THE GOOD:- Fifa is and always has been an enjoyable game to play against friends when they are over. It's good to get some bragging rights when beating them too.
- They have jumped right above PES again this year, with a far more superior game.
- Manager Mode is always enjoyable to play. It's good to get your manager statistics high and build a team of your own.
- Be A Pro has improved highly from last year, and is a great asset to the game to get that feeling that you are actually playing the game.
- The wide variety of teams is really good as you can play as the side you like whenever you like.
- It's nice to have both a Classic XI, and a World XI side. Two of which are much better than any other side in the game.
- The stadiums in the game have been really well done, especially Wembley. When taking a goal kick in each stadium, you will notice how realistic they look.
- Creating your own player is fun if you want to build yourself to be the best.
- A new celebration feature that will let you perform your own celebration moves. It's a nice addition as it's not been done on a football game before.
- If you are bored, you can always head to the arena and practice with your arena player. And one thing that's really good is that there is no loading screen. When loading, you can always play in the arena until your match begins.
- Fifa Clubs is an amazing new feature to the game.
THE BAD:
- In Manager Mode, there is a glitch that I've often come across that freezes your game every time it tries to load. It's very annoying for me because just as I was getting use to playing with my Manager Mode side and developing a very good team, it decided to freeze on me so I can never play on it again. Highly annoying.
- The celebrations system gets repetitive after a while, because you find yourself doing the same celebrations over and over.
- The stats system still isn't as accurate as PES I find. There are heaps of over and under-rated players on the game.
- The difficulty levels aren't extremely tough. Playing on the most difficult level isn't really a huge challenge, and I'd like to see a tougher difficulty setting.
SUMMARY:
GAMEPLAY
The gameplay in Fifa has taken a huge step forward for me. I was always a PES fan before this year, but once I noticed that the new PES was looking poor, I decided to have a look at Fifa again. I played Fifa 2008 when it was released and it was quite good, but it got dull quickly for me. I'm not sure what they done with it this year, but it was certainly a lot better than previous games, and I'd have to pat the creator of this year's game on the back for his efforts. It's always fun just to have a kick about with friends on this game, or even against the computer. On previous football games, it was never that fun to play against the computer, but it has gotten more enjoyable as the years have gone on, and it's almost as fun as playing against friends. The only difference between the two is the actual banter.
This is always extremely fun in my eyes. They had it in Fifa 2008 first off, and it was fun then too, but somehow now as fun as this year. Maybe it's the difference in graphics but I'm not hugely sure. It's nice to have no loading screens on the game, and nice just to be always kicking a ball on the game. It's certainly something that would keep you interested in playing the game when you have it in your console. And what's nice as well is, the fact that it will improve your skills on the game, even though there is no opponent but the goalkeeper himself. But as I said, a great feature to this game and something I would love to see on every football game. Out with loading screens and in with arenas!
If you are familiar with previous Fifa games, you will know the Manager Mode fairly well yourself. It's been in Fifa for a long time, but has always gradually improved as the years went on. It has become a lot more realistic over the years because I remember a time when it was just so easy to win a league, it wasn't even fair. It's still not as tough as I'd like it to be, but that's mainly down to the difficulty settings, which aren't tough enough I feel. If they added another difficulty to the game, it would seem that bit more realistic. It's a 15 year long career mode for anyone who doesn't know. You start off with the team of your choice and you build your team by bringing in better staff for each position, and by buying new players of course. It's possibly the best mode on the game because if you have a young player like Theo Walcott, he will become amazing in a few years to come when he peaks especially. The only thing that disappointed me with Manager Mode, as I've stated above is the fact that it has crashed for me numerous times in probably my 3rd or 4th season of Manager Mode with Liverpool. I have the game saved on my hard drive as well, so I'm imagining it's something to do with the game itself as others have had this problem. It's not exactly the same as Master League when you play PES, but it's still pretty good and has more licensed sides. As for PES, the peaking system and stat system would be head and shoulders above Fifa in my opinion, but yours may differ of course.
This mode is extremely fun and has taken a huge improvement from last year's game. It's something you would play if you wanted to create your own player, and play as him through the side of your choice - maybe one of the better sides in England, Spain, Italy, Holland etc. You make your way through the side's reserves at first. After playing many games and performing well, you will improve in rank. Once you've impressed enough, you will then be given the position of reserve team captain - which is nice. And as you continue to impress, you will eventually get into the first team, and maybe even become first team captain, which is very difficult. And even after a while, you will be noticed by your international side, and find yourself in the international first team, or reserves side. You don't have to create your own player of course. You can also choose a real life player to begin your Be A Pro season. But for me, it's a lot more fun when you create yourself. It's always nice to score goals against your rival clubs!
GRAPHICSThe graphics on this game have improved over a short period of time. I use to really dislike the graphics on previous Fifa games, but they have improved a lot this year. Like for instance, if you ever have a look at Michael Ballack on Fifa 2008, his chin is absolutely huge! But this year they have improved the graphics in all departments, but mainly with player appearances and stadiums. Here is a gameplay image of Franck Ribery:
He isn't the greatest graphic player-wise on the game in my opinion, but he is certainly one of the better on the game, no doubt. Even looking at the kit there shows an improvement. On older Fifa games, I remember seeing a kit glitch in most matches. The kit colour would just change randomly, and would be quite annoying but that's certainly not an issue now. Another image that is certainly worth taking a look at is a gameplay image from the Be A Pro mode:
The camera may seem difficult to adapt to. And in truth, it is! But if you find it too difficult, you can always switch it back to normal if you like. Personally I don't mind either screen by now, but it helps to use the normal one so you don't get confused when you go back to playing a normal game.
ONLINEFifa 2009 online is probably the best thing about the game. There isn't much lag, and that's never really been a big issue for Fifa, but has always been sort of an issue for PES on the Xbox 360. For example, you can play up to 20 players on Fifa Clubs, and it's never really that laggy. I've never had a problem with lag anyway. It's most enjoyable to play online against friends from Xbox Live. It's good to play your friends on the same console, but you will come across more skilled players online most likely. It's definitely something you'd need to have to judge the game to it's fullest, because it's the feature that saves you from losing interest most - along with the arena mode.
If you like, you can set up your own Fifa Club team, that can have up to 10 playable players all of the time, but more than 10 overall. It's like Be A Pro mode, only online and you select one of the team's players, as well as your other online friends do with other players. It's a great game mode when played properly. You can find yourself with a great selection of players who play the game online and it will help when you work together on it. This is something I'd definitely recommend you playing if you were to purchase this game if you haven't already got it because it's an amazing new feature.
AUDIO
Black Kids - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You (The Twelves Remix)
Caesar Palace - 1ne
Chromeo - Bonafied Lovin' (Yuksek Remix)
CSS - Jager Yoga
Curumin - Magrela Fever
Cut Copy - Lights & Music
Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley - Something for You (Loaf of Bread)
Datarock - True Stories
DJ Bitman - Me Gustan
Duffy - Mercy
Foals - Olympic Airways
Gonzales - Working Together (Boys Noize Remix)
Hot Chip - Ready for the Floor (Soulwax Remix)
Jakobínarína - I'm a Villain
Junkie XL - Mad Pursuit
Jupiter One - Platform Moon
Kasabian - Fast Fuse
Ladytron - Runaway
Lykke Li - I'm Good I'm Gone
Macaco - Moving
MGMT - Kids
Fifa has always had recognisable tracks in the past, and this year is no different. Tracks like Kids, Mercy, Fast Fuse and Gasoline should all be recognised upon listen. The game has had better songs before this year, but they're always catchy when you're on the main menu, whether the song is good or not!
CONTROLSAgain, the controls shouldn't be a trouble to you if you've played previous Fifa games. The only thing I'd say if you were a PES fan and used the X button for shoot, it might become a bit difficult for you to change from X to B. But if that is the case, you can always change the buttons around, no big deal. Besides that, the buttons haven't changed from previous games, and it shouldn't be too difficult to adapt to after a handful of days.
REPETITION & LASTING VALUEThe game can get repetitive at times, but the fact that the arena is in the game can really help. You'd be surprised how annoying a loading screen can be at times. It can sort of put you off playing a game, but the fact there is none on this is handy and keeps you interested and you're always playing football on it. Fifa Clubs is great too for keeping you interested. If you have Xbox Live with this game, I think it will last up until the new Fifa comes out, which is around September. But if you don't have Xbox Live, I don't think it would last half as long. It's the same as any game online really. You'll need to play it online to get full satisfaction.
GLITCHES/BUGSThe only glitch I've come across is the Manager Mode glitch. It just so happens to be the most annoying thing about the game, no doubt. You will play a few seasons in your Manager Mode, and get your team built quite well. Just as you're enjoying it, it will freeze after a certain game. When you load the game again, it will happen over and over. I'm not sure if it always happens, but every time I've gone through about 4 seasons with a side, it has happened to me. I suppose it's not that major if you aren't too interested in playing Manager Mode, but it can be seriously annoying if you enjoy it and play it a lot like myself.
SUMMARYFifa is has improved a lot this year in my opinion, and it seemed as though it would take so much for me to switch from PES to Fifa. Even though PES 2010 was a disappointment for me, Fifa still stood it's ground and improved highly. Be A Pro mode is extremely enjoyable when you're really in the mood, and you will find yourself playing Fifa for hours without a minute of boredom. But having the game online is so much better. I had it online, but I've no longer got Xbox Live, so it's not as fun without it. But it is extremely fun playing online against friends or playing Fifa Clubs. Really enjoyable.
RECOMMENDING ITIt's a game I would recommend to any soccer fans. It's the best game that is currently available soccer-wise. Well of course, until the new set of games come out at the end of the year, but it's worth having a look at this game for the moment to kill time as it would be sold cheap now, seeing at the game is out since last September. Definitely worth whatever amount of money it may be valued at now. I'd imagine any soccer fan will enjoy this game a lot.
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