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Review: FIFA 09

GOOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLLL!!!!

FIFA kicks off this season with a squad of new features, and some great ideas, but does it hit the back of the net like a Geovani freekick, or is it languishing in the bottom three?

Now before I dive into the review, I just though i’d let everyone reading this exactly what i had to do to buy this game. Heading to the local game store, i had in a gruby shopping bag; Super Smash Bros Brawl (Wii), Top Spin 3 (Wii), Animal Crossing (DS), Lego Star Wars (360) and Viva Pinata (360), now the game cost £40, and I’ll give you one guess about how much I got for my unused games…

Anyway, my initial disappointment aside, i now had my hands on FIFA 09 for the Xbox 360.

First Impressions: The first thing you notice is that if you happen to not have an HDTV, then you will struggle to read any of the writing. I spent the first couple of minutes, with my face almost pressed against the screen, I was having a ‘Dead Rising’ moment all over again. Cursing my lack of finance once again i made my was through the extensive menu system to my first match. Naturally I selected AC Milan, and I picked my opponents (victims) - Chelsea.

Selecting the tactics, and changing players was fairly natural, after years of playing FIFA games, but again the writing is tiny, and the menu’s seem to sprawl off forever. The load times are swift enough, and I was in the tunnel watching my players in great detail get ready to give Chelsea the hammering they truly deserve.

Gameplay: This game is so smooth. I was instantly at home with the intuitive control system, pulling the left trigger and moving the right stick to perform tricks is a brilliant touch. The power bars drives me insane though, as if you play as a low level team its near impossible to score a goal. The passing system is fluid, the through ball manouveres come off well, and the heading sytem has improved so that you have a chance of connecting with the ball.

Graphics: The game looks brilliant. The ‘Be a Pro’ mode offers one of the most fun aspects of the game. As your player bears down on goal, the camera drops don behind the player, and shakes dramatically - imagine the Gears of War shakey-cam. It adds to the intensity of the matches, and makes scoring a goal really quite exhilarating. Goal celebrations are fun too for a while, as you get to run around and sort-of make your own celebration moments. However, after doing this maybe three times, I’ve just skipped it everytime since.

Online: Right, as i bought this yesterday, I’ve had one go online, not to mention the fact i played the single player ‘Be a Pro’ campaign all night last night. I’m taking Darlington to the top baby! The one match i did play seem me get totally destroyed 3-0 by a guy who picked Inter Milan, after i had picked Bolton. Online flowed great, and i can’t wait to get stuck into it even more, but it looks like i can kiss any kind of a life goodbye.

Overall: This is an enjoyable update of the series that’s been going strong since 1996. The advancements in graphics, playability, and the career mode have made this in to a thoroughly enjoyable affair throughout. Yes the menu system will drive you mad, and the tiny font will force you to buy glasses you never knew you needed, but you’ll be jumping around the room when you bury that goal in the 90th minute of the World Cup final.

Score: 9/10

Tags: FIFA 09, Football, Reviews

Review: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

After months of waiting, for the game to be released, I’ve finally got my grubby little mitts on a copy of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for the Wii. I chose to buy it for the Wii purely because of the unique control system. The idea of wielding a lightsaber, and slamming people around the place really appealed to me more than the Xbox 360 version, yes I know it has far nicer graphics, but c’mon people, you get to wield a frickin’ lightsaber!

Well as you may of guessed, I was really looking forward to the game, and in some aspects my dark side’s thirst was quenched, but overall i was quite disappointed.

The control system for the Wii, at first, is enjoyable. Using the nunchuck for movement, and force powers is efficient, however the thrusting forward of the nunchuck to open the countless barriers on your missions gets very old, very fast. The Wiimote functions as your lightsaber, which is something that should have been immensely enjoyable;, however there is no skill involved, you just shake it around and the game does everything for you. It takes away from the fun quite considerably, and has ruined the game for me.

The missions themselves are extremely linear, there is nothing that particularly stands out, and the storyline is pretty average. Multiplayer is not much better. When you expect greatness - lightsaber duels with your mates - its hard to not be critical. I played a few games various different characters, of which there is no difference. After a few trials it would appear that all the development team has done is overlayed a different skin over the basic framework rather than provide the character with plus and negative points. The levels themselves got pretty boring after about ten games, and I have no desire to re-visit them.

I want to play the game on the Xbox360, more to see how the controls differ than anything else, but i’m a bit annoyed about wasting £35. I love Star Wars, but i think the franchise needs to stop churning out games that are pretty average compared to the marketing departments hype.

My Score Card for Star Wars: Force Unleashed

Gameplay: 5
Graphics: 6
Storyline: 6
Multiplayer: 4

Overall: 6/10

Tags: Gaming, Star Wars, wii