In the past generation of console hardware, the face-off between FIFA and Konami's Winning Eleven/Pro Evolution Soccer was an exercise in one-upmanship. One would come out with improved features, then the other would topple it. Debates raged between soccer fans over which game was better. The answer to that particular question has actually been indisputable on Xbox 360 and PS3: In each way that PES 2008 failed to deliver on its legacy, FIFA 08 triumphed. FIFA 09 continues to uphold the standards of last year's title. Although it's not the dramatic evolution that its predecessor was, its refinements handily give this one the league title again.
The first thing you'll notice about FIFA 09 (perhaps from the demo floating around your console's online store for a month) is how fluid the animation looks. Harping on framerates can be an exercise in looking a gift horse in the mouth, but in this case the 60 frames-per-second smoothness has a dramatic effect on gameplay. EA Canada has also added a multitude of new animations, and you'll notice them -- and how they can help and hurt you -- within your first few matches. For example, players overextend themselves to catch stray balls, which can be crucial when your opponent is getting ready to make a run. And unlike in past games, your player can have the wind knocked out of him, which means that he'll stay down on the pitch sometimes. Both examples function as something of a double-edged sword, but the impact of animation on the realism of the experience is quite profound.
You'll notice the emphasis on Be a Pro just as quickly. The solo mode, which EA introduced with FIFA 08, has gotten some big tweaks. Last year's game saw online Be a Pro released within a month of the main game thanks to a patch from EA. This year, Be a Pro is fleshed out beyond one-off single-player matches. With Be a Pro Seasons, you'll be able to go from a club player to World Cup superstar over four seasons as either a created persona or a real-life footballer. As you play through the seasons and meet certain game criteria, you'll gain experience points, which boost your stats. It's an evolution of the ideas EA displayed a few months back in its Euro 2008 tie-in and a replacement for the traditional season mode all at once. Thankfully, you're not completely shackled to one footballer during those four years, since EAC gives you the option to switch between a single player and the entire squad before a match.
Although EA's Be a Pro push for 09 is better than its introduction, it's still a work in progress in various small ways. The criteria for what defines a player's "correct" positioning on-field still feels vague, for some positions more than others, and it's downright baffling on other occasions. It's a bit ridiculous that if you choose an iron defender like Puyol or Cannavaro you'll still get served the occasional criteria of scoring goals to get experience; neither of the aforementioned players is a goal poacher of the caliber of Toni or Van Nistelrooy. This "one size fits all" approach is a bit short-sighted in this regard. Also, Euro 2008 incorporated a real-time meter of your Be a Pro performance, yet FIFA 09 omits it.
FIFA 09 doubles the amount of players you can use for Be a Pro online, and although a squad of incompetent nincompoops are the equivalent of the Three Stooges in cleats, it's great to get a big squad going once you've got chemistry. When it comes time to fire up a game, you can either pick a position (defender, midfield, winger, striker) or switch between unpicked players. It's a great way to steer an underperforming team toward scoring. During an online play session with a pack of guys who flubbed four runs at goal, we switched over from defender to central midfielder to striker and set up a successful run. It's in moments like these that the new online club system comes in handy, since it lets you recruit people into a clan-like system; more on that later. Overall, it performs smoothly, and we're happy with the update.