The halo is slipping
FIFA09 started well with me. In a graph (see fig.1 below) depicting my attitudes to the game, it would begin last Thursday in the 90s. It would stay up there in the 90s for the next couple of days—before slipping into the 80s yesterday and continuing a downward trend.
Frustratingly, this decline has nothing to do with the game’s core gameplay. I still believe it is the most compelling football gameplay yet seen on a next-gen console. I love the shooting. I love the passing. I love the tactical options. I love the pace of the game (plenty don’t). For the first time in years, I’ve had a pretty good time playing online. It all seemed too good to be true…
And, sadly, FIFA09 has a most unfortunate bug that could potentially wreck everything. I’ll be calling it the through-ball bug, but I’ve seen it called the spinning bug, the side-shimmy bug… Its name is legion. Yesterday morning, the damned through-ball bug grew from being a relatively minor issue that I felt I could cope with or ignore, into a massive, in-my-face, potentially game-wrecking problem.
Let me recap. The through-ball bug occurs when you play a through-ball—in the air or along the ground—and your receiving player, instead of smoothly running onto it as he should, inexplicably spins on the spot as if looking for the ball in the air, or goes into a weird side-shimmy next to the ball. In both cases this allows chasing defenders to catch up and smother the player and ball, usually denying a clear goal-scoring chance.
Yesterday morning I started a Manager Mode career. (I wish I was just writing about that today; perhaps tomorrow I will be.) My first game was tough. Finely balanced at 0-0 in the last few minutes, I managed to spring the CPU’s offside trap and send one of my strikers clear. And the through-ball bug struck. Here’s the clip. After admiring my perfect timing and the weight of the pass, watch what happens at 12 seconds:
The defender jostled me off the ball and my great chance was gone. 0-0 it ended. I have to stress that when my striker starts doing that side-shimmy thing, I’m not doing anything ‘wrong’ with the controller. All I’m doing is pressing the direction+sprint, trying to get clean away from the defence. (I thought it might be the sprint button causing the bug, so I subsequently tried laying off it when running onto through-balls—but it did no good.)
Aerial through-balls result in your player spinning in a circle. The effect is the same as the side-shimmying: delay. The defence catches you.
Why wasn’t I seeing this in the first few days? I was, but not so much. Very rarely, in fact. This was because I was still learning the game, getting used to the engine, testing what was and wasn’t possible. Over the past day or two I’ve started using more through-balls, and succeeded in planting them where I want. Thus, the bug has more chances to ’shine’, and boy is it doing that.
To say I get annoyed about this bug would be an understatement. But I could have accepted it and got over it if it was an isolated incident. A once-in-a-hundred-games fluke.
Sadly, it’s not a fluke. I’m now seeing the through-ball bug all the time, in every game. Almost every through-ball I play results in my player spinning-around or side-shimmying instead of gathering the ball. This is the kind of thing that could make the game unplayable for me in the long term. What a damn shame that would be. Konami must be wetting themselves with glee.
There is a lot of talk of a patch on the official forum. Posting yesterday, David Rutter said his team is ‘looking at it’.
I think it’s pretty damn crucial for this to be patched as soon as possible. Even if fixing it unbalances the entire game. Without the bug, I think I could easily create twice as many clear-cut goal-scoring chances every game. So they might actually just leave the bug well alone. (Could it actually be a deliberate ploy to limit the player? But if so, why something as blatant—and stupid—as this?!)
I’ve deleted the FIFA09 demos from my consoles, so I can’t check them. But I don’t remember the bug featuring in the demo. Which suggests it was something added, or a side-effect of something else that was added, in a subsequent build of the game. It shouldn’t be hard to find and fix.
So the halo has slipped. Whether it slips further is anybody’s guess.
When I moved back to Kansas and started supporting the Wizards (Kansas...
I hope it is fixed with a patch, it has only happened to me a couple of times so far, but it shouldn’t be happening at all. I can’t see the patch coming out before I return to work, therefore I could be playing the game with this flaw for a couple of months.
Greg – how good is that boy Heraldo who plays in the Coventry midfield?
Hi Greg, when are you goign to be posting some more views on the PES2009 demo? I’ve been reading this blog for about a year and keep hoping for the happy ending that sees you get back together tie PES after this sordid affair with that hussy FIFA!
To be fair i’m not one of those blinded by loyalty to PES that wouldn’t play FIFA. I’ve played the demo and play FIFA 08, but I just don’t get the same enjoyment as I do from Pro Evo (started with International Superstar Soccer on the SNES).
Anyway, i’m thinking that you’ll like PES2009 so interested to read more on the demo.
Cheers
A graph to show your happiness with the game?
At last, someone who is nerdier than me…..
I salute you!
Can I leave a caption for the Rooney pic:
He’s thinking: I can’t get the smell of last night’s granny off my fingers.
hmmm…I don’t like the sound of this spinny players thing at all. It does at least seem postive that David Rutter has said they are looking at this problem, and I think this is the kind of thing that we might get a patch for, whereas I think it can be safely assumed that night / weather in MM, kit numbering etc etc are simply not a part of the game.
heraldo – at the moment David Rutter has said on the EA forums that he will ‘update’ us this week, so you might be in luck before you return to work.
I’ve got a theory that control methods might cause/contribute to the problem. I only really noticed this bug after I switched to semi-manual controls on Saturday. Hmmm. I’ll test it out later.
Hammer – if this bug wrecks FIFA09 for me, I’ll be back with the old girl (PES) before too long. As you saw I had a very positive reaction to the 2009 demo. The bitter taste of 2008 is still strong in my mouth, and I feel like dallying with FIFA09 a while longer… I plan to get back to talking about PES2009 – the demo, and my hopes for the full game – from this weekend coming.
If I started talking about it now, I’d only go back to talking about FIFA09 the next day. I don’t like mixing up the two games too much, or trying to talk about both at once. I like each having a clear space.
I’ve got a full article in mind about that much-vaunted ’special feeling’ that PES can give you. As you might have guessed, I’m a sceptic AND a believer in it. I think some of the reasons are to do with PES historically not having licenses, and inspiring players’ imaginations, getting them involved with Editing, etc. I’ll talk about that next week.
Big Al – you win the caption competition, ‘hands-down’… A genuine LOL moment, on the internet! Thank you.
And re. the graph, I like it so much that it’s going to be a new regular feature (that sounds a bit Alan Partridge, but ho hum). It reflects that my attitude to these games I talk about is pretty much always changing. I think pretentiously of my blog as a year-long games review…
Matt – it’s worrying isn’t it? I know if I’d heard about the through-ball bug before getting FIFA09, I’d have been dismayed. All my PES2008-related cynicism would have come out: Why must everything always be rubbish in the end?
I think this one bug should be EA’s top priority and they should get a fix out asap, before they look at anything else. Having said that, lots of people say they never, or rarely, see it. So I’m going to cool off and see how my next few days’ gaming goes.
not greg – are u playing with manual or assisted through balls?
hello everyone
i play fifa 09 with full manual except semi on shooting and i have to say i have never seen this bug. perhaps its a ps3 thing? (i play on 360)
have to say im still loving this game. going through a be a pro seasons and its so sweet. i started out playing for belenenses in the portuguese league and we played slow and calculated football. then at the end of the first season i got an offer from sunderland and took it. suddenly the game is all frantic and crazy—it blew my mind.
sorry you guys are having a rough time with the bug and i hope they fix it for sure.
You know you are playing to much FIFA when…
-on MM I had the decision to send some players to a Valencia fan club. We have fallen from 1st place to 4th, and I am having trouble signing my targets (mainly X Alonso), now was not the time. I selected not to send any. I was met with the return email, “the fan club is sore about your refusal, you need to keep the fans happy, the little fan club has already disbanded..
I feel so guilty.
…
Anyway your right the glitch is appearing more frequently now, as we master through balls. If they don’t get sorted- quick- I worry about the replay value this game is going to have. I really do.
Kiwanis – semi on everything. When I was playing with full assists on, I didn’t notice the problem so much.
74ND4 8E42 – Today I had a load of stuff to trade in and thought I might as well pick up the 360 version of the game. I’ll be writing about that in a day or two but for now I have to say I haven’t noticed the problem as much on the 360. Yet.
It is still there. Watch your player’s movement at the PRECISE MOMENT when you want him to ’spring’ forward onto the through ball – it’s sluggish and hesitant. The full bug sees that hesitancy turn into a godawful side-shimmy and/or a crazy spin-round.
Not Given – the PS3 was and still is my main gaming console and the fate of the patch (if it comes) on the PS3 will more or less decide how long I play FIFA09, I think. Weirdly, I had a few games on the PS3 version tonight and didn’t see the full bug once. Plenty of near-misses, though. Could it possibly be a deliberate thing to limit the human player, like PES’s magic ball that always goes to the CPU?
By the by, I know this will make you mourn your ex-360 even more, but… on the 360 the game feels slower on Normal speed and the graphics are a touch better too.
not greg – I’m sure that through passing does not have a semi option – it is either manual or assisted through balls?
Kiwanis – sorry, you did specify through-balls in your question but I answered generally. I have everything that can be set to semi on semi, but you’re right – through-balls can only be assisted or manual. I have played manual through-balls in the past but found them to be just like full manual passes, no difference at all, so I’ve kept through-balls on assisted.
This whole issue may be resolved for me – I got the 360 version yesterday and have yet to see the through-ball bug, but I haven’t played it a great deal yet so we’ll see.