In a lot of ways last year’s version of FIFA laid the ground work for future next generation editions. Overall it was a fun game, but it was bare bones in a lot of ways and could have used tweaks and upgrades in others. This year’s version of FIFA certainly takes the franchise one step closer to where it wants to be, although the series isn’t quite at the point where it can rest on its laurels.

Most of the major pieces of the game saw improvements this time around. Gameplay last year felt a little oversimplified at times. This year changes were made to make the action on the pitch a bit more realistic.

The number of teams included have also been greatly improved. The chances are if you’ve heard of the club it's included in this version of FIFA –- giving the game a much more international feel.

Many teams have extra kits you can unlock through spending achievement points. A new robust tournament mode lets you create anything from a traditional bracket tournament to a Champions League feel. And the online version has been revamped with several more offerings.

Gameplay

The heart of any title is going to be the action on the field of play. You can have the greatest perks and franchise mode on the market, but if you don’t nail the gameplay its just a wasted effort.

This year’s FIFA certainly takes a step in the right direction from last year’s game, although it still has some work to do in future versions.

Overall the action is very fluid. There is a genuine back and forth rhythm to most matches and you can feel the intensity building up in a good match as a team gets ready to strike. The computer seems to have a much better idea of where its teammates are and also how to setup an offensive attack.

Very early on you’ll see a few plays by the computer that garner genuine “wow nice play” reactions. The computer will also vary its attacks. Some times it will push up the middle; other times it will spread it out wide. It seems to do a much better job of both watching what you’re doing and figuring out a way to counter, or tricking you into doing something you shouldn’t do and then taking full advantage.

Defensive AI is also greatly improved. Last year you could pretty much push the ball up the sidelines, sprinting the entire duration, and either cross or cut back at will. There was very little pressure put on you and most of your attacks started by running as fast as you could into the attacking part of the pitch and then setting things up.

This year the defense is all over you. If you push it up the sideline, chances are the back can tell what deodorant you’re wearing. The first big change here is sprint speed. It only took a few years, but EA realized you can’t run as fast dribbling as you can not dribbling. So unless your guy is a serious burner, you’re not streaking past that defender who’s 10 yards in front of you.{mospagebreak}

You are left needing to create space and you’ll find yourself pushing the ball up the middle a lot more than you have in the past. And while you can use the wide parts of the attacking zone, you need to work a lot more to open them up -- they aren't just there for the taking.

Should you actually make it down the sideline in sprint mode, you’ll also find yourself a lot less effective. It takes you a bit to slow down and cross, and a lot of time that extra split second results in the defender taking the ball or breaking up your attack.

Your defensive controls are also a lot more realistic this year. Instead of just running into a guy and taking the ball, this time around you'll need to hold down the contention button, telling your guy to try and make the steal. This adds difficulty that was needed last year, since in the past it was too easy to take the ball back from elite world class players -– almost like a father deciding he wants the rest of a toddler’s cookie.

This also has the side effect of requiring you to either attack the ball carrier yourself or call in reinforcements, as holding down both buttons at the same time is a bit tough.

Of course there are some more drastic changes. New this year is the need to battle for position on balls in the air. Last year too often being the first one to the spot meant you won. This year you can push and shove to gain ground and steal the ball in the air. The skill, however, takes some getting used to –- especially when you have the auto-switch on at its default level. Early on get used to being manhandled on crosses, resulting in easy goals for your opponent.

The trick moves system is also brand new and widely heralded as the greatest thing since Archie Gemmill scored against Holland in 1978 (sorry, I can never resist a Trainspotting reference). Similar to the new deke system in NHL 08, the system lets you do a number of mind-numbing ball moves with the right analog stick.

I will confess I’m not the greatest thumb jockey out there and have moderate success so far with the new system. But the potential should you master it is immense. Personally I’ve already had one big goal, switching direction to the right, flying past a sprawled out goalie and firing it into the twine. But I will admit that was luck.

But the goals and moves have the potential of being Gemmill-esque once everyone gets the hang of it.

With all these changes, there are still some areas that need improvement. For one, there is still very little action with the ball in the air. Right now that is perhaps the most startling difference between real soccer and FIFA soccer – the lack of sequences where three or four guys head the ball in a row. In FIFA if two in a row head it, it’s surprising.

There is also the matter of your defensive players. I am a strong believer in the idea that there should be no difference between computer controlled guys on your team and computer controlled guys on the computer’s team. The same AI should be used for both with the only exception being the human player jumping in and out of bodies like Agent Smith in the Matrix.

This year your defenders at times will literally stand around with their hands on their hips, watching your opponent advance the ball. You’ll find yourself yelling at pixilated little men who stare at the ball right in front of them and don’t flinch –- almost like a puppy who has decided he’s not playing fetch any more this evening.

And then the only time you get the defensive tenacity explained above is when you call for the defensive guy to move up -– while his buddy stands by and watches.{mospagebreak}

From time to time there is also a bit of lag between when you supposedly take over a player and when you can actually make him do something like, I don’t know, shoot the ball at the wide open net?

The following has happened to me two times. Player A is advancing toward the goal from the top right of the box. He fires a rocket at the keeper, who makes the save but leaves a tasty rebound out in the open for a streaking forward coming from the other side of the box. You switch players and start banging on the shoot key at a frantic pace. This apparently confuses the attacker, who stands there just long enough for a defender to come in and upset what should have been an equalizer.

This year we also have different times of day available. You can play your game during the day, at dusk or at night. Certainly a nice change from last year where you always played on a bright afternoon.

Although this begs the question: where’s the weather? Apparently FIFA Land is a magical place where it never rains, snows or sleets and is always 75 degrees! Who knew San Diego was such a big soccer town?

Manager Mode

The heart and soul of FIFA, Manager Mode, was greatly improved through one simple move: adding a few hundred more teams.

For an American looking to do a little something different in his first Manager Mode of 2008, it was overwhelming. There are literally leagues on five continents (I don’t believe there were any African leagues) in this game, and non-league affiliated teams from lord knows how many corners of the earth.

I’m guessing even the most die hard soccer fan can hit the random button and find at least a couple of teams they had never heard of before.

After that, much of the setup of the Manager Mode is similar to last year, although you now get the choice of using Euros, American Dollars or Pounds for all transactions –- instead of that Monopoly money from last year.

Money is also a lot easier to come by this time around. Instead of ticket sales being your primary source of funds, your sponsor now pays you every game. In my first season as a lowly League One team, I was pulling in €350,000 a match from my sponsor and €190,000 from my ticket holders for home games. That was all for less than €50,000 in salary a game. Last night in my second season I was pulling in €903,000 a game from my sponsor plus €364,000 a game in ticket sales (with a level five stadium and fan support of 99/100).

In my mind this is a good change. It changes the manager mode from a constant bout of not having enough money to strategically trying to decide where your money is best spent.

The sporadic moral quandaries from your Board of Directors are also still in the game. For some reason this was always a fun game of chess; however, with money more plentiful, the financial gains of making the right decision are less important. {mospagebreak}

Your team upgrades are the same as last year, with you investing money in position coaches, fitness, scouting, your stadium and your negotiator. Although stadium upgrades are a lot more expensive than I remember them being last year (although money is more plentiful as well).

Scouting is perhaps a bit too viable an option for building a team. With my scout bumped to a level 5 I was pulling 72 to 75 overall players out of Europe –- 18 year old prospects better than Freddy Adu and on par with some veteran Premiership players. And it took me less than a season as a league one team to get my scouting up that high. And last night with a level 10 scout I snagged an 82 overall, 19-year-old French striker.

But it certainly is fun going to the player casino every month and seeing what turns up. One thing that needs to change though is how they do the signing of these players. Right now it's just anti-climatic. Just like last year it asks if you want to sign the player (the answer is always yes) and then you have to hunt through your squad to see what you ended up with. Hopefully next season they’ll have you sign the new recruit and then have an unveiling of sorts and show you his overall and what scores he got in the other categories.

Negotiating also needs a bit of work. Right now it’s basically just a “guess how much higher than the market price that team will go” game. Some back and forth similar to free agent negotiations in other EA Sports games would be a welcome addition. Instead, all you have are variations on “hey give me more money” and I have yet to see a player voice his opinion in the more money sweepstakes.

Otherwise the system is better than last year simply because of the sheer number of players involved. You have access to all the players in all the leagues -- at a price of course. The game also does a pretty good job of having other teams from higher level leagues asking about some of your better players.

Chemistry is still a bit suspect. Right now my team is at the head of League One but my chemistry is 51, mostly because players are upset they’re playing ST instead of RW. In a lot of cases the players who are starting and playing almost every game for me are the ones upset.

Of course there’s also the annual “we want you to buy the same game twice” syndrome from EA. Instead of rolling their Champions League and UEFA Cup licenses into FIFA, we’re stuck with a lackluster and generic “European Cup.” Everybody knows what this is so why not add a bit of fun to the current title, complete with a pool selection show and some excitement for what is a pretty big deal in European soccer.

One last thing that twists my…wrist. When you’re nosing through your squad you have a computer generated profile shot of the player's face instead of a real picture. This is fine (and if anything I prefer this). The problem is created players and recruits -- they have the familiar “black hole where his face should be.” To me this is just lazy.

Be A Pro, Tournaments, Challenge Mode

Be A Pro is a pretty cool feature. First make sure to have the camera set as “Pro” otherwise the game isn’t as impressive since you have to guess where your guy is on the pitch if he's not in frame.

You basically play the game in a similar first person view popularized by shooters, and use just one guy on the pitch. It is a new and interesting way to play the game, and I guarantee at first you’re going to be all over the place wondering what the heck you should be doing -- it's just so counterintuitive after the decades of sports gaming we’ve all played.

To demonstrate the Be A Pro mode, check out this video of me controlling Fernando Torres as Liverpool takes on AC Milan.

{flv}be-a-pro{/flv}{mospagebreak}

Challenge Mode is a waste of time. I would prefer to see these challenges achieved while playing online and in manager mode –- similar to the way Madden and NCAA Football handled such achievements in years past.

There are two reasons for this hatred. First, it forces you to play the game a certain way to advance and the game forces you to do this while using specific teams. So much like the similar system Madden had for years, the Challenge Mode really makes you play in such a way that you develop bad habits. And in some situations you damn near have to use every cheesey trick in the book.

Second, this is soccer. The requirement to flat out win the game is frustrating. The following happens all over the world, many times over. You have the super crazy "bang the ball off the keeper's head before scoring while doing the chicken dance" challenge. You manage to pull it off and continue doing the chicken dance as your team celebrates. As you cruise toward the end of the game, seconds from finishing your opponent, it equalizes from 50 yards out.

Now you have two choices. Try the chicken dance move again or go find a gun. I usually do the latter.

This mode is just contrary to what makes sports gaming great: having fun and figuring out your own way to be the best you can with your own strategies, theories, philosophies, etc. Challenge Mode pidgeon holes you into "you have to pass a ton this game" styles that suck the fun out of the game.

Presentation

As you have come to expect from EA Sports, the overall presentation of this game is really spot on. The announcers are among the best in the game and rarely do you hear repeated commentary. Unlike some audio engines out there, the audio is almost always directly tied to what is going on –- no silly comments that don’t make sense when you look at the action on the field.

The default “Tele” view leaves a bit to be desired; however, changing to one of the Dynamic cameras does the trick and delivers the kind of on the field experience you expect.

The menus are also nicely setup, intuitive and easy to use.

Graphically the game is very impressive at times. The lighting during night and dusk games is very well done. The player models are realistic looking and many of the name players look almost exactly like their real life counterparts.

The half and end time highlight reels are also generally very good; although, sometimes you have to question the plays they decide to show.{mospagebreak}

Online

The biggest feature for online isn’t available yet: 5 on 5 multiplayer. This mode should be coming down the pike soon. Look for DSM to write about what that feature is like once it's available.

The actual gameplay is very smooth and about what you’d expect from a sports game at this point in time. There are ranked and unranked matches, lobbies to find opponents, etc.

There is also a league mode available for between 2 and 32 teams, with a few different formats to choose from. Sadly we haven’t gotten to the point yet where it's an online manager's mode, as you are essentially just playing games against the same owners with the same teams online. Nevertheless, this new feature is sure to be used a ton as folks look for more than just ranked matches with random yahoos.

Also new this year is the ability to upload highlights to EA Sports World. Still in beta, the system is a bit slow and needs some tweaks (for instance letting people enter descriptions of what is happening and not just seeing the final score as the lone descriptor), but this is a step in the right direction.

Scores

Presentation – 8.0: Really everything you would expect from EA Sports and nothing short. There are very few flaws to point out, and even then you’re guilty of nit-picking.

Graphics – 8.5: Clean, slick, life-like graphics all around. The lighting during night and dusk games particularly stands out.

Gameplay – 7.9: Certainly moving in the right direction. If EA can tackle a few of the bigger gameplay issues next year, this rating is going to jump exponentially.

Lasting Appeal – 9.5: This is mostly based on the sheer number of teams and leagues available. Anything you do in the Premier League you can then try and do in Serie A. The 5-on-5 play should also add a level of lasting appeal other sports games haven’t experienced yet, with the Be A Pro function being a great way to practice offline. Fans of this game are going to be playing it for a long time.

Online - Incomplete: So far, so good. I’m waiting to see how the 5-on-5 works before judging completely though. If it’s Gemmill in a bottle, this will be a very good treat. If not this game is about on par with what folks expect in this day and age.

Intangibles – 8.0: Your average online or offline game has a ton of emotion and there are always little quirks you find here and there that make this game fun. The crowd in the game also adds a ton of excitement and energy to the matches. Be A Pro should weigh in heavily here -- I see it as a good way to change things up when you need a slight break from your Manager Mode.

Overall

7.9: This game is close to crossing over and becoming a great title. A few tweaks here and there -- especially on the field -- and I think it's there. And if the online ideas EA has pan out, FIFA 09 should be getting a 9.