend large parts of a match watching the AI do its thing. But as this is an extra feature in FIFA 09 you can either take it or leave it.

Speaking of the AI in FIFA 09, it has taken a fine tuning exercise in order to get a little bit more realism out of it. Players waiting for a through ball for example will raise their arms and point to where they require the ball to be placed giving you the feel of the team nature of the game. Even without the ball all the players on the pitch are working hard to find the space and jostle for that key position. The biggest AI improvement for us has to be the Keepers, It was very frustrating when a goalkeeper made a stupid error that costs you the match or just stood and watched as the ball ran out of play for a corner without so much as a flinch or reaction to get to it. Now the Keepers have a little more sense playing with a bit if heart and aggression. They are still prone to the odd mistake which is only right as nobody's perfect but its nice to see them actually try and save their team at any opportunity. There are still a few problems with the outfield players AI in terms of field position, on the odd occasion they dribble the ball out of play or let the ball run out of play when they could of chased it down, but these actions are fairly rare and shouldn't cause too many headaches for you in the game.

FIFA 2009 has had another overhaul and that has come in the form of the physics system. We are not just talking about the ball physics even though they have been improved, but we are talking mostly about the players and how they interact with each other. Tackling has been improved with the ball bouncing around off players legs in the tackling. A lot more emphasis has been put onto the weight and strength of the players as well. Now the light quick players find it more difficult to jostle for positions with heavier stronger players, they also may come off worse when players collide either when running or challenging for the ball. Team selection has become a little bit more tactical than who has the best overall stats.

Commentary is either fun or a real pain depending on how you feel about it, its a real marmite situation. This year the commentary is done by Andy Gray and Martin Tyler and for the best part is a good addition to the action. Its accurate and insightful, the problem comes with the die hard players who play constantly, they will find that it may become repetitive rather quickly.

As far as Multiplayer goes, FIFA 09 has it made, of course you get your standard multiplayer on one console for great family and friends fun, but this year there is something new and something a little special. You can now become the manager or a player at club where all the players in that club (excluding goalkeepers) are real human players. That's 10 v 10 human player games. There are live matches and leagues, as well as team selection made by the teams manager. This is an exiting tme for the true hardcore fan. We have more on this great feature here.

 

  

(Click Pics to enlarge Screen from Xbox 360)

Features of FIFA 09

• Polished, refined gameplay - Featuring 250 additions and enhancements to core gameplay, including new animation technology that creates more responsive first-time shooting and passing, faster and more controlled dribbling, and improved trapping, and new player momentum physics that delivers realistic player collisions, authentic jostling for the ball, and more variation in tackling.
• Custom Team Tactics - Become a first-team coach with the power to tune and balance 11 tactical sliders for 140 attacking and 40 defending options (more than 50,000 combinations) so CPU players and your team perform just like the real-world team or how you think the real team should play. Save your tactics to make strategic decisions to exploit your opponents weaknesses during the game. Plus, share your strategies with friends online*.
• Be A Pro: Seasons - Pick or create a professional player and test your football ability over a four season campaign. Master a single position and develop your skills -- passing, shooting, positioning, marking -- to ultimately become a national legend.
• Improved Goalkeeper Intelligence - Goalkeepers position themselves more intelligently, react to shots more realistically and recover from saves faster.
• Customized Controllers - Create your own bespoke controller configuration, save it and even take it online effortlessly. Assign actions to the buttons exactly how you like them for complete control.

PC System Requirements

Minimum System Requiremetns FIFA 09:
Supported OS: Windows XP
Processor: Pentium 4 2.4 Ghz or Equivalent
Memory: 1 GB
Graphics: 6600 Nvidia graphics card or ATI equivalent with support for Pixel Shader 3
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c
Sound: DirectX Compatible
Hard Drive: 4 GB


Recomanded System Requiremetns FIFA 09
Supported OS: Windows XP / Vista
Processor: AMD or Intel Dual Core Processor
Memory: 2 GB
Graphics: 7800 Nvidia graphics card or ATI equivalent
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c
Sound: DirectX Compatible
Hard Drive: 4 GB

FIFA 09 Resources
Cheats - All Consoles Patches - PC Demo - PC demo (EA Games) Screenshots - Xbox 360 Screenshots - PS3 Screenshots - PC	Xbox 360 Achievements List