FIFA 09

[AJ]

I'm glad they're sorting the MM out. That's what usually keeps me playing right up until the next game release. This years was poor. Even simple things like being able to choose a players number were left out. Made you feel more like a caretaker than a manager.

If it weren't for the trophies patch and UT add-on I've have probably stopped playing a long time ago.

edit: I think so TCO, I'm sure you've been through on goal tons of times and had to take that little turn to get onto your strong foot to curl it round the keeper. Now it'll be slicker and more realistic.

[TCO]

A little thing that annoyed me about Manager Mode was when I slogged through a couple of seasons and reached the Premier League with the MK Dons, they still had Football league badges on their sleeves and didn't have EPL numbers on their back either. A little touch like that would improve the authenticity tenfold.

[R.W.]

I'm glad they're sorting the MM out. That's what usually keeps me playing right up until the next game release. This years was poor. Even simple things like being able to choose a players number were left out. Made you feel more like a caretaker than a manager.

If it weren't for the trophies patch and UT add-on I've have probably stopped playing a long time ago.

Quoted for emphasis.

Manager Mode is the main reason I play FIFA - I'm not a fan of online in general in games due to the huge amounts of glitchers & quitters, so the single player mode is the main selling point for me.

[Dont Fear The Reaper]

http://www.eafootballworld.com/en_GB/video/5089171

My goal on Fifa! Its not fantastic or anything, I was just incredibly proud at the time when I scored it

[AJ]

Plenty of info (and screenshots~!) on FIFA 10 and the improvements to be found here: http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/fifa-10...first-look.html

I haven't even read it all myself yet because I've just found it toward the end of my shift. Will give it a thorough looking over tomorrow night.

[Fudge]

Sounds fucking nice.

[Baddar]

The Manager Mode is looking good, but it will mean nothing to me if there's no realistic weather occuring during it. Playing every PL game in the baking sun, no matter what point of the season you're in is not good at all.

It's something they said was "in" FIFA 09, but it wasn't. And when people complained about it, they seemed to turn a blind eye and never mention it again. I don't care if Messi won't sign for United or Terry won't go to Arsenal any more...I need rain in the PL ffs. >_>

EDIT: Here's another guy's view on FIFA 10 up to now. He playtested what I imagine was the same version as the other guy who we've read views from;

Well guys to say this feels like an age just getting to tell you would be an understatement.

As I mentioned before Im not going to concentrate on features. Firstly this is because nothing is in stone bar a few of them anyways and secondly its more about the experience and game play that are key to most of us.

Before I get on to the game (patience ) I just wanted to mention a few things. While I was out there I got to speak with Gary Patterson. Gary is the creative director and a top bloke. Whilst playing him I mentioned a few issues with 09 and he went away and came back about 30 mins later asking if the solution they had come up was better. Not only does this really show that they are trying to listen to us they are actually doing stuff!! For anyone interested the example he was an issue with short passing in 09 on Manual. They now see the problem and I gave some input in to how I felt it should work. So if short manual passing sucks blame me.

Ok on to the game.

We were expectantly ushered in to a conference room. The first thing I noticed was it was wall to wall consoles.....

One thing to bare in mind is that this was an extremely early build, thats not to excuse anything merely to point out that it didnt include much of the game other than exhibition matches.

Initial impression was very good. The first thing you notice is fluidly you move now with 360 degree control. David said that it takes a while to get used to but I and everyone else seemed to take to it very quickly. Apart from the obvious it actually makes a massive improvement to game play. I was able to round the keeper a couple of times without having to fake a shot or do a PERFECTLY timed skill move and avoid 3 defenders!

So what does 360 movement mean. Well for starters it means that you can dribble in a natural way not having to make 45 degree turns to avoid tackles or when tackling you can actually place the slide tackles and standing tackles. We will come back to 360 degree dribbling but lets muse about tackling.

Well tackling has been very much improved. Firstly slide tackles feel much more natural and less of a weapon. They also feel like the ref considers more and arent so much of a lottery. Players now actually slide further and hunt out the ball rather than the player. This is a massive improvement almost on par with the dribbling as slide tackles are not weapons but actually a part of real life football. With the improvements to slide tackling it really feels like a skill now just like passing or crossing.

Standing tackles now need to be timed if you want to win the ball because anyone with any sort of awareness will dodge any button bashing. I was concerned that "homing" still happens and something else I mentioned is that the call second player option felt a bit strong. As we all know the AI will place and time tackles bloody well so sometimes you feel a little "gamed" when tackled by an AI controlled player. I did voice my concern and they were honest and asked for feed back and explained that there is alot of tweaking to go. That said they also said they needed balance between attack and defence which is a fair point. Is it a weak point, not really now that you can skip past them in unpredictable ways, just a minor irritant when a good move breaks down.

All of that said it was only after 2 days of intensive play on very early game code so I will give the benefit of the doubt on that. Plus the other benefits go along way to mitigating this one concern.

Right now that I have talked a bit about balance, there are a few VERY nice and cool things introduced.

You know in FIFA 09 you would sometimes screem at the freaking TV telling the mid fielder to chase back or not be "magnitised" to the player with the ball? Well now in FIFA 10 players will forcibly move to cover holes. An example of this is say corners where the CB's have gone in to the box (oh yes the tall strong heading players now go up for corners and free kicks!) well now the mid fielders will actively cover the gap in defence. In open game play its pretty cool to see a player droping back and getting in to another players position while you pressure.

For every Yin there is a Yang and this comes in the form of shooting. You can now drive low shots, how this pans out in the final game I am reserveving judgement. Essentially its a two stage power bar (for example first 50% is power but low and the final 50% adds height). This wasnt massively apparent in the build of 10 we played but coupled with the fact that I am so use to litterally breathing on the shoot button its rare these days I can actually hold it above 25% let alone 50%

Goal keepers was interesting, they have been tweaked a fair bit and now chase back for chips and can clear from the goal line. In addition to this they can make double saves and "try harder". That said we didnt get anywhere close to new keeper AI so again its speculative at this point but was promising.

Another nice touch is how defenders can now clear more appropriately. They no longer do random punts out when not under pressure or decide to just do a soft header out. This again helps the game play.

Before I go on to the other things, I just want to say that this year the game play feels organic. What I mean is that if you want to "play" you can if you want to change the tempo in a game its up to you.

Now a big question is game speed. Well its probably a little quick but its reactive to you. If you play slower then the game will go slower. If you want to play fast counter then you can. Next year there will be subtle changes in player speed brining the difference closer. What this means that under the right circumstances CR will skin a defender and get a yard or two but in an out an out race the defender is there or there abouts. Depends on the defence though

The defence line. Hmmm this is an interesting one, is it better yes would I say its the best it can be well time will tell. I still felt it played a little too high. That said its much harder to run from the kick off and because of the new defensive AI and reducing the speed differential between attackers and defenders through balls arent easily spammed.

Midfield. Well the pitch size hasnt increased but the game play has. You now really need to use the midfield if you want any sort of attack other than the odd attempt at quick countering. Using the midfield is more of my normal style anyways but the way they will call for a ball (not shooting off making random runs but looking for it to feet) really makes the game feel better. This needs work and is on the "things to get done list" but in its current incarnation I am pleased with the way it is going.

While I gather my thoughts on an overall summary lets take a little time out to talk "online changes". Having a chance to meet with the team and ask some questions its fair to say that I really do believe EA and especially David when they say there is no momentum in the game. David told me they took it seriously enough to do a FULL audit of the code base in search of the damned momentum........they didnt find any. What was promising was I spoke to a couple of engineers who probably more candidly than they should said they were able to make improvements to the online play and tweak some of the online code and game play engine to make it better. Alas I wasnt privvy to anymore than that however when your sitting 3 feet from a person that lives and breathes game development and wants nothing more that to push the boundries doing the best they can achieve its hard to doubt there honesty. All in all regardless of the issues we faced there was a definative "we will try our damndedst to make it better for you guys that suffer the problems with online play" it was sincere and I believe them.

So now on to my thoughts on the game.

A little bit about my games. I played about 20 on assisted and the rest (think 16 hours of playing + smoke breaks) on semi shooting, semi passing and manual everything else.

If you have played me you know I like to play the ball high to players short or cross field a lot. Just like in real life where the ball doesnt stay permenantly glued to the floor. In this aspect the new code has now reduce ball flight time by 50% or so meaning that you can make a high pass and not watch the weeds grow as it "floats" to the player. The real example of this is playing a long high square ball to switch play now actually works in a way you would expect. Gone are the days of playing a cross field high square ball only to watch the attacker make up 30 yards to intercept it!. As I like to use them for shot passes or to keep the ball away from the feet of defenders this works nicely. Player control is better not seeing the recipient chest it 20 yards but take it in there stride. I forgot this part, you can now shift the ball to the players other foot with a slight dab of right stick

So passing, I have to say is improved. Again though I would need a week or two with the game to really say its perfect. But first impressions yes I like it and if the improvements in manual passing come over I think that everyone will like it.

Shooting......feels better and the ball less floaty. Sure you can still spoon a shot and not all shots are magnetised to the keeper. It felt like a realistic mix. That said I think with assisted and practice your gonna be able to slot home more than you miss. The devs said that the algorithm isnt finished and the latest not in the build we played so I cant really comment. I did score some very satisfying goals though

Defending. This is definately better. When you conceed it feels like the onus was on you. We know thats not the truth some of the time but at least the game engine isnt rubbing your face in it.

Speed. This is so subjective its hard to summerise it. For me it felt like a good mix that said its an area that needs real detailed views and feedback on. The one thing I will say is that when you have the ball you get to dictate the pace which is nice. That said some players will still be able to close you down more aggressively. This is combatted with 360 dribbiling and potentially a new sort of close control type of dribbling.

Overall based on what I saw I would say 8 out of 10 with the next 4 months to make it a 9/10 out of ten. Thats not to say there arent things that annoy you but more to say its a real step forward.

For me its going to be online play both 1v1 and clubs. These are the two modes I play and would be disappointed and angry if they werent up to the standard of the rest of the game. We had that this year and a repeat would be upsetting.

The world isnt perfect but any little things to improve online game quality would be very much appreciated.

Again great game, really tooooooo early to give a definative review but the signs are POSITIVE and I cant fk'ing wait now! grrrr

Oh by the way you can take quick free kicks too

Right guys I will answer some questions through out the day (please bare in mind I am at work though!) but cant cover anything

beyond game play as I didnt see anything other than that

Laters

Glen

EDIT2: Well, - It seems both of my earlier niggles have now been fixed for 10. The first was the advantage rule, that's done. And...

There are many little niggles that frustrate FIFA 09 Manager Mode fans, but we are very pleased to announce that the following (amongst many others) will be fixed in FIFA 10:

* Squad Player Number Assignment – The user will have a screen on which he can re-assign every players squad number at any point.

* Authentic Time of Day/Weather – The time of day/weather selection will be based on the time of the year and the day the match is played on, as well as the region and the league the users club plays in. The results of this feature will be that mid-week cup games will be played at night, it will rain a lot more in England and the sun will shine a lot more in Australia.

Edited June 4, 2009 by BaddarD2k9

[Herr Matzat]

Is it just me or is there a hugh amount of "bug" users? Like getting the ball right from the goaly after kickoff just becaus they know the possible automatic kicks and stuff.

[TCO]

Yes you are correct 75% of people online are complet pricks and should be beaten, repeatedly, with sticks.

Thats why I take pride in my 0% DNF and not using 5 Star teams or glitches.

Edited June 4, 2009 by The Cool One

[TCO]

Out of interest a while ago, I looked up the guy who's no.1 in the rankings to see his record. His name is Nivo84 and his last 10 games have been 3-0 as Cobh Ramblers over Spain with 100% possesion, against a user called Xx_Nivo84_xX. He clearly as set up a dummy account and either has 2 PS3s or uses a friends, sets up a game, kicks off and quits with Spain and gets the win. Seeing as the rankings are determined by skill points and because he keeps getting 3-0 wins with 100% possesion with a half star team over a 5 star team, he rakes up skill points and is of course no.1 as a result.

It pisses me off, but what a loser!

[AJ]

Surely EA should be able to do something about that? If it's so blatantly obvious.

TCO how late will you be staying up tomoz night? I'm up late keeping my nightshift sleep pattern as I'm back at work on Sunday so I'm gonna get some serious FIFA playing time between 11pm-ish til 7am. If you're up do you fancy a game or some 2v2? Or any other Saturday night owls for that matter.

[Matt]

... how's he only winning 3-0?

[TCO]

I should be in by midnight and could get on from then until around 1-2ish depending on how tired I am. I'd be up for 2vs2.

To answer Matt's question, as I already said, the other account is quitting, giving him a 3-0 automatically. It's less time consuming that way, which I doubt is a problem for him anyway.

Edited June 5, 2009 by The Cool One

[rocksta]

I'm looking for some Brazilians for Ultimate Team.

I have the following players for trade-

Wayne Rooney (95) Pace and Shooting both 99

Nicolas Anelka(92)

Karim Benzema (89)

Sebastian Frey (90)

Rene Adler (85)

John Terry (90)

Didier Drogba (88)

Mario Gomez (88)

Paul Scholes (81)

John Obi Mikel (81)

Cristian Chivu (88)

Mathieu Bodmer (84)

YaYa Toure (86)

f cAVENAGHI (81)

Michael Carrick (86)

I'm looking for top quality Brazillians. The following I already have, L. Fabiano, Amaru, Diego, Kaka, Maxell, Lucio, Bordon, and Daniel Alves.

Big names I'd like are Ronaldinho, Robinho, Julio Cesar. I could really use a goalie oand more midfielders. And another high quality cb besides Lucio.

[AJ]

I've recently bought a maxed Ribery and Agbonlahor and felt really let down by both of them. Sold them both on for a profit though so that's not too bad. My silver Cameron Jerome puts Gabby to shame.

Just got the trophy for completing all Club Tournaments. Now the only trophies left for 100% are for doing the Online Tournaments. Which I'm dreading considering all the things I've heard about the idiots that play UT online. Maxed 99 teams, glitch abuse, quitting, gameplay card whores. Oh I've got it all to come.

[Herr Matzat]

Yes you are correct 75% of people online are complet pricks and should be beaten, repeatedly, with sticks.

Sounds like fun... i remember this as one of the reasons why i hated fifa... not only dident it feel like real soccer, all of my frinds used the glitches back than and i never got why they would (seriusly, i remember like Fifa soccer 1996 and how it was possible to stand just in front of the goaly to deflect his kickof straigt into the goal.... and they did it all the time and feelt so proud for beating the computer 21423:0....

[TCO]

The only glitch that works now is the back post free header, the half way line glitch doesn't work anymore, I think they fixed it, they just gift you possession now.

If you want a fair game, I'll play you next time I'm on. PSN is Nalareg.

[Herr Matzat]

Nice, you´ll stil beat me high though, i got only 18 games or so under my belly and my Ultimate Team has like 1 1/2 Stars.

[TCO]

i got only 18 games or so under my belly

That is the greatest case of lost in in translation ever.

[AJ]

EA has announced that 12 new players are being put into the database in their next update (probably in the next few days). I know for sure one of them will be Pavlyuchenko.

So have your eyes open for him or any other new cards appearing in packs or cheaply on the trade cause you'll be able to sell them on for massive profit.