With the global economy currently resembling the braces of a fat cat city trader - stretched to breaking point in its increasingly desperate attempts to hold everything up - now might not be the best time for a large institution like FIFA to find itself in the middle of a re-branding. Previously the series had been a strange but incredibly popular merger of real life and fantasy, with licensed professional players participating in the kind of frenetic, ill-disciplined goal-fests that you use to have with your mates round at the local park. In FIFA 08, however, EA brought these decadent days of instant profit for minimal investment to an end and it's a decision that they don't seem to regret because in FIFA 09 they don't look back (much). Instead they've used the normal short development cycle to take the rather raw product that 08 turned out to be and refine it to create something that's almost everything you would want from a football game, a title that ensures there'll be no slowdown for EA, economic or otherwise.

On the pitch, FIFA plays noticeably faster than it did in 08. The restricted tempo that characterised matches in last year's game has gone but things still aren't hectic by old FIFA standards because games remain set against the structured backdrop of the tight formations and lack of space established in the previous outing. Rather than being just a callous mid-year cash in, EA's Euro 2008 title actually included some very tangible benefits, which FIFA 09 now profits from. A game that gives faster players the pace to outstrip opponents is nothing revolutionary - but a game that also enables stronger players to use their power to win the ball and provides more skilful players with the ability to evade challenges using their superior close control, or one of the tricks conjured up via a combination of the right analog stick and the L2 button, is something to be admired. Together, these individual attributes of speed, strength and skill compete with one another in a rock/paper/scissors style system that introduces a much more rounded physicality to the virtual game that has always been present in the real one. It's an idea still in its infancy though and, as such, suffers from a slight lack of subtlety - but every time Fernando Torres is barged off the ball by a defender as if he weighed little more than a school girl is soon forgotten when you spring a defence using his lightening speed and a perfectly weighted pass from Steven Gerrard, made possible by the return of the triangle button through ball, the success rate for which is now perfectly pitched between its all powerful nature in FIFA 07 and its virtual redundancy in 08.

While the benefits of the speed and strength attributes will be the most obvious initially, the close ball skills are just as likely to be a deciding factor with the controller in the right hands and the ball at the right feet. They're helped by animations that have been reworked and tightened up to make them as supple as new blades of grass at the start of a season. There are some exquisite small touches that add personality to the action too; linesmen flag to attract the referee's attention to infringements, players appeal for offsides and point to where they want the ball, and the choice of interactive celebrations gives you more ways than ever before to antagonise opponents, cupping your hand to your ear and pressing your finger to your lips both being particularly useful during away games. They're only tiny details but each is evidence of the fact that the visual standard is so sharp that it's never been better. Improved player models makes for less 'guess who' moments and more players escape the unfortunate affliction of ending up looking like Gary Neville (even Gary Neville). The developers have completed their due diligence to ensure that the licensed stadiums have not only been beautifully sculpted but that they're appreciated from a range of panoramic camera angles. Combined with team-specific crowd chants, they create a real sense of place and occasion for every match. The quality of the commentary from the returning Andy Gray and Martin Tyler is also of a high quality; those who purchased 08 will probably quickly notice some recycling of comments, but there is also a lot of new, professional sounding material, even if the way the game sometimes links this together makes the duo look like they're watching a different game or losing the plot completely. "It's now really just a question of how many they're going to win by today" Tyler states sagely, seconds before exclaiming excitedly "This really is a game that could go either way". [Sounds plausible to me! Commentate Ed].

Besides the vast number of standard formations, you can switch your team's impetus at a second's notice mid-match by using the different tactical set-ups that are mapped to the d-pad. Four of these are the preset quick tactics, such as counter attack and retain possession, but up to four others can be schemes that you've created yourself using the all-new custom tactics options. Divided into three distinct sections of build-up, chance creation and defence, the custom tactics allow you to be possessed by the spirit of Claudio Ranieri, tinkering to your heart's content to decide such things as the speed of your play, whether team members interchange freely or stick rigidly to their formation and how high they defend up the pitch. Often in football games fiddling with such fine details has little visible effect, but here the A.I. is so well developed that every alteration makes a difference and, despite some fumbling to alternate between them during play, you can lose hours honing instructions to best suit your current team, formation and eleven on the field before finally showing them off.

The minor infringements that FIFA 09 does commit are generally those that haven't been remedied since 08. There are still instances when the game decides to pass the ball to a different player than the one you intended and, in worst-case scenarios, one of the opposing team. Button presses often carry over so that a player you just want to trap the ball instead exasperates you by hitting a pass to no one or making an extremely speculative shot. Switching control of players may not take you directly to the one you want, goalkeepers flirt rather too erratically between super- and sub-human, and an animation problem can cause players to get disorientated. However, even when combined, these issues struggle to amount to a yellow card because all the good work means that the standard game engine is now tremendously robust - and it's an engine that's susceptible to constant change, thanks to the much hyped Adidas Live Season, which updates players' stats in the English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Mexican top leagues once a week to reflect their real world performances. In the sales pitch it sounds like a groundbreaking system, the kind of feature that Internet connectivity was meant to bring just as much as online matches. A spell of blinding form from Buffon will see him equally hard to beat in the game whilst a poor performance for Ronaldinho may find his dancing feet rooted to the pine of the Milan bench rather than the sambaing round the San Siro pitch. In practice, however, only being able to choose one of the leagues for free, with the others available for an optional extra cost, is a definite black mark, especially for content that's being so blatantly sponsored - and the divisions involved sit uncomfortably alongside all of the others, which are trapped in a kind of pre-season stasis. Ultimately it will be down to EA to ensure that the changes remain notable but not over-exaggerated and to FIFA fans to decide whether the Live experiment is a success.

In terms of game modes, FIFA is now virtually full to bursting with variety. EA have once again laid out the pages of their giant cheque book end to end, forming a chastity belt around the footballing world to protect the purity of all the official league and cup competitions, both domestic and international, that they've licensed, along with the teams, players and kits that make them up. As well as these there's also Lounge Mode, a quirky, alternative way for a group of mates sitting in front of a TV to mix up match challenges, and Manager Mode, where, in between playing matches, you're dealing with contracts, scouting, the bull and bear trading of the transfer market and trying to keep your sponsors, board, fans and players all happy.

The Be a Pro mode also returns after its debut last year. Once again this allows you to literally step into the boots of a single player rather than controlling a whole team, marking you out of ten on how well you play your position, and, once again, it has some high and precise expectations. Go anywhere apart from where the positional arrow instructs you to and you'll lose points. Hit a killer cross into the area that your teammates fail to get on the end of and you'll lose points. The shaky camera motion when you're on a run towards goal is also an effect too far. These are tense moments but they're also meant to be professional players and it's not like they're so nervous that they've downed ten pints in the dressing room before they came out, rather than the recommended isotonic beverage.

While the one-off games have been replaced by a career structure that has your created or real-life player completing game-by-game and season objectives, improving their attributes and striving to become a club star and captain of their national sides, at only four years in length most pros would feel a little hard done by. There is a moment on the loading screen, however, when you're practising one-on-one with a keeper and the scene around you suddenly changes from a deserted training ground to your player standing in front of The Kop, or The Stretford End, or the towering decks of the Camp Nou, which seem to reach to the sky. It's a moment that makes you realise that, despite its flaws, Be a Pro achieves what it sets out to do - and there's nothing else like it. What's more, you can now play Be a Pro in up to ten vs. ten online matches and these sit above the regular ranked and unranked games, the up to thirty-two player custom leagues and the interactive team leagues, where you try and help your favourite side in the rankings by playing matches against supporters of others teams, as the pinnacle of a superb set of online options, which are only let down by some rather to frequent lag.

It would be remiss when talking of FIFA not to refer to it in regard to its main rival, Pro Evolution Soccer - and while, at the time of writing, this year's PES remains an unknown quantity, developers Konami are going to have to bring the house if their game is going to be a contender, because FIFA 09 comes as close as anything before it, and possibly closest, to balancing realism with enjoyment. Just like Chelsea circa 2005, all that huge investment is really paying dividends and FIFA's stock just continues to rise.

Reviewed by James Hamblin for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).

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