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Upon FIFA’s search for the best online player in the United States sanctioned events of the FIFA Interactive World Cup 2009 (FIWC) in North America and the National Final in New York City, the FIWC has become one of the largest and fastest growing sports gaming competitions in the world with players from around the globe. Although it isn’t the first of EA’s well known virtual sports competitions, the prestigious glory of football bragging rights and a hefty $20,000 1st place prize is all it takes for millions to enter.

If you are not so enthusiastic about those competitions you can most definitely settle happily among others competing in the ultimate fantasy in club football. Collect the most talented players in the world, shape them into your dream team and then prove yourself against a legion of challengers in FIFA 09 Ultimate Team. FIFA 09 Ultimate Team delivers a new level of depth and strategy to EA SPORTS FIFA 09, winner of 25 international game quality awards, and the second highest rated sports game of all-time on PS3 and Xbox 360.

RANDOM DETAILS:

For those of you fresh to the challenge in FIFA 09 you may have already heard about the steep learning curve, and the overall advancement in executing player maneuvers. No worries, there are plenty of tutorials online giving you help from individual player tricks to ‘advanced tactics for dummies’ that you may find on video sites. FIFA is missing the UEFA Champion’s League features and even mixing and matching teams in tourneys becomes frustrating since the Be-A-Pro Seasons are available only on an individual league basis (meaning your plans of being-a-pro in a mixed league tourney are null and void). This still doesn’t take away from FIFA’s overall awesomeness as the limits end there. Player and overall team improvement are available through much practice and achievements. The game hosts listed and secret unlisted on/off-season acheivements that add up in cache to be spent in interest of changing individual player skills, which equals more fun challenges to accomplish.

EA has done a great job in bringing plenty of teams into the game, yet many complain about missing teams and are never satisfied. Plus, I give EA a thumbs up with the roster update from January. The Winter roster update is now available. To download and use the update offline you will need to download the latest Adidas Live Season Update.

Downloading the latest Adidas Live Season update will download the whole winter roster update, which includes teams and leagues not covered by Adidas Live Season. Having to download the ALS update is just the delivery platform.

GLITCHES:

There have been report of glitches and I will do the honors of listing some. One reported glitch was claimed to happen during one or two player gameplay where the opposing goalkeeper ends up missing during a goal-kick. Many have claimed to have scored easily through this glitch. Another glitch dealing with distance is center field scoring, where a player can charge up their shot power gauge to the max whilst aiming upward with the finess shot modifier. The strategy is arguable and different variations of the glitch can be told, however the scoring remains consistent for more than 75% of the time.

Sometimes the goalkeeper isn’t the only one missing. In this glitch case defensive players are missing in numbers of two, sometimes even three. These instances occur in different gameplay situations according to multiple claims, but video proof is available that clearly shows that the ball gets headed or struck by invisible players. The disappearing act happens on a larger scale in this glitch during corners in Be-A-Pro matches; as you changes the position of a corner kicker in the view of the corner camera angle and un-pause it results in a full black screen that takes over. What’s worse?! …it doesn’t go away and remnants of continuing gameplay and a failed corner play is given through audio. This not only screws up any potential scoring possibilities but can cause this issue to happen more often. Thankfully troubleshooting the black screen corner issue is easily solved by pausing then un-pausing: to return to full view of gameplay.

Another reported glitch is the stretching and transforming of player polygons when awaiting a match to begin at the arena. The transformation from the initial arena to the stadium at which the match takes place could be the cause. Often times the player’s face of limbs are stretched and could stretch from inches to yards in front or around them. This isn’t the only glitch in the arena as others including me report a glitch where David Beckham is sometimes transformed into Cristiano Ronaldo. Even the replays are sometimes not consistent with the actual occurance of a goal you may have scored. Others say that this happens with other players too. For the most part, these are the most common reported glitches. Thankfully, most of them do not happen often and at times could be more amusing than upsetting once they are witnessed.

FIFA vs PES:

If you’re still wondering which football sim is better I still could not give you an unbiased opinion. FIFA is arguably more accurate as far as player/ball – physics/likeness. Player faces in PES 2009 look more scanned and pasted onto a 3D mesh, which proves that FIFA payed more attention to color, details in contours, and facial symmetry. Seasonal updates can really make a difference in player performance for both on- & off-line gameplay. Between the two games player tricks are near-even as far as the amount of practice it takes to master them. However, FIFA 09’s tricks are more a strike of luck or timing than skill, and at times can be even more rewarding that way.

Although the gameplay is near even, PES 2009 is more involved with the cinematics, including more life-like camera and game coverage. FIFA’s camera and game coverage is nothing to take for granted though as the Be-A-Pro camera angles and zooms are adjustable and definitely easy on the eyes. You may want to really toggle with the height and zoom controls because the defense you approach can be deceivingly close and you would not know until they steal the ball from you time and time again.

Pro Evolution’s Be-A-Legend offline mode is quite the match for FIFA’s Be-A-Pro online. Be-A-Pro mode only lasts for four seasons where-as Be-A-Legend may last 20. Evenly matched, Be-A-Pro online provides the same amount of capricious gameplay pattern as Be-A-Legend’s offline which doesn’t say much of the better for either. FIFA’s gameplay on any level of difficulty does become somewhat predictable, as PES’s online gamemode leaves players a bit unsatisfied with a dry presentation. Many beg to differ as Pro Evolution’s animations and functions are a bit different and unsatisifying to many EA fans. One thing is for sure, the challenge is always there with FIFA understanding the dynamics of the game could make everything about much more exciting.

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