PES fan Mark puts EA’s latest FIFA through its paces...

It’s easily one of the questions we get asked the most in emails to the site. FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer; which is better? Well, for many footy nuts its Konami’s game – lacking licenses but oozing realism – that’s held in the highest regard, while arcade-based FIFA has typically been the province of the post-pub casual player.

Leapfrogging PES

In recent years however EA’s fully licensed footy franchise has made great strides, and last year the gap in quality was narrower than ever. With FIFA 09, EA Sports are looking to leapfrog PES – and from our recent hands-on, it might just manage it.

EA are keen to stress the number of improvements in FIFA 09 compared to its 08 forebear, and with good reason. There’s 250 of them, with top priority given to player animation, with side-by-side videos of FIFAs 08 and 09 clearly displaying the progress in silky-smooth dribbling, increased momentum and accurate collision detection.

But it’s only when you pick up a pad that you begin to appreciate how the technical advancements have helped the gameplay. Players jostle believably, move intelligently, signal for through-balls and fall in different ways depending on their speed at the time of a challenge, and the direction a challenge comes in from; tumbling Drogba-style over head-on slide tackles and sprawling epically when they have their trailing foot taken out at high speed.

Flow

In possession of the ball, FIFA 09 simply flows; there’s no better word for it. The ball pings about with a pleasing elasticity in FIFA 09, while thankfully avoiding the ping-pong nature of past generation FIFAs. The result is a fast-paced but smooth, organic-feeling game of football, full of crunching tackles, dynamic interplay and an empowering shot system.

In addition to this, FIFA 09 allows budding Benitez’s to come to the fore with Custom Team Tactics. You’ll be able to save these to share online, and importantly, map them to the d-pad to change your approach during a game. You’ll still be able to play with the pre-set tactics, but for serious players Custom options should add an extra layer of depth to FIFA 09.

So, FIFA 09 is a football game that offers rewarding buildup play, lifelike player interaction and arguably the best visuals in any sporting videogame to date. But it’s scoring that truly feels satisfying. Where PES 2008 often feels like an exercise in manoeuvring towards the sweet spot, FIFA 09 makes you feel like you can score the kind of goals you would in real life; with animation and A.I. that makes scoring the same goal twice a far trickier prospect. It’s ironic given the respective reputations of the two footballing franchises, but FIFA 09 actually feels more of a sim than PES 08’s more arcade-like offering.

It’s a bit unfair to compare FIFA 09 to Pro Evo’s year-old effort, of course – but with Konami not giving hands-on playtests with PES2009 yet, we can’t be sure how the two titles will stack up against each other in October.

Era-defining?

What IS for sure is that Konami will have to go some to replicate FIFA 09’s planned 10v10 online play, in which every player bar the goalkeepers will be player controlled. It’s an unprecedented and enormous selling point that’s fraught with potential hazards, but if EA nail the net code for launch (something Konami have never quite managed) we could be looking at an era-defining online sports title.

Our playtest with FIFA 09 demonstrated huge potential, even if current squads weren’t up to date, with Flamini at Milan, for instance, but new Liverpool star signing Robbie Keane still at Spurs. Like Man United supporters then, Konami and hardcore PES fans should be concerned; this year the competition have made massive improvements, and this season’s big footy grudge match looks far too close to call.

Preview by: Mark 'Pass And Move' Scott
Version Tested: PS3
Preview Published: 15.08.08