Fifa Soccer 09

FIFA 09 is a step in the right direction by EA Canada.

The New Features:

The new collision engine and the shielding system add value to a gameplay engine that was already fun since 07. Tackling now looks and plays more realistic than before. These new mechanics add more spontaneous moments to the flow of the game. Physical attributes play a stronger role now thanks to both the collision and shielding system. Players like Drogba or Adebayor can muscle their way into the box, or hold on to the ball until reinforcements arrive like never before.

The mouse control that has been introduced this year for the first time is a welcome addition and is a fresh breath for the genre as well as the franchise itself. Although I'm not a huge fan of this style of control so far, I can see its merits. It will take getting used to, but it is well executed and fun. Undeniably, the most successful video games are the ones that build upon the strength of the system's native controller e.g. the mouse and the keyboard for the PCs. And that is what EA Canada have done with this approach. Being able to execute skill moves via mouse gestures is very interesting and a lot of fun.

The connected widgets that have been placed around the main menu bring the menu to life with statistics from your matches as well as real world news and information on your favorite teams. These online widgets combined with the periodical podcasts (automatically downloaded and played) make sure the players keep coming back to something new almost every time they boot up the game. Yet there is still room for improvement here. I'd like to be able to maximize any widget I like. And the fact that the main menu is now smaller because of the widget layout is a bit inconvenient.

The new graphics definitely look way better even if mostly during cut scenes and close-ups. The actual graphics during the gameplay also look better with the new shader effects, depth of field, and 3D grass options, as well as improved animations. It's too bad they have not changed the cutscenes at all. Even though people start skipping them after a short while, they occasionally add some flavor to the game when it starts getting too formulaic. One other nice new feature is the support for widescreen monitors.

The soundtrack as usual with this franchise is phenomenal. The sound fx are pretty much the same, so are the commentaries, except for a few additions that get repetitive too soon anyway. It would be really nice to hear the same level of detailed background information on certain teams and stadiums as in the next-gen counterparts of FIFA.

The Adidas Live Season is a nice concept, but I realized I didn't care too much for it. And having to pay for additional subscriptions is a turn off for me. It's nice to know that Ronaldo's stats may and will go down if his performance does not hold up, but seriously, it's not a feature valuable enough for me to pay extra money for. I can certainly understand why EA may want to charge for this service unlike the DNA thing in the NBA game, but ROI here is not substantial. I'd say this a failed attempt at incorporating the trendy micro-transactions concept into the FIFA franchise.

They have finally payed more attention to the 'Be A Pro' game mode this year for the PC. You can now play as your favorite footballer or your custom created player (possibly yourself) throughout multiple seasons. Starting with 09, the player is now tasked with various goals for each game. e.g. call for the ball 40 times, take 20 shots, do not get caught offside, etc. And the player is rewarded points not just based on his or her performance during the game but also based on the completion of these objectives. What makes this game mode even more fun this year is the addition of the Be A Pro camera that gives you a 3rd person perspective view of your player on the pitch. Oh, and by the way, if you keep sprinting with your player continuosly for too long, your gamepad starts vibrating in short intervals until your guy catches his breath. This gives you the feeling that you are actually on the pitch. Nice little touch...

EA Canada have finally dropped the aging online component they had been employing for the past few years. Starting this year, we get pretty much the same interface and features the console owners get. Similar layout and structure of menu items, and focus on quick player match ups is the result of this switch. It's nice to finally have native VoIP support. It's too bad that the lobby system that was popular among the FIFA PC fans is a second priority with this new approach. The quickie-style match ups made sense among the 12-year-old console crowd that do not have or need much of a community sense, but it simply falls short for the PC user-base. The availability of a keyboard and mouse should have triggered a change of design decision for the main vessel to get the online players together, and that vessel should have been the lobby system. It's all too disconnected with this new approach. Oh, and quitters and disconnectors are still an issue.

In general, I think this price is a great deal for this game, because it comes packed with lots of content in the form of various game modes, tons of unlockables, and online play. There's the manager mode, be-a-pro-seasons, challenge mode, tournament mode, etc. Basically, there's enough replay value here to keep the player coming back until the next season. Plus, in addition to the already fully licensed rosters and teams, you get mid-season roster updates, too.

EA have already released two patches for the game that address several important issues including difficulty level being adjusted to world class for online games (hence fixing the easy goals problem). After applying these patches the users are now allowed to de-authorize their PC for running the game. This DRM fix should allow the users to reuse their authorization after re-installing their Windows, or switching to a new PC.

Could it have been better? Yes. But the same can be said for pretty much the majority of video games in history. However, this is a solid football game, and is a no-brainer for football fans for this price. Especially when its competition has gone horribly stale at this point.

To begin with, I agree with the numerous complaints regarding DRM. The gaming industry needs to adopt a less draconian method for protecting intellectual property that doesn't compromise the privacy of the end-user. That said, this review is of the game itself.

As a long-time FIFA fan, I'll admit to having been very cynical regarding EA's promise to introduce updated graphics to the PC version of this game. As an Xbox 360 owner who enjoys playing FIFA on the PC as well, I felt very much ripped-off by the past years' PC editions. While the next-gen console editions of the game offered life-like graphics and physics, PC users were continually offered mere ports of the PS2 version of the game. FIFA 08 was relegated to the dust heap after about a month of disappointing play.

I'm happy to report that EA kept its promise, at least in my humble opinion. FIFA 09 for the PC is a much-improved product.

Admittedly, the PC version still lacks the complete physics and graphical immersion of its next-gen counterparts. However, the game is no longer a port of the PS2 version and is a fairly radical departure from past offerings.

While most of the updated graphics is for cut-scenes and close-ups, the in-game experience also has been updated. New moves have been added and the game itself looks and plays much better than past years' editions. Most of the major leagues and licenses are there and the game comes replete with a Web 2.0 interface. Konami's PC counterpart, PES 09 [that I also own], no longer compares to FIFA 09.

One common criticism is of the lack of anistrophic filtering in-game and the choppiness of game play. These criticisms are valid. As a PC gamer with a decent system (GTX 260 SC/Q6600 Core 2 Quad/2 Gb RAM/XP SP3) I was disappointed that despite an objectively better product the game's visual presentation remains 'dumbed-down' to the lower common denominator rather than offering end-users the ability to take advantage of better systems. Hopefully EA can maintain its commitment to the PC user by adding a patch that will enhance the in-game graphic experience.

All in all, FIFA 09 for the PC is vastly improved and a welcome change. Hopefully, this version is the beginning of a new trend.

Electronic Arts thinks everyone is a pirate waiting to happen and for some reason they seem to think that paying customers will put up with just about anything to play their games...

So if you buy this game, be aware that you'll be limited to 3 or 5 activations and then you'll have to call Electronic Arts at your expense if you want to install it again. Your expense is currently about $[...]/minute in the US, check EA's support page for your rate if you don't line in the US. Say you sit on hold and get the call done in ten minutes. There goes another $[...] to play a game you supposedly already own!

What is an activation? Install the game, that's an activation. Change a piece of hardware, that uses an activation. Reinstall Windows without changing any hardware, that uses up an activation. You might even use up an activation upgrading a video or sound driver. Adding a USB peripheral device could use up an activation. You get 5 of these, then the game ceases to function and you'll get a message saying that you need to buy a new copy (not call them for more activations as it should say).

SecuROM has been known to give users errors or not allow an installation to occur due to CD/DVD drive incompatibility problems (usually older drives). You will typically get CRC or checksum errors while a file is being read from the drive. SecuROM also maintain a "black list" of processes where it won't allow the game to run if you have one of these black listed programs installed or running.

SecuROM is just plain bad news for the honest customer and to make matters worse it hasn't had much impact on piracy at all. In fact, the pirates enjoy greater freedom and far less headaches than the honest customer. Spore is a great example of why SecuROM is bad all the way around.

For more info, search google or wiki for SecuROM, there's lots of info out there.

Micro Transactions are probably for externally licensed material within the game. So if you like some pro team's logos or names, you likely have to pay for them. Sort of a bummer, but not totally unwarranted I guess...

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