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Fifa 09 [PS3] Review

FIFA 09 is the new follow up to the popular soccer series from EA sports. This year’s edition is supposed to have some major and much needed changes from previous editions. EA delivered on making changes that were much needed.

The major changes I noticed going from FIFA 07 to 09 was the responsiveness off the controls, it is VERY responsive. When you hit the button to shoot the ball it actually shoots. Not compared to previous version where it would delay and pick whenever it wanted to shoot.

The physics was another major change I noticed, to take the ball from a stronger opponent is somewhat difficult if your players strength rating is much lower than the others. Each player has a different "strength" rating and stronger players can push or keep players from taking the ball from them. This combined with a fast player and you’re setting yourself for victory. Another much appreciated change was collisions, again "strength" and "speed" rating come into play heavily. Players that are stronger can take a "small" hit and continue on with the ball, whilst most fast players depending on situations, will take the hit and fall down, or avoided the collision all together. When players do get hit, the hits seem very realistic if he gets hit on the left side of his foot he falls that way. Not like in previous versions if he got hit, he would just fall like a sack of potatoes.

The new addition of a soccer ticker at the bottom of the screen when connected to the internet updates scores from around the world. It allows you to pick a certain league from Spain, Germany, England, or Italy and additional countries. When you buy the game you’re given 1 code to use for 1 country, if you want other country leagues you will need to buy them. PS3 users buy them through the Playstation store. The new feature of updating player’s stats and roster is great to have and a much welcomed addition to the 09 version.

I didn’t look into online play much, but I did like the new feature that is that 20 People can get together and play in the same match, making it 10 vs 10. As for online play it was relatively smooth. I didn’t have any issues at all. Everything ran smooth and for someone that hates playing console games online. I really liked this one.

The Good:
-  Graphics are pretty good, as always there can be improvements and the new feature of updating player stats along with the update of games happening around the world is great. T
-  The new controls are amazing.
-  The responsiveness was a much needed improvement.
-  Another thing I noticed from 07 to 09 was the ball, when you shoot at the goal it goes where you want it to. In 07 however, it seemed like you just had to aim in a general direction and the ball seemed to follow a set route that would only vary if you pointed in a different direction completely. (Right instead of left, other than that if you shot left it felt like it would go in or get blocked the same way over and over.)
-  Gameplay and camera angle transitions are smooth and game sounds are somewhat impressive.

The Bad:
-  The sports score ticker shows many European leagues. You can’t choose (or I haven’t found out how) one certain league.
-  A very annoying bug with the camera, on occasions if the opposite team shoots at your goal but a player blocks it, your screen will glitch and leave you with about 3 inches of view in front of your player (this in tele view) when normally you would have the player in the middle of the screen. He will almost be completely to the right side of the screen. Making it VERY difficult to see opponents or the other team’s goal! This would be in "The ugly" if it happened more often, but it’s only on rare occasions.

The Ugly:
-  None yet...

Final thoughts, the game is NOT for everyone, if you don’t like soccer at all or have very little interest you most likely won’t like it. But if you are into soccer you will like the changes made to it. That has added a very nice touch to realism, and a major change to game play from previous versions.