There are some things that you can count on - a handful of occurrences that happen year in, year out, whether you want them to or not. Seasons change, school starts, stops and restarts, awful TV talent show winners get to number one and, the most concrete, odds on certainty of them all is that EA releases a new FIFA game. Lo and behold, it's that time of the year again and, right on cue, a shiny new entry into one of the longest running sports game series has appeared on shelves country wide. So, it's time to clamber out of your Bentleys and Range Rovers, slip on your gold boots and complain about press intrusion; FIFA 09 is here and it's as close to footballing super stardom as most of us will ever get.

From the front end it's obvious that this is one of the most exhaustively complete football sims that has ever been released. There are more than forty leagues to pick your team from, including every English league, the American MSL and everything in between. Ever fancied taking Accrington Stanley to the top of the Premiership, the FA Cup final and the Champions League? Well, now's your chance. There's an incredible amount of options, teams, statistics and settings that you can wade through if that's the kind of thing you're into; you can fine tune a squad so that it plays exactly the way that you want it to play, right down to the speed that it builds up attacks.

Luckily though, FIFA hasn't done a Gran Turismo; there are stats and facts galore but the bare bones of the game - the football itself - is still incredible fun. There's a simple, almost inexplicable joy to slotting a header into the top corner after threading an inch-perfect pass into the box and EA clearly understands that. The controls are much the same as previous iterations; the left stick steers your player and the right trigger activates your sprint, with the face buttons shooting and crossing or tackling, swapping players or hustling, depending on who has possession. The left trigger when used in conjunction with the right analogue stick allows you access to trickier moves and turns, offering the chance to show off your ball skills, as well as changing your shot to a cheeky chip. The controls become second nature after a few games, letting even FIFA novices bend it like whichever player they fancy bending it like.

There are various game types and modes, ranging from a one-off friendly match to a full season slog and everything else in between. As well as the option to manage your team, choosing which players will start, your subs, transfers, scouting policy and everything else you could imagine, you can also do the exact opposite; rather than controlling a whole team, you can focus in on a single player, whether an established star or a character of your own making, and guide him through four seasons of football. This Be a Pro mode, introduced in FIFA 08, is an intriguing shift in pace and, despite sounding a little like a pointless gimmick, in practice works very well, forcing you to change the way you play and making even the most diehard of football game fanatics rethink their tactics.

There are three different difficulty settings to choose from - amateur, semi professional and professional - meaning that even complete beginners have the chance to win. Interestingly enough, the game checks your saves before you start to see if you have any data saved from last year's edition and suggests a difficulty setting based on the information that it finds. This is a good way to ensure that everyone is playing at the right setting and getting the most fun they can out of the game.

The big addition to this year's instalment it the Adidas Live Season option. For a small fee you can tie your in-game performance into the real world; if a player gets injured on a Saturday afternoon in a real game of football then you won't be able to play as them until they're fit again in reality. Add in real transfers, results and problems, and your aspirations to be Alex Ferguson are on the verge of coming true. Well, they are if you think that the Manchester United team are robots controlled their manager off the field with a controller. This is another excellent reason for the purists to buy the game and, for those who aren't interested, it's an optional service.

Next generation football games do seem to lag behind the rest of the pack in terms of aesthetic flair; save for a few tweaks there's very little between this game and any of the other FIFA releases on this generation of hardware. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just a shame that EA and others have decided to rest on their laurels when it comes to the visuals. That's not to say that there's anything wrong with the way that FIFA 09 looks though; it's strong, solid and functional, but if you compare it to a non-footballing game on the 360 then it doesn't quite measure up. The crowd sounds on the other hand are some of the best I've heard from a console football game, changing to map the on-field situation, as well as the setting and stadium that you're playing in. The soundtrack is decent enough if you're into modern pop and indie and simple enough to turn off if you're not. The commentators are, well, flawed to say the best; the recording and statements themselves are fine but they often seem to be about five minutes behind the action, or watching a different game entirely. For example, I didn't realise that there was a home team in the FA Cup Final.

As well as the usual match mode, FIFA 09 also includes a variety of challenges, as well as letting you create your own that you can share with your friends over Live. These are basically tasks that you have to accomplish within a match or within a set number of matches. They're little more than a diversion from the real meat and two veg of the package but they're good enough to keep you interested and, more importantly, they play just as well as the rest of the game.

Both the online and offline multiplayer modes continue the high standards set by the rest of FIFA 09, allowing you and your friends and/or enemies to engage in some fast, frantic and incredibly entertaining action. The only thing better than curling one into the top corner from thirty yards out is hearing your annoying best friend weep as the net bulges then forcing him to sit through thirty slow motion replays from as many angles as you can imagine. The fluidity isn't lost in the translation from single player to multiplayer either; EA has almost perfected the football formula and FIFA 09 is proud to show it off.

Even if you've got every other version of FIFA ever released, I can still recommend FIFA 09; the tweaks and twists that have been applied to the heart of the game make this edition indispensable. The speed, touch and style of FIFA 09 need to be experienced to be believed - if you've never played a football game before then this is by far the best place to kick off.

Reviewed by Harry Slater for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).

Read external FIFA 09 reviews on ciao.