Review: FIFA 09 quite possibly the best football game ever

Oct 9 2008 By Richard Evans

FIFA is back and better than ever, writes Richard Evans.

FIFA 09 delivers on every level and where in the past the brand might have delivered all the glitz and glamour of the Premier League but left rival company Konami to provide the grit and hustle and bustle with its Pro Evolution Soccer title, the latest instalment of FIFA really feels like football.

Ball and player physics are superb and with the licences to all the club and international leagues you could wish for this really is the game football fans have been wishing for. Players thump into each other in challenges, the joypad rattles when the ball hits the post and players call for the killer pass when they break into space.

The game plays out like a technical bout of chess where you must hold onto the ball and carve out space to make room by dragging players out of position – take the lead and the opposition will send their goalkeepers up for corners in the final minutes and leave gaps at the back you can exploit on the break.

There are a few drawbacks – it’s more fun sometimes to play as a team like Manchester United where you have a player like Cristiano Ronaldo who has the pace to take on defences single-handedly, but then again it simply adds to the realism of the game.

The Be a Pro feature which lets you play the game as one single player is back and makes for an interesting alternative. Player likenesses also vary and in some cases there are some bad likenesses (Pepe Reina has a full head of hair!). But well done EA, Konami must be worried as this is quite possibly the best football game ever.

9/10

FIFA 09 is available now on the Xbox 360, PlayStations 2 and 3, PSP, Wii, PC and DS.