Wayne Rooney, FIFA 09 signature athlete, Shrek impersonator. Screenshot from ps3turkiye.org
The two big competitors in the lucrative and heated (at least, outside of the U.S.) battle for soccer video game supremacy both have demos available on Xbox Live and PSN right now. FIFA 09, which has just landed in the PAL territories (though that might be broken street dates), is the much-improved up-and-comer. Pro Evo Soccer 2009 (formerly known in the US by its Japanese name, Winning Eleven), is the shaken champion who is trying to re-gain it's previous-generation form.
Who comes out looking better so far? Let's take a look...
FIFA 09 is continuing the strong recent revitalization of the franchise that started with 08 and the Euro 2008 edition. The gameplay has the same sort of speed that Euro had, has even smoother passing controls, and great graphics, attention to detail, and interface.
Compared to our soccer game reference point - Winning Eleven 9, a game we've poured far too many hours into - FIFA 09 is very close in gameplay fluidity and feeling like real soccer, and not like foosball, which older FIFA games felt like. This one is getting very close to that ideal, and with all the features available - including 10-on-10 Be A Pro online, ala EA Sports' NHL 09 - it will be a solid improvement on 08 and a great game. We may just have to go buy it.
PES 2009 has the exclusive Champions League license and rights, but will it make good use of it?
However, PES 2009 is looking a little questionable right now. Man, this is like watching your favorite athlete get into his late 30s and try to play one more year, trying to drag his bones around the court or field beyond his prime. The demo feels terrible. Its as if they're trying to slow the game down by giving the players unrealistically bad first touches and robotic capabilities on the ball.
It feels vaguely like the PES I know and love, but with all sorts of wrong changes. The passing isn't crisp, players don't respond, and movement off the ball - though still excellent and the level that FIFA aspires to - just doesn't matter too much.
PES 2009 might pull through - I've heard rumor that the final version is much, much better than the demo, and it'd be folly to correlate the demos directly to the final product. However, at this stage, FIFA 09 looks a lot more complete. We've been big PES fans in the past, but the team at Konami just hasn't gotten a hold of the current-gen systems like they did with the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions of the series. Their inabilities could allow EA Sports' product to take even more market share.
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