FIFA 09 Preview

The shielding system's been reworked as well. It's now much more active - getting the ball off of a strong player who's shielding the ball will now be incredibly tough. And shielding the ball yourself, and then moving it about like you're teasing a cat with a ball of string, is effortless, especially when you're in control of a skilful player. You can even push a defender away while shielding, but you're likely to give away a foul if you do this.

Mouse control is one of the new features in FIFA 09 on PC

Talking of skills, there are four new skill moves for budding Ronaldo's to sink their teeth into, one of which is the heel to heel (flick the thumb stick back then forward). Keepers have been given some new moves as well, including the fake throw, some punch variations and a recovery speed boost. EA's FIFA team has motion captured 350 new animations, so it's not surprising to find that 09 looks a lot more fluid than 08, which we thought looked amazing in wide views anyway. In total there are over 250 improvements, which we see in a spreadsheet during David's presentation. It's impossible to detail them all, and some of them are so minor they're not worth mentioning anyway. But, as with most things, it's the sum of the parts that counts, and, when added together, all the 250 improvements make a big difference.

Tied in with the gameplay tweaks is the new team tactics customisation feature. Here you'll be able to set up to 11 tactical parameters in team management, share them online via EA Locker, assign them to the d-pad and trigger them in a game in real time. In practice what this means is that you'll be able to adjust your style of play, or what style of play your players are expecting, as the match develops. So, for example, if you're losing you can set your tactics to press high up the pitch to try and force the opponent into a mistake, but that leaves you vulnerable to the ball over the top. Or, you can drop back and get men behind the ball, letting the opposition come at you. When you actually play FIFA 09, being able to adjust with pre set tactics or custom tactics with the d-pad really helps make an area of the game usually reserved for hardcore enthusiasts much more accessible. But we will temper that enthusiasm by saying that we didn't notice much of a difference in play style when we switched it up - we expect that to be polished though before the game's release.

All these changes and improvements are great, but the most brutal blow EA is landing square on PES' chin in is FIFA 09's 10 versus 10 online play. That's right, we said 10 versus 10. That's like a proper football match. Imagine, going online with a group of friends, assuming a position in the team and sticking to it, contributing to a whole. In a ranked match the reward should be immense. 10 versus 10 online play does not come without concerns of course. We reckon it could easily descend into playground chaos with 20 players chasing the ball like year sevens high on sugar. It will be interesting to see how 10 versus 10 matches play out when we get the chance to have a go with this extremely exciting new feature.

It's not all 'next-gen' of course. This being an EA game it's being released on pretty much every platform possible. FIFA has for years been a poor relation on the PC, but EA believes that the PC version of 09 is the best ever on the platform. Want evidence? The PC exclusive widget system, which constantly imports live information into the front end of the game, is the big draw. Like those little widgets you can get for Windows Vista, widgets in FIFA 09 will provide offline and online profile records, tell you how many people are online as well as real world info on your favourite club. So if Chelsea sign Kaka and you're playing FIFA 09 on your PC, you'll still be in the know.

In game control on the PC has also been re-jigged so that the game can be played entirely with the mouse. In a control set up that feels very much like the Wii version of PES 2008, you'll be able to click on players or space to pass manual through balls or make runs. You'll still be able to use the traditional set ups of course, if that's what you'd prefer, but the option to use all five buttons of a mouse (scroll wheel to send players on a run, left click to pass, right click to shoot) is there if you want it.

There's no question that PES will need to deliver big time in order to compete

All the gameplay changes point towards a single, inexorable goal that EA is trying to score with its FIFA games - that it is the best football simulation around. Although we've only dipped our toes into the FIFA 09 experience, there's no doubt that it will turn out to be a better simulation than FIFA 08. It's still strange to think of the series like that, given that for so many years it was PES that was considered the more accurate reflection of real world football. Going by last year's efforts, which saw a more arcadey PES, the roles have been reversed, and with FIFA 09 EA isn't letting up in its pursuit of virtual football perfection.

The whispers began last year - from friends of ours who have grown up playing PES with good company and even better alcohol. The ball goes out of play and, in unison, everyone takes a swig of their drink. They tell us, quietly, while no-one is looking, that FIFA, actually, isn't that bad at all. That unless Konami does something amazing with PES 2009 they'll probably be buying FIFA 09 instead. Shocking, isn't it? It shouldn't be. From what we've seen, the whispers will soon become fact. And we all know how important facts are.

FIFA 09 is due out for Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, Nintendo DS and PSP this Autumn.