August 15, 2008 - When we first saw FIFA Soccer 09 up in Vancouver earlier this year, the game admittedly looked early. Now that I've gotten my hands on an updated build, a more accurate iteration of what gamers will see on October 14 when the game ships, I can say that FIFA Soccer 09 is putting the pieces together very nicely.

One of the big pushes in innovation for this year's FIFA title is physical play. Players can now jostle back and forth for balls, slam into each other with the bigger player sending the smaller player on his back, and flop more realistically during a slide tackle. This was on display at EA's Studio Showcase.

The developer on hand set up a match between Chelsea and Arsenal and the action quickly began. I was admittedly rusty, having not laid my hands on a football title since UEFA. I was actually surprised by how different FIFA felt. There's a much larger range of motion, or at least that's the way it felt. I was much less inhibited by things like invisible rails or CPU-forced runs. Even though this has been a focus of FIFA for the last few years, it has clearly seen improvements here with 09.

No pressure.

The gameplay felt very tight overall and offered new, fully customizable controls and camera angles. Yes, you can now change the height, position and other attributes of the sidelines camera. Other additions include customizable tactics which is governed by a set of sliders that include the tempo with which your team advances the ball and their aggressiveness on pushing up the defensive line to force an offside call. Something football diehards will undoubtedly appreciate.

The next big addition to the features list of FIFA Soccer 09 is 10-on-10 football. Similar to the idea behind EA Sports Hockey League in NHL 09, ten players on each side of the ball (all but the goalie) are controlled by a human. Players can change their camera angle to their liking, and yes, the Be A Pro perspective is in there. While I didn't get to try it for myself, the developer described a scenario similar to that of NHL. Novice players begin the game by following the ball around in a giant mass until they realize that playing their roles brings quicker success. Real football is key.

There are other smaller nuances that have been added to the FIFA brand of football, such as the new physics behind the ball. Apparently there has been a redefinition of how the ball reacts to the goal posts and other physical bodies in the environment. The good news is that there have been plenty of crazy, but realistic results because of it.

FIFA Soccer 09 was playing at a high quality when I finally got my hands on it. As someone who enjoyed UEFA a good bit, I can say that FIFA has made the expected strides towards international football glory. Keep an eye out for FIFA Soccer 09 to hit store shelves on October 14.