It’s important to also remember that Be A Pro mode means you are just taking control of one player and that’s it – you only touch the ball when it’s passed to you. Using action buttons you can call for the ball or call for a leading pass (i.e. telling a player to pass it downfield even if you haven’t arrived at the spot yet). The problem is that the controls and the camera angles of Be A Pro are just not conducive to playing a good game. Quite often my player attempts to pass the ball because the button presses are “pre-loaded” so even though I really would like to shoot the ball right now, the player decides to clear the ball – it’s a frustrating issue.

Although Be A Pro isn’t perfect, it’s a nice first step and I have found myself playing quite a bit of that mode. Of course that’s not the only mode available, you have your regular leagues and exhibition and tournament modes, which are all enjoyable. This year you can also play online with nine other friends for a true online experience…although I was never able to find that many people to play one game at the same time with different positions.

There is a lot to like about FIFA – the graphics are superb; rosters are very good and player models are better than ever – this was one of the first times I was able to identify MLS team players without seeing their names on the pitch. Not all is good – specifically the play by play. FIFA was one of the first games to have play-by-play and was very innovative for the time but this year the commentary is canned and extremely repetitive and in some cases just downright wrong. While you always hear an announcer complain about the offside rule (even if it’s blatant), many times you’ll hear criticism of the defense when the defense had absolutely nothing to do with the play. It’s truly bizarre.

The traditional gameplay has been much improved – while EA seems to have gone into the “more is more” camp, requiring a Master’s Degree in Xbox 360 button controls to perform a spin move, most of the basic ones are pretty intuitive and require no response time on the pitch – meaning that you’ll be able to execute the move quickly and not have the ball stolen while you’re trying to do some sort of weird combo on the d-pad.

Overall, FIFA Soccer 09 is a very enjoyable soccer experience. For the first time in a FIFA game I’ve encountered quite a bit of joy when scoring a goal – as it seems to be a difficult proposition this time around (no more sprinting to the corner, crossing and heading it in on every play). The game easily beats Pro Evolution Soccer 08 as my current game of choice; it will be interesting to see what Konami does to keep up with their new release. In the meantime, you can’t go wrong if you’re a soccer fan and you purchase FIFA Soccer 09.

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