FIFA 09

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Publisher: EA Sports
Developers: EA Canada, Sumo Digital (Nintendo Wii) and Exient Entertainment (Nintendo DS)
Genre: Football
Series: FIFA
Released: October 3 2008
Certificate: 3+
Consoles: Microsoft Windows (PC), Xbox 360, N-Gage 2.0, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Zeebo and Java ME

FIFA games can be like Marmite - either you like them or you don’t. However, the difference is that the product which was once endorsed by Paddington Bear isn’t involved in a fierce rivalry with its closest competitor that has changed how such products are created, presented and judged forever. Fortunately for EA Sports, the developers behind the FIFA series (as well as spin-off games such as FIFA World Cup and FIFA Street), a major turning point in their favour came with FIFA 09. This entry, the sixteenth consecutive offering in the annual series, was the best FIFA game yet, primarily due to the influence of new technology on its gameplay and graphics: it wasn't the first FIFA game to be released for the PS3/Xbox 360 generation games consoles, but it was the first to take full advantage of the new technology and create a football experience that these games have never provided before.

Perhaps the most revolutionary and exciting addition to FIFA - at least, on the PS3 and Xbox 360 and PC versions - was the new Adidas Live Season. In this mode, you could choose from one of six Leagues (Barclays Premier League, La Liga BBVA, Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Serie A and the Mexican Primera Division) and, for a charge of £4.99 for one, or £12.99 for all (although the first one was given free of charge until the end of the 2008/2009 season as a trial), FIFA matches would play out very similarly to their current real-life counterparts. This related to team transfer updates, but it was more notable in that the form of players was affected based on how their most recent performances were in real life. So, as good as Robinho was anyway on FIFA, after scoring a hat-trick against Stoke City, he’d play even better. On the flip side, if Robbie Keane went nine matches without scoring a goal in the League, for Tottenham Hotspur, that would affect his form on FIFA and make it harder for him to find the back of the net. It also affected the fitness of players: Fernando Torres’ hamstring injury put him out of action for Liverpool in real life at the time; on FIFA, he was still available to play, but his performance would be below par, and he’d find it harder to score. As the first game to include this feature, that alone made FIFA 09 special.

Visit our Games sub-page for full article by clicking here