After Thursday’s announcements regarding PES it was quite timely of EA to release their demo of FIFA 09 to the PSN and XBL, along with another batch of screenies for the PC, X360 and PS3.
FIFA has always been a pretty game, motion captured players coupled with some great use of the next gen graphics engines make the games a pleasure to be a part of. This year’s installment has seen some minor tweaks to what featured last time around.
As the screenshots have shown, this year the emphasis in on life-like players. Couple this with the new feature that will mirror each player’s “real life” form, it promises to be the most realistic game of the franchise so far.
The players look fantastic, and there’s obviously been a bit of over time on the motion capture this time around. Players act like they should, such as sliding in to hack the ball away and varying the celebrations when they score.
This year you can play as Chelsea, AC Milan, Schalke 04, Olympique de Marseille, Real Madrid or Toronto FC which definitely gives you some variety and a chance to test out the AI. Emphasis seems to be on using the new Custom Team Tactics to outwit your opponents, definitely on the higher difficulty levels.
In truth, I’m a bit disappointed with the demo this time round. It doesn’t allow anything other than straight friendly matches between any of the six teams and there’s no commentary, so I can’t make a judgement on that *yet*.
Although the demo is lacking, I’m still excited by the latest new feature to be announced; FIFA 09 Clubs. This enable gamers to form or join user-controlled ‘clubs’ from anywhere around the world. Through FIFA 09 Clubs, gamers get together with up to 50 players and field their strongest team when competing in the new Be A Pro: 10 v 10 Online Team Play, allowing 20 people from around the world to each control an individual player.
The best virtual team in the world will be determined by the game, with clubs ranked based on how they perform in each game and then put in to divisions. Just like real life, clubs will be promoted and relegated depending on their form throughout the season. It’ll be interesting to see how often promotion and relegation happens.
Perhaps the most exciting aspect will enable managers of each club to scout rival players and recruit them for play in their team. Up to ten players from a squad can compete in any online match and it looks as though clubs will be able to play games simultaneously.
The demo looks great, plays well and is just a taster of things to come. You’ll definitely be getting a full review when the time comes, but for now go and download the demo, even if you’re not a football fan; then let me know what you think.
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