GC08 - FIFA 09 Hands On Preview

Here at TVG, we have the unanimous opinion that the Be-a-Pro feature was the best new addition to FIFA in last year's game. Unless you don't already know, this feature challenged gamers to control a single outfield player for a game's duration, where the focus was on footballing basics (e.g. movement, positioning, and two-touch passing) rather than the circus tricks of a normal game of FIFA.

At first, the mode was only available as a single exhibition match in FIFA 08 before an update later added online play for up to 5 players on each side. UEFA Euro 2008 then took the mode and used it to make gamers fight for the captaincy of a national team (the ratings you received for your performance in each match were both accurate and inspiring). Not only was it an impressive debut season for the mode, but the gaffers at EA Canada appear to have taken note of this performance and promoted the mode for FIFA 09.

If It's In The Game, It Really Is 'In The Game'

Replacing the measly exhibition match for Be-a-Pro in FIFA 08 will be a dedicated four season campaign, where you can improve your player's stats by completing certain tasks in each game. The ultimate goal is to put in enough good performances and improve your player's stats so that they can earn a position in their national squad foe an international tournament. But that's not all... the online portion of Be-a-Pro will cater for 10 vs. 10 matches. This means that every position on the field (bar the goalkeeper) will be filled by another gamer, which is just too exciting to put into words.

And then there's the new Adidas Live Season. This feature makes use of EA's football experts from across the globe (the same guys that compile the player stats each year). This year however, they'll be updating player stats on a weekly basis to the Adidas Live Season. Depending on how a given player performs in real world matches during the week, their stats will fluctuate in FIFA 09 to reflect these dips and rises in form.

Initially this feature will be available in six leagues (England, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, and Mexico). Gamers will be able to chose to receive the service from one of these leagues for free, while data from additional leagues will require players to dip into their downloadable content piggy banks (although an exact price hasn't been confirmed at this point). The FIFA statisticians will also chose a team of the week from the best performing players in the real world across the six leagues.

When you add these features to FIFA's already intimidating online presence (what with Interactive Leagues and all), it really does put Pro Evo's lackluster multiplayer options into context. Although Konami has promised a similar mode to FIFA's Be-a-Pro that will also be available online, the Japanese publisher has certainly been beaten to quite a few punches by FIFA were online gaming is concerned, particularly when you consider the devastating lag in last year's PES.

When EA Canada brainstormed ideas for FIFA 09 at the beginning of its dev cycle, they must've instantly landed on the word 'Tactics' and underlined it three times if the new Team Management options are anything to go by. You can tinker with management options such as 'Chance Creation' and 'Build Up', while these main tactical areas are sub-categorised into slider scales for passing, shooting, positioning, and crossing etc. "This is all very well and good," I hear you cry, "but they probably don't change anything in the actual game!" That's what we thought until we saw the dinky 2D football pitch, which displays strategic nuances of Football Manager proportions.

The 2D map denotes the movement of your players and how they'll pass the ball under the current tactical settings. Then, as you change the settings on the tactical slider scales, each player's positioning and ball distribution (denoted by little dots for players and streaks for the ball's path) will change before your very eyes. What's more, you can save four tactical setups to the four d-pad buttons and then use them as on-the-fly adjustments during a game. There's even the opportunity to upload and comment on these setups with other FIFA gamers online.

Will EA Play It Square?

This all sounds very promising indeed, but we had a very limited hands on with the game and it will take quite a few hours of play to figure out if it actually has a sizeable affect on gameplay. Speaking of the gamplay, EA Canada has added an interesting new option to the game settings. It allows you to choose the speed of a match, with Slow being FIFA 08 speed, Normal being UEFA Euro 2008 pace, and Fast presumably aiming to contend with PES' trademark lightning fast gameplay.

Our hands on was at Normal pace, which was a little quicker than we're used to for FIFA but still pretty pedestrian. This is what worries us about FIFA 09, which is that even with all these new features and tactical tweaks, will the building blocks of its gameplay be different enough from last year to bring it up to the level of PES? Has the AI been improved enough? Does shooting feel more natural? Are the stats deep enough to make each player unique rather than a slightly altered clone? All of these questions won't be answered until we get a couple of dozen games under our belt, which won't be until nearer the game's release date, so stay tuned to TVG as the FIFA vs. PES battle 2009 heats up.

As far as the visuals are concerned, EA Canada has added reams of new animations for FIFA 09. The area where this is most noticeable is in the jostling system. For example, if a fullback catches a winger as he darts up the sideline, then the players will lock into a jostle more frequently than in previous games and with considerably more detail. The same goes for tackling: depending on where your outstretched foot makes contact with the opposing player opens up a wider menagerie of animations than we've seen before. This adds to both gameplay and visual appeal, although if you look at FIFA 09 from a purely aesthetic standpoint it's fairly similar to last year's offering, which is no bad thing as graphics were one of FIFA 08's strong points.