SportsGamer's FIFA 09 Wishlist

Skill Moves were the greatest addition to FIFA 08.

FIFA 08 has been out now for some time. It's a great game, no question about it. However, there are several areas where this title could use improvement. SportsGamer is going to break down some different aspects of FIFA 08, and explain how we feel FIFA 09 could improve upon the current version of FIFA. To do this, we're going to break down the game into three distinct categories: Gameplay, Online Play, and Manager Mode / Be a Pro. This is where your help is needed. Please give us your input and we will make sure EA has the opportunity to review it. It should help EA create an even better game for FIFA 09.

What's Good About FIFA 08

FIFA 08 made dramatic improvements over FIFA 07. The removal of the rediculous through ball, and the top of the box chip shot were taken away, which instantly improved the game. In addition, the right stick turbo run was toned down to take away the absurdly fast speed bursts that were the norm in FIFA 07. However, the greatest improvement to FIFA 08 was the addition of the Skill Moves. These skill moves give each user the ability to be unique. Each gamer has the ability to put their personal touch onto the game. In addition, the skill moves aren't "essential" to the success of your team. Yes, they work. Yes, they can help you score goals. However, if you learn to be technically sound and pass the ball well, you don't "need" them. That gives the user the option to decide if they want to use the skill moves or not. Overall, the skill moves are a great addition to the game and add quite a bit of replay value to an already addictive game.

Another upgrade that EA made to FIFA 08 from last year's title is the multiple league licenses' in the game. FIFA 08 added several more leagues than last year's version. This always makes for an enjoyable experience because it's fun to play with several different teams. I can't tell you the amount of hours I've spent breaking down the different leagues to find a team to play with. Adding to the fun of all the different leagues is the Achievement List which calls for the user to win Man of the Match accolades with players from leagues all over the world. This has led to me playing with teams from nearly every different league. I've evaluated all the substitutes on each roster to see if there were any hidden gems that I could insert into the starting lineup in order to make my team better. It's very rewarding to win a game with Norway's SK Brann while competing against teams like Barcelona! With over 500 teams in this year's game, there is always a way to make the game feel new and interesting.

The most rewarding part of FIFA is how addictive it is. This can be both a blessing and a curse. If you have a family that requires your time, you might not want to start playing FIFA 08 because it can begin to consume all your free time. Games last only 10-15 minutes which is a great game length. Longer can get a bit boring, shorter can feel like you didn't have enough time to impose your strategy on the game. To relate FIFA 08 to Madden 08 - you can play 3 or 4 FIFA games in the time it takes to complete one game of Madden. In addition, FIFA 08 games can be so intense, and the flow of the game can change so dramatically through the course of the game. This leads to some frustration, but even more enjoyment. This short, intense burst of emotion while playing FIFA is very addictive. I find myself going through stages. At first it's pure enjoyment while I win some, lose some. Then I start to win a little more than I lose, and become more frustrated when I lose. Then, I become even better, and find myself pulling my hair out when I lose! Like I said, it can be frustrating, but it is immensely addictive, and I find that win or lose it's hard to put down the controller.

Improvements for FIFA 09 - General

The addition of so many teams between FIFA 07 and FIFA 08 was amazing. It really added to the enjoyment of the game. I think there are many people that would appreciate to see even more teams and leagues added to the game. In addition to adding more leagues, could we get more classic teams? The EA Madden title has Super Bowl teams from the past 40 years. I understand that there are some issues with using someone's likeness, but why not just give them a number and a rating. FIFA users can create names for the players later. It would be cool to have all the classic World Cup teams. Here are a couple more ideas to improve FIFA 09:

This hard tackle from behind was awarded only a yellow card. Some gamers do this ALL game long.

The Foul System - The foul system needs to be totally revamped. Here's the problem - there is no real consequence for blatantly fouling all game long. The worst part is that it's actually good strategy in the video game this year. When your opponent has an attack, often times gamers slide tackle the supporting player. The ref plays advantage and let's the play continue. The problem is now there is no one to pass to because your supporting player has been fouled. Often times even when you lose the ball no foul is called. Many gamers don't even let the opposition start an attack. They simply foul immediately when their opponent gets the ball. Sometimes yellow cards are awarded, but not often enough. Then, the gamer can use three subs to remove yellow carded players. I've actually played against people who have received 8 yellow cards in one game, without a red card. That's basically 8 attacking opportunities they were able to stop, without consequence. Free kicks are nice, but if they're not in shooting range all it does is let my opponent put their defense in position. Also, many gamers have figured out that as long as they're not the last defender, they won't receive a red card until the second yellow. This needs to change. If a user slide tackles a player that doesn't have the ball, and isn't within 5 meters of the ball, they should be red carded - or at least yellow carded after the play is over. Don't let the advantage rule stop the referee from giving yellow cards. In addition, there needs to be a system where slide tackle fouls are added up. If this happens too often the referee needs to go directly to red for some players. It's just not at all in the spirit of the game to have users slide tackle to stop the flow of the play ALL game long.

Commentary - More commentary would be nice. Maybe not more, but more diverse. "He speculated, and almost accumulated". I love that line, but have only heard it a handful of times. "He bought a raffle ticket and almost won!". I just heard that today for the first time. Those are great lines. However, there are other lines that simply drive you crazy after awhile. Why is it that every time Wright-Phillips gets the ball we have to hear how he's "a real bundle of energy". The commentary is amazing on FIFA 08. I'd just like to see it even better in FIFA 09. Yes, this is a small thing, but it would be just another small addition to an already great game.

Weather! - How fun would it be to play in the pouring rain, or better yet snow! This would be another factor that would make the game exciting. Other EA titles even utilize the weather channel to play the game in the conditions of the location of that particular game. Could this be an option?

More Uniforms - I really like how we have the option to purchase 3rd kits for certain teams this year. I find myself collecting all of them, even though most I haven't ever used. What would be nicer would be to have the option to purchase more kits for a particular team. Maybe even throwback jerseys. In Madden a couple years ago, there were 9 Atlanta Falcon jerseys. I'd like to see more uniforms for FIFA as well, even if we have to purchase them with points. I miss Arsenal's yellow jersey. How about Manchester United's blue? The more uniforms we can have access to the more we can feel unique when playing. Please, give us more uniforms.

Practice Mode - The Arena Mode is kind of cool, but we need practice. I'd love to be able to work on set pieces. Work on passing techniques. Work on dribbling moves. Practice mode is the only practical way to do this. The button sequences in FIFA 08 are so elaborate, and the opportunity to actually use some of these skills are limited in game. By adding a practice mode there would be a much higher level of play being displayed for FIFA 09.

Improvements for FIFA 09 - Gameplay

As noted above, I've broken down the areas of improvement into three categories. My personal opinion is that gameplay is always the most important aspect of any game to improve so I will start with it.

Goalkeepers - I wanted to start with the keeper play because at times it is absolutely horrendous. With that said, it is improved over last year's game, so that is a step in the right direction, but it needs to continue to improve. Here are some key issues where keeper play should be improved:

GK's: Near Post Play - Keepers get beat to the near post with regularity this year. It doesn't matter at all what the rating of the keeper is. Even the best keepers get pulled out of position with the simple side dribble of the attacker this year. This is extremely frustrating because often times the angle of the shot isn't great. Especially since it is the keeper's responsibility NOT to get beat to the near post. On shots across the keeper's body, they do seem to play well, and ratings do matter. However, the AI needs to be changed to be more realistic toward the near post angle the keeper takes.

GK's: Coming Out Against the Through Ball - Last year, when the user held the triangle / Y button, the keeper would attack the ball no matter where it was. For some reason this year the keeper will come out and simply stop. If a through ball gets dropped on about the 20 - 24 meter line, the keeper will stop at the edge of the penalty box and watch as the attacking player runs onto the ball and proceeds to score. Other times, even with a through ball played INSIDE the penalty box, the keeper won't come out to make a play on the ball, even when I'm holding the Triangle button. Users need more control over their keeper. If we want to bring them out, let us bring them out.

GK's: Free Kicks - Users should be able to take control of their keeper on free kicks to move the keeper left or right to put him in position. This should add another level of strategy in free kick taking. Right now, if you can put the ball over the wall, the keeper has little chance of a save. However, as a free kick taker there is virtually no chance of beating the keeper to the far post. I'd like to see more of a cat and mouse game between the keeper and the kick taker in regards to what corner is attacked. No reaction to certain balls in the box - At times the keeper seems like he has no clue where the ball is, and will simply not react to the ball at all in his box, and let the attacker knock the ball in from INSIDE the 6 meter box. Please fix the reaction time for the keeper in this regard.

GK's: Where am I? - At times the keeper seems like he has no clue where the ball is, and will simply not react to the ball at all in his box, and let the attacker knock the ball in from INSIDE the 6 meter box. Please fix the reaction time for the keeper in this regard.

Field Players - The main improvement I'd like to see for the field players in FIFA 09 is their ability to actually know where the ball is at all times. Too often goals are conceded because it's impossible to clear the ball becuase players are standing around in the way of clearing the ball, but without a clue where the actual ball is. I would like to see these players open themselves up to receive passes, or at least move out of the way for other passes to be made. Often times I will have three defenders in the area of the ball, and I will tackle the ball manually with one of the defenders. However, my other two players box me in and play defense on me. GET OUT OF THE WAY. Open up to receive a pass. At least 20% of the goals I concede are just misplayed by my defenders. They just don't understand where the ball is. It's so frustrating to concede this way, and it isn't rewarding to score from this either. Every time I score a goal because of it I simply shrug my head in disgust. This needs to be fixed.

In addition to players not knowing where the ball is, there needs to be something done to give the user more control of their player, quicker. Too often I try to click on a different defender and simply can't do it. Or I can click on a different player, but the computer controls that player. I need more control. The more you can give control to the user, the better. There is nothing more frustrating that being just out of reach for a ball but not being able to manually control the player closest to the ball. There needs to be some tweaking of the controls to allow quicker switching of players, with quicker manual control.

The passing controls can also be a bit difficult and inaccurate. Too often I am pushing one direction of the analog stick but the pass goes to the wrong player. I'm not sure how this can be corrected but it would be great to get slightly better accuracy on the passing controls. I'm nitpicking a little bit here, but it is an area that can be improved.

In-Game Strategies - I really enjoy the in-game strategies such as the team press. However, I'd like to see more in-game strategies incorporated into the game. This gives the gamers that appreciate more strategy than simply button pressing more options. It would be nice to have some different options available in the pause menu that we can set on our d-pad. So maybe we can only still use four different strategies, but we can choose from a list of 8?

Also, the switch from offsides trap from FIFA 07 to FIFA 08 was a dissapointment in my opinion. The offsides trap was much more effective in 07. I know you have allocated the button to a different function now, but can we get the old offsides trap back. It's just too inconsistent in 08 and the timing is quite off. For those of you who don't remember, in FIFA 07 there was a button that you could hold, and while holing your defense would push up in a trapping position, and when you let go they would drop back. This gives the user quite a bit more control of the defensive back line. That would be a welcomed addition to FIFA 09. It would have to be somewhere other than the d-pad preferrably, because the d-pad isn't a great location to hold the button.

We'd love to be able to pass the ball 360 degrees on free kicks.	Please, more tactics. They can really help give the user more control.

Set Pieces - I think we've all heard quite a bit about the kick off play where users simply shoot directly off the kickoff. I don't think it is a huge problem, but probably should be addressed slightly. In addition, corner kicks this year simply seem so odd. There are times that the ball comes in like a GPS guided missile directly to the attacker's head. I don't mind that, because guys really can put corners in that well. The problem is that defensively you can know exactly where the ball's going to go, stand right there, and for some reason get moved out of the way before the ball arrives. Please give us better tools to defend against this type of corner. I understand that corners are good goal scoring opportunities, and they should be. But there needs to be a better system than the current corner kick.

In regards to free kicks, I do like them, but I'd like to see a 360 degree option to pass the ball. It's just too easy for the defense to steal the ball if you try to pass it. I'd also like to see a better bluff mode. I know you can bluff, but not that convincingly if you're playing a live opponent. Overall the free kicks are pretty good though.

Throw-Ins - These can be so frustrating. Can we please have a way to throw the ball quicker. Also, when I have a throw-in in the defensive third of the field, I think I might just rather throw the ball out of bounds and give my opponent a throw-in because it's nearly impossible to not have the ball stolen. Let me have an option to just throw the ball as far as I can down the sideline. When I try now, it makes the ball go to the nearest offensive player. The problem is that my opponent can see where I'm throwing, and while my player is trying to trap the ball it's stolen. Is a defensive throw-in really one of the opposing team's best scoring opportunities in real life?

Offside Dummies - It is extremely frustrating to watch my attackers make runs into offsides positions so often. However, I can live with that. The problem is that if I accidentally make a pass to a player that I know is in an offsides position, I want to click off of him and let him NOT play the ball. Why am I locked onto the player? Why can't I tell the player to leave the ball alone. This would prevent the whistle from being blown and let the flow of the play continue. It's just too hard at times to time the pass to keep the attacker onsides. With that said, I don't want the entire play to be negated because of it. Let me click off the player or at least move the player away from the ball.

Improvements for FIFA 09 - Online Play

This is the area in which I feel the bulk of the improvement needs to be made. Right now, online play is a bit of a mess. This isn't entirely EA's fault either. Part of the issue is that FIFA is played worldwide, and the servers are trying to connect people in Asia, Australia, Europe, Africa, South America and North America. This is no small task but we have to be able to get better connections. I'm sure this is being worked on. The issue is, and EA knows it, the better the online connection gets, the more enjoyable this game is to play. Especially for someone like me, who doesn't have any friends locally to play the game with. I rely on online games to play FIFA. Hopefully FIFA 09 will see an improvement of the servers.

In addition to the server issues, there are some social networking issues as well. I'm talking about the PlayStation Network here. I'm playing FIFA 08 on the PS3, and the PlayStation Network is terrible. I don't think this is EA's fault. I'm pretty sure it's Sony's fault. However, EA needs to try to find ways to work around such a bad network. Here's the major problem in the PS3: You can't send a message to a person without quitting the game and going to the PSN dashboard. Hello? Does anyone else find this annoying? I know this isn't EA's doing, but there has to be some way that we can communicate other than quitting our game. One reason is that most people, after playing someone, either like or dislike that person. If they like them and want a rematch, it can be nearly impossible to find them again in a lobby. If EA can't fix the communication problem, give us a 'Rematch' option. Ask both players if they want a rematch after the game has ended. If both players say yes, put them into another game. At least this way we can play people we enjoy playing without having to quit the game to send them a message. Here are some other online ideas to improve FIFA 08:

No Quitting - Don't have a 'Quit before 15 minutes and the game won't count' rule. Make it the following: Quit before 15 minutes with the score TIED and the game won't count. This way if there is bad lag a user can drop a game.

Friendly Quit - In the pause menu, have a 'Friendly Quit' option. This would be anytime in the game, you can offer to 'Friendly Quit' with your opponent. If both users agree, the game quits and doesn't count. This would account for the fact that sometimes there is bad lag that doesn't start until later in the game. This gives some flexibility to the users if this happens. Friendly Quit's should not effect a user's DNF%.

Concede Match - In the pause menu, offer a 'Concede Match' option if you're losing in the second half. It's sometimes a waste of time for someone to finish a game in which they're getting blown out. This gives the user a bit more flexibility in dropping games without being labeled a 'quitter'. This also should not count against the DNF%.

Created Formations - Allow users to use created formations online. Created formations and team mentality are very critical to uniqueness in FIFA. It would be amazing to see how many different custom formations we would see. Any way you look at it, there are still 11 players per side, so this shouldn't lead to any type of cheating.

Pre-Set Strategies - Let users save their substitutions and load them in game. Often times users make dramatic changes to their lineup before games. It would be great to let a user save these changes offline, and load them online to save time before each match. Again, this is another option of convenience.

DNF% - When choosing the 'Quick Ranked Match' option, I'd like the ability to see my opponent's rank and DNF% right there.

More Custom Rooms - Because the PSN is so bad, create more rooms like the 'Advanced' room, but have different levels for it. So level 1 should have their own room. Then level 2-5 should have a room. Then levels 5-12 should have a room. Then level 13-19 should have a room. Then the Advanced room of 20+. This is just a better way to ensure that we're getting even competition. Also, there is a better likelyhood of finding your opponent in the room you came from after a game so we can chat.

Quick Tournament Mode - Add 'Quick Tournament Mode' online. It would be amazing if we could have quick tournaments where 8-16 people joined, and we played an opponent. Then, the winners were immediately taken to the next round against another opponent. It would be a 3 or 4 round tournament. Users could receive trophies to tournament wins. Another cool option to let users play a series of games against competition that was getting harder each round.

Who's my Opponent Using? - Why can't we see who our opponent is clicked on? That should be in the game because it would more closely mimic the offline game. In addition, I like to know who my opponent is controlling because it may dictate who / when I pass the ball.

Guest Mode - Take out the 'Guest' mode. I was unaware of what this was for some time. Now I've found that it's playing 2v1. Why is that even allowed in a ranked game? If users want to play multi-player games, create a seperate mode for that. Don't let users trick others into a game where they are forced to play 2v1.

Above are a handful of ideas that would significantly improve the online experience of most FIFA users. Hopefully EA can add most of these options to the upcoming version of the game. Next, we explore the last aspect of FIFA 09.

Improvements for FIFA 09 - Manager Mode / Be a Pro Mode

This mode of play is one that I simply can't give the best feedback on. I've played the Manager Mode through a few seasons, but to be honest I haven't had enough experience with it to really judge it. This is where user feedback is important. Please add feedback as to how EA can improve this area of the game. SportsGamer will be collecting your ideas and laying them out in a very easy to read document that we will be sending to EA. EA wants our opinions, and our voice will dictate changes in the game. Make sure your voice is heard by leaving feedback in this article. You can leave feedback for any of the topics you think would help improve the FIFA 09 title. We will make sure this gets into the hands of the producers and hopefully FIFA 09 will continue to improve as it did between 07 and 08.