Easily the best footie game ever. 10 v 10 is even better than I expected......when it works properly
Thankfully the issues of 08 have been fixed. Fifa 09 has more content than 08 and also has much better gameplay. It all just seems more refined and better overall. The be a pro mode has been fleshed out into a full season and it is absolutely amazing. You play as a reserve player for your club and build up into the first team and play for your country. This is very entertaining, much more so than the manager mode imo.The adidas live season is also pretty great as it updates the teams very well. For example Liverpool are a 4 and a half star team in the game normally, but when you use adidas live season Liverpool go up to 5 stars based on their current form(please note this was true when I was writing this review).
The online is a love it/hate it thing. You'll love ordinary matches online and you'll love the 10 v 10 matches. You'll hate the amount of quitters online. Countless times I've had players quit on me because they're losing. It's especially annoying when you get the winner 2 mins from the end and they quit. Come on, there's no need for this. I've lost 5-0 online and still finish the game to the end. Also its a bit annoying that everyone online picks Man U. Its ok it its because they support man u, but countless times you see people changing from the team they support to Man U because they are one of the best if not the best team in the game. Man U players can outpace defenders on other teams which makes them a pain to deal with sometimes.
Now for the 10 v 10 online play. It's absolutely fantastic.......when it works. The very first 10 v 10 game I played was awesome. It was Liverpool v Chelsea and I was Gerrard. It was an awesome game and it felt so good when I got the winning goal. Unfortunately I've found its rare that 10 v 10 matches actually finish to the end. Dont know if this is a problem with the EA servers or something but it often says the connection with the opponent has been lost and the game ends. I only started playing bap online today so maybe its just a problem today. Also alot of the time not enough players join a be a pro online game and it often ends up just being 2 v 2 or 3v 3. I'm sure these issues will be fixed though when bap mode becomes more popular. When you get 10 v 10 to work properly its fantastic and I cant see it ever gettting old.
You can also create your own club to take online. You can invite friends or just people you see online into your club and go into 10 v 10 matches or leagues online with your club. I haven't created my own club yet but I will do soon and I'm sure it works just as well as it sounds.
Fifa 09 is the best football game made to date. Its a realistic game but not to the extent that its not fun to play. It keeps alot of the same gameplay from Fifa 08 but improves upon it enough to make it a worthy purchase. You've got so much content here and loads to keep you interested. Its really great to be able to play a normal game of football or be a pro. If you get bored of one then just try another game mode. There's also plenty of achievements to go for and they're much better than the ones in 08.
The gameplay is great, the graphics are great, the detail is great, the amount of content and game modes is great, the online is great when everything works and its a very entertaining game to play. If you're a football fan in the slightest then Fifa 09 is a must buy.