Product Description

Step onto the pitch and play professional football your way in FIFA 09. Experience the most authentic football simulation EA Sports has delivered as you live the fantasy of playing as a professional player and customise the game to suit your style and ability.

Powered by the third generation of the EA Sports football engine, FIFA 09 features more than 250 core gameplay additions and enhancements that deliver the most responsive, intelligent and realistic action ever for the series. Enjoy turning defenders with more controlled dribbling and ball control, snapping off precision shots with improved first-time shooting mechanics and firing beautifully timed passes with greater accuracy, placing the ball exactly where you want it.

With new player momentum physics the speed and weight of the player determines everything from the distance of a slide tackle and the power of a header to the severity of player collisions and the height of a player's jump. Plus, players now behave according to their physical attributes with larger, stronger players dominating collisions, battles for control of the ball, and position in challenges for two player headers.

• 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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #69 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Electronic Arts
• Released on: 2008-10-03
• Platform: PLAYSTATION 3
• Dimensions: .29 pounds

Manufacturer's Description
Step onto the pitch and play professional football your way in FIFA 09. Experience the most authentic football simulation EA Sports has delivered as you live the fantasy of playing as a professional player and customise the game to suit your style and ability.

Powered by the third generation of the EA Sports football engine, FIFA 09 features more than 250 core gameplay additions and enhancements that deliver the most responsive, intelligent and realistic action ever for the series. Enjoy turning defenders with more controlled dribbling and ball control, snapping off precision shots with improved first-time shooting mechanics and firing beautifully timed passes with greater accuracy, placing the ball exactly where you want it.

With new player momentum physics the speed and weight of the player determines everything from the distance of a slide tackle and the power of a header to the severity of player collisions and the height of a player's jump. Plus, players now behave according to their physical attributes with larger, stronger players dominating collisions, battles for control of the ball, and position in challenges for two player headers.

Customer Reviews

It was soooooo close to being the ultimate footy game ... but ...
You can always tell what time of year it is. The old PES vs FIFA debate is dragged out of the cupboard for another dusting down ... and this year the hype for both games was off the chart !!!

I started off being a FIFA fan until about 1998 when I started to lean towards ISS then PRO EVO. I hadn't looked back since. Until now that is. After purchasing a copy of PES 2009 and being massively dissapointed by how poor it was I returned it and decided to get my first FIFA game in a decade.

When you initally load FIFA you are instantly hit with how professional the game looks. No dodgy music, cheap imitation teams and players and no feeling of anything other than license heaven.
The novelty effect continues when you load up a game with your favourite team and watch the great opening graphics sequence lead to a very impressive match engine. The physics and detail in the player and stadiums are wonderful. You feel as close to the real thing graphically as possible.
With the inclusion of a new Be a Pro mode allowing you to create yourself and have a 4 year career .. along with every playable league and online mode you could want you would think this game is tops. Unfortunately after playing for a while you begin to touch upon a few annoyances ... that become frustrations ... that becomes enough to curtail your enjoyment. Then you realise why many previous reviewers didn't give it the BIG thumbs up ...

Firstly - it seems as though the reflexes of the players you control are so sluggish. Youtry to trap the ball - turn and shimmy past the defender with wayne rooney and all that happens is you trap the ball - turn and get tackled. It doesnt matter which player you go. Sometimes when you play a clinical through ball you player slowly jogs a step or two rather than sprint at full pelt as per your commands. No matter how hard i have practised i can seem to be as good as the computer at dribbling etc. Its not a case of me not being good enough - other reviewers have touched on this.

Secondly - how hard is it to beat the goalies??? its darn hard. Try unleashing a series of raspers from inside the box and you will see what I men ( and thats even against the weaker goalies ).

Next is the lag in the controls. I have lost count of how many times Berbatov has pointed to where he wants the ball to be played but ends up offside cos it takes the computer a few seconds too long to respond to my commands of a thru ball.

Finally - corners and crosses are made pretty much redundant. Try them for yourself and see how many you can land on your own players head and how many are cleared. 99.9% cleared should be the answer.

Ok , ok i know we aren't talking about massive problems on the surface. But try dealing with them every match and it starts to bring the enjoyment of the game down. In comparison to PES this is the biz , but it needs fixing for the next version.

A Fifa '09 Review...
As a football video game fan of over 20 years (from Sensi to Kick Off to Fifa and PES) I've felt compelled to write a review of the game that has been awarded so many stars and sells in such big volumes (though I believe one of the main reasons for this is the brand name).

Now I have to put my hands up and admit that, first and foremost, I'm a PES man but even I can appreciate that it's fallen a little by the wayside over the last couple of years (though 2009 is a vast improvement over 2008).

Which is why I wanted to give FIFA '09 a go - here's a game that has apparently made significant progress throughout each year - with many claiming that it's finally taken the crown off PES.

So, after borrowing the game off a work friend, I sat and began playing with a completely open mind. After all, I wanted a game where I could pick a League Two side and take them all the way up to the Prem (with perhaps a cup victory to boot). I wanted slick presentation and great online play (the two biggest downsides of PES).

With a few nights play under my belt I was ready to give my verdict...and it's not good. I could go into minor detail about everything but there's no need, as the biggest problem area can be summed up easily.

Now call me old-fashioned, but in my view, a video game of any genre is ultimately about one thing - GAMEPLAY. When I sit down and switch on my console and boot up a game I want to enjoy the experience...because that, inherently, is what gaming is about. You can dress any game up in bells and whistles but if it isn't any fun, if it doesn't make you jump off your sofa, if it doesn't make you shout with joy then what's the point?

And this is FIFA '09's biggest flaw. At no point did it have me on the edge of my seat. I got bored of trying to build up the play only for my striker to balloon it over the bar. The passing was painfully slow. The crossing poor. "But it's true to real life" I hear you cry. So what? If I want to experience real life I'll go out and actually play football.

I'll be honest - I was disappointed. Mainly because I really wanted to like this game as it potentially offered so much. Yes, the presentation is slicker than slick (and something that PES needs to aspire to) but this simply is not enough.

The reason for this review was not to turn it into a FIFA v PES debate - but I do have to say something. If you want a football game with the "correct" licenses and great presentation then by all means go and buy FIFA '09. And if you're happy to sit there patiently in the hope that something exciting will happen then go ahead. But I truly believe you're missing out on any gaming experience. Which is where PES comes in. It doesn't have the licenses and the overall presentation is poor (though the Champions League is a good starting point) but it has gameplay in abundance - it'll have you screaming with joy when you bag a last minute winner. It'll have you slamming the pad down in frustration as the opposition grabs a late equaliser. It's arcadey, I know. But that makes it so much more of an enjoyable game. And don't get me started on the thrill it brings when a few mates get together for an evening of PES'ing.

When returning the game back to my work mate (who, for the first time, had chosen FIFA over PES) I game him my feedback. Now bearing in mind he'd been initially singing its praises, he actually paused and said (rather defeatingly) "you're right - I don't enjoy playing it either"...

Very slick.
To quote a fellow reviewer 'Real footy fans will buy Pro'. Well after the last dismal installment of ProEvo I think I will be buying Fifa again this year, especially after playing the demo. I always bought ProEvo until last year - but I can happily say Fifa are moving in the right direction at last. the gamplay is very slick, compared to Fifa08 (which is still a great footy game) the ball mechanics and AI have been greatly improved, it feels so polished. I'm not saying we should snub ProEvo again this year, hopefully it will have sorted out the terrible gameplay, bugs and bought at least one more license! However this game has it all - fully licensed teams, players and loads of leagues and online features.