Yesterday morning I picked up a copy of the Xbox360 version of FIFA09. I’ve had a 360 for about a year now. (I got it mainly to play Bioshock. There aren’t many games worth buying consoles for, but Bioshock is one of them.)

FIFA09 feels like a different game on the Xbox360. Game developers always insist that PS3 and 360 versions of games are identical, apart from various items of downloadable content or whatever. In the case of FIFA09, I beg to differ.

I had the instant impression that the 360 FIFA09 is slower (on Normal speed) and its graphics are better. It’s possible both these impressions are false, because after a marathon online 360 session I had an experimental game on the PS3. I played a fixture in my Manager Mode (which I definitely will get around to talking about soon) and I couldn’t really tell the difference.

My big problem with FIFA09 over the past few days was the through-ball bug. It had annoyed me to the extent that I downgraded FIFA09 from my initial rating of ‘best game eva’. I did this in the form of a scientific graph, which I have decided will become a regular feature on the blog. Hopefully the graphs will illustrate that my opinions about games are always subject to change. My opinion on Day 1 is not necessarily going to be my opinion on Day 2, or Day 10, or Day 100.

Today’s graph shows the effect of an evening spent playing the Xbox360 version of FIFA09 online. (See fig. 1 below.) After a warm-up Exhibition game and trying to get used to playing football with the 360 controller (it didn’t feel right for ages), I leapt straight into a long session online.

It was one of the single best sessions of computer football gaming in my life. I played about 12 games all told. Some with 5-minute halves. Most with 10-minute halves. I played with and against teams of all skill ranges, from two-stars to five-stars, and all in between.

I was alternately humbled and exalted, lucky and unlucky, skilful and stupid. I discovered that, yes, I am a FIFA09 through-ball whore, and I’m ashamed of it (but will continue to do it).

I also noted that the through-ball bug was mysteriously absent. Although it always looks as if it’s trying to rear its ugly head in the 360 version, it doesn’t seem so bad. The players slow up slightly when receiving through-balls, but they don’t go into their infuriating little dances. So I wonder if the problem is confined to the PS3 and/or a problem just with offline play (with inferior teams and/or human players…)?

The main thing I took from my online session was that FIFA09 is simply a brilliant game. There’s no other word for it. And there’s one aspect of FIFA09 that has definitely changed. Individual players and whole teams now handle completely differently.

Diehard PES players may scoff, but FIFA09 has got real tactical depth. There’s complexity under the hood this year. One of the most stubborn popular beliefs about the new-style FIFA is that the gameplay is ruined in the long-term by all the teams and players feeling pretty much the same to play with. I’d say that there was lots of truth in that. Last season.

This season, it’s completely not true. Absolutely bogus. FIFA09 has superb player and team differentiation. In one game I was Coventry City and my opponent was Norwich City. The players were slow and ponderous on the ball. They tired quickly in the second half and the last third of the match was played at a mutual snail’s pace. It was a grim war of attrition at times.

That is what many PES veterans object to. It’s just no fun, they say, playing a football game that’s so realistic. You can see the same line cropping up again and again on forums everywhere. I saw it this morning on Channel 4’s teletext letters page, for God’s sake (p. 694). It’s one of the memes of FIFA09. It’s become the thing to say.

Well, I’m on the other side of that particular argument. Realism works for me. It’s what I want. It punches my ticket (is that a real saying or did I just make it up?).

Individuals in FIFA09 really shine on the pitch. And teams do too. In my last game last night I was Atletico Madrid, my opponent was Valencia. I’d heard a whisper on the forums that Atletico were a great team to play with, so I sneakily picked them, whilst cackling maniacally. And they are pretty good: ‘only’ a four-star team, but they handle like a top five-star team. I went 1-0 up after 15 minutes thanks to some speedy wingplay.

Then in the second half it all changed. My opponent brought on Morientes to play alongside David Villa. He changed his tactical sliders in the Formation screen to all-out attack. The difference was incredible. Suddenly, I couldn’t cope. I couldn’t get, or keep, the ball; he was attacking my goal for fun, stitching together moves and runs and having shots without any opposition. He got the equaliser. It was incredibly lifelike to see the second-half turnaround.

But my opponent made a mistake. He never changed his all-out attack posture back to something more balanced. No doubt he thought he could keep his momentum going and crush me….

I brought on two fresh players and changed my formation to 4-3-3. I needed to hold the ball up front. Midway through the second half I raced clear with one of my pacy subs, Pongolle I think, who left Valencia’s exhausted left back for dead. I scored. 2-1. And I got two more goals in exactly the same way: through-ball whoring with my fresh players, going up against his knackered defence. It was a lame victory in many ways. I was embarrassed to win 4-1 on the counter-attack, but that’s football.

It was the last game of my session. Two and a half hours. I had some trouble winding down before going to bed. Tactically FIFA09 is incredibly deep, whereas before (even last year) it didn’t feel very deep to me. Gameplay-wise, it’s rich and varied and realistic; it’s also fun, despite the doubters’ doubts. And this morning I discover that EA have fixed the problem of PS3 replays not uploading to that accursed website.

Now, if they can just fix that PS3 through-ball bug….

FIFA, FIFA, FIFA. You know, I still can’t believe it. What the hell happened in 2007? The entire football gaming world was turned on its head. It’s been almost a year now and I still can’t quite grasp what went on. How did it happen? Why did it happen? I’ve now played about 500 games on FIFA08. Its solidity, its excellence as a football sim, and its enjoyability as a game are not in doubt. (For me, anyway, they’re not in doubt; but other opinions are available.)

There are people in my past—fellow PES-lovin’ friends and colleagues whom I haven’t seen for years—who would be utterly shocked if they discovered I was playing and liking a FIFA. Just as I’d still be shocked if I found out that they’re playing it—which, come to think of it, they almost certainly are. We’re all grownups, after all. One of the hallmarks of PES over the years was its seriousness—its more adult nature, as opposed to the kid-friendly, arcade feel of the old-style FIFAs. The year 2007 saw that equation turned completely around.

And I still can’t get over it. Curse you, Seabass. Curse you for not being strong enough to delay PES2008 against all the corporate money-grabbers who almost certainly forced your hand. They blew it all up. Curse you for even going down this arcadey road in the first place. The maniacs. 5-4 scorelines as routine? Since when has that been the PES philosophy? God damn them. God damn them all to hell…

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This week on FIFA08, I played several games online. Against people. I just fancied a change. I’ll be back to my Manager Mode career next week.

Playing online sort of happened by accident. I recently got a new game, a formidable tennis sim called Topspin 3. After a week of playing it offline I felt I’d mastered enough of the game against the CPU to take it online and see how I fared against a human player. I did surprisingly well. I narrowly won a tight three-set match against a very tough player who had me running all over the virtual court for a lot of the time in a most undignified manner. The rallies were long and exhausting. At the end I had realistic tennis-style sweat patches under both arms. When it was all over I fancied playing something else. I rarely get time to commit to playing online, and I’d got the taste for some more pwning ov sum noobz. I believe that’s what the kids say, and verily, I am down with the kids.

It was either Warhawk or FIFA08. Warhawk would have required a few hours’ play (there’s no such thing as a quick game on Warhawk, I’ve found) but I only had about 40 minutes to spare, so FIFA08 it was.

All credit to EA for so completely getting the online infrastructure right. FIFA08’s netcode is probably the best I’ve ever seen on a sports game (actually, Topspin3’s netcode (*giggles*) is pretty much flawless too). Whenever I’ve played FIFA08 online, I’ve only ever seen at most a few seconds of lag in a few games. For me the overwhelming experience—98% of the time, I’d say—is one of silky-smooth, lag-free gameplay, as if my opponent was sitting next to me in the same room. That’s exactly how it should be.

CORINTHIANS 1-2 BLACKBURN ROVERS (after extra time)

I always seem to play just two types of player. Either they’ll be Europeans who choose Barcelona to play with. Or they’ll be South Americans who choose a random South American team to play with. I vastly prefer the latter. Playing with average teams—or merely good teams—makes for a better game of football.

My first opponent was probably Brazilian, although he might have been Uruguayan (see below). He chose Corinthians, who are rated at three-and-a-half stars in FIFA08. I tabbed through the English teams, looking for an equivalent. I noticed that my opponent hadn’t pressed his READY button yet. He was waiting to see who I’d pick. No doubt he was used to Europeans instantly selecting Barcelona against his Cornithians. Hopefully I was going to pleasantly surprise him.

I settled upon Blackburn Rovers, a four-star team (which is pretty generous of EA, IMO). I thought he wouldn’t mind me using a team with half a star’s edge over his. He didn’t mind, and the game got underway.

It was a tight, almost dour struggle, bogged down in midfield as so many games (in real life and in FIFA08) can be. Corinthians just had the edge in terms of possession. He seemed to have his sprint button pressed all the time—a common problem with online football games. In FIFA08, you’re actually penalised for over-sprinting. Players’ technique and stamina both deplete rapidly. (In the first online game I ever played on FIFA08, back in September 2007, my opponent exhausted his entire team before half-time and I spent the second half almost literally running rings around his knackered players.)

I scored just before half-time. It was a breakaway where I ran with the ball from my penalty area to just outside his penalty area. He had defenders back but he was expecting me to lay the ball off to one of my other strikers. So he was more focused on stopping the lay-off than he was on stopping my player who had the ball. Too late, he tried to get in the way. I shot from about 18 yards and the ball zipped into the bottom corner of his net.

In the second half things got ugly. He started fouling my players indiscriminately, all over the pitch. I suppose he was anxious to get back into the game, and he thought that sprinting everywhere and slide-tackling no matter what was the way to do it. It was like watching Uruguay in the 1986 World Cup all over again. He had a red card, but it didn’t stop him. I tried to carve out more chances to put the game to bed, but couldn’t. In the 91st minute, I was punished. He stitched together a pretty nice move that took him from defence to attack. About five passes culminated in a little one-two on the edge of my box, and his striker netted the equaliser. I’d allowed 10 men to come back and force extra time. I felt embarrassed to just imagine his glee.

In extra time I switched formation to my beloved 4-3-3 and went to all-out attack mode. I suspected his team had nothing left in their collective tank, and I was right. I got the winner in the second period. It was another breakaway goal. He continued his dirty tactics, but they could do him no good now. All of his players were exhausted and could hardly catch mine to foul them. He was lucky not to have at least two more sent off. I played possession football until the final whistle. It ended 2-1 to me—a very good online game, one of my most memorable and the pick of this bunch.

CHELSEA 0-1 BARCELONA

My next opponent was evidently a European player. He insta-selected Barcelona. Sigh. what can you do? There’s nothing you can do. You might as well make the best of it. Despite my general anti-Barcelona stance (in FIFA08 terms, of course), I have to say I don’t really mind playing against them that much. It makes the games more intense, and it makes any victory you can pull off against them all the sweeter.

Sadly, I conceded a soft early goal to a Thierry Henry/Ronaldinho combination. I can see why people love to play with Barca online, and with Ronaldinho in particular. Overpowered much? Early rumours about FIFA09’s online game indicate that there’s going to be a better balance between the major players and teams this season.

I never came back into this match, despite having good possession. My inexperience with FIFA08 online really showed. I don’t think I made a single clear-cut chance.

BARCELONA 1-2 LIVERPOOL

Another ‘Barca whore’ awaited me in my third and final game of the evening. I went for Liverpool. I never have any qualms about choosing a five-star team to play with against Barca. Some Barca-haters make a point of choosing Accrington Stanley or similar, to really show their contempt for the other player’s Barca whoring; but like I said, if someone wants to choose the best team and players, it’s up to me to work out a way of beating ‘em. And if I do, all the better.

Liverpool have a very attractive default 4-1-2-1-2 formation. As soon as the game got underway I felt very comfortable playing with it. I might make Liverpool my default anti-Barca team from now on.

But yet again I went behind early to a pretty soft goal. It was my own stupid fault. Henry stumbled and bumbled his way through my entire defence. I should have cleared it at least, oh, a million times, but I didn’t. When will I learnt to just put it into row Z? But no, I always want to pass my way out of trouble.

I surprised myself by dominating play for the rest of the entire game. Despite this, I just couldn’t score. I’ve had games like this online on FIFA08 before, and against Barcelona before—they get their one goal and that’s how the game ends. But I got the equaliser in the 70th minute. It was pretty lucky—I went on a mazy run with Dirk Kuyt (yes, I said with Dirk Kuyt) that somehow evaded all Barca challenges. The finish was low to the keeper’s side, just as I’ve learned to do in FIFA08 offline.

Then I got the winning goal in the 85th minute. I was slightly embarrassed about it, because it was such a stereotypical FIFA08 goal. It was a double-tap cross from the wing that Torres first-time-volleyed low into the net. Yes! But no as well… such goals, I think, are pretty much frowned-upon online; they’re regarded as slightly cheap.

I wondered if my opponent was thinking ‘omg u NOOB!’ or words to that effect. But so what? It’s not as if working the ball out to the wings and crossing was my entire game strategy. It was one moment in a game where I’d tried—and mostly succeeded—in playing a fully-rounded game using all areas of the pitch. So I’d take the goal and the win, thank you very much, and I’d be glad of both.

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I plan to get into the online game(s) later this year, in a BIG way. It’ll be good to play online for its own sake, and it’ll also make good material for the blog. I might have a regular online day on the blog every week. Ah, but will I be playing FIFA09 online, or will it be PES2009? That is the question. Hopefully it’ll be both, but it all remains to be seen.

For the past five days or so, I’ve been playing PES2008 solely on the PSP. The little handheld console has got its knockers (missus), but I love it. I’ve actually got more games for my PSP than for any other platform. I love it. And I love playing PES on it—particularly the 2008 variety, which is the authentic handheld PES that we ended up having to wait three years for.

The past several days have been unusual for me. Usually I chop and change between the PSP and PS2 version (on my PS3) every day or two. It’s so utterly simple and straightforward to transfer the save file from one machine to the other. Literally the work of seconds. I haven’t really had time to use my PS3 recently, so my PES play has been all on the PSP, in odd moments during transit from home to work and back again, and during breaks, etc.

It’s an amazing luxury to play a proper game of Pro Evo whilst on the move. I often look down at the PSP in my hands, with a full-on football game running on it, and reflect that if I could take this thing back to 1980 or thereabouts, the people back then would think… well, they’d think I was from the future. Ahem.

I powered up my PS3 for the first time in almost a week. First of all I treated myself to a warm-up session on Warhawk and FIFA08. I just fancied a bit of next-gen wizardry before firing up the PS2 disc, with its faithful old chalky visuals. I hadn’t played Warhawk for about 6 months, and I was shocked to discover how expert the regular players have become. Before, I was able to more or less hold my own, but now I was just a walking bullseye.

On FIFA08, I played a couple more games of my Manager Mode career with Dagenham & Redbridge. It’d been a while since I played FIFA08 regularly, so I was just as rusty as I was in Warhawk. After several months now of regular PES2008 play, I’d forgotten how to play FIFA in an attacking sense. I was automatically trying my PES moves and strategies, which simply don’t work.

I went online for a game against a human opponent—my first in 6 months—and came up against a player who chose a four-star Mexican team. In my position, 99.99% of players would have instantly picked Barcelona, but I’d have been embarrassed to be seen as one of them. I flipped through the English Premiership teams and settled on Birmingham City, also a four-star team in FIFA08 (yeah, right).

FIFA08 online really does play as smoothly as offline (read ‘em and weep, Seabass). There was no lag, no teleporting, none of that stuff. I took the lead with a pretty soft goal in the second half and got to the last few minutes by defending well. My opponent persevered, however, and scored in the 89th minute with a fine 25-yard shot straight into the top corner. I was gutted. I hardly ever win anything online. You should have seen my one (and so far only) attempt to play Halo3 online. Not pretty. Not pretty at all.

The match went to extra time. I rashly conceded a penalty during the second period. He converted it and that’s how the game ended, 2-1 to him. Yes, gutted is the word.

And so to PES2008.

It seemed that my time away from the bigger console had cost me dear. I couldn’t re-adjust back to a properly-sized controller. The extra two shoulder buttons seemed weird. Playing PES on the big screen seemed weird. I played three league games and drew them all 0-0. That happens in PES from time to time. Even after you’ve been playing a version for months on end, you’ll stumble into strange spells of scoring no goals and conceding no goals. I quite like it that this happens. I just couldn’t understand why I was finding the transition back to the PS3 so weird after only a few continuous days on the PSP.

Things picked up in Europe. After my Treble-winning antics of last season I didn’t have to qualify for the Champions League-equivalent, so the main group stage came around in the usual Week 9 or so. I played Almela, whose presence in the group took me slightly aback. Weren’t they a minnow team? How did they get into this competition? Anyway, whatever, I finally scored a goal—a scruffy affair from Camacho—and won it 1-0. Phew.

Then, to round off a busy night of gaming, I played a league game against Real Madrid and lost 3-1. Saviola was rampant—he’s good in PES2008, at least for the CPU. That result left me slightly out of touch in fifth place in the league, seven points adrift of the leaders Valencia. But there’s a long way to go.