5th and final penalty - online playability

I may as well get this one out the way right now. FIFA wins this by a considerable margin and it’s easy to see why. The past few years have seen EA’s online game play much better, with very little in the way of lag or glitches. It’s not to say there has been a clear record, but it seems to hold its own very well, mostly in part to the American company’s own servers taking the brunt of the traffic, resulting in a very playable and satisfying internet experience. The new Be A Pro online mode is also another ingredient to add to the mix, but what makes it stand out the most is the potential to have 20 players playing at any one time, making it as close to actually playing football as you can get.

Pro Evolution on the other hand (and I do have to say this with a heavy heart, being a fan of the series for some time) is a dog’s breakfast. You may well have up to 4 players online, should you wish to, but like 2008’s offering, the game is borderline between lag ridden and completely unplayable. They said last year they would bring out a patch to fix 08’s faults with regards to its online mode, but that never happened. Whether they’ll do it this year remains to be seen, but it’s such a shame when you consider that the playability of the offline mode is so good, but the other areas let it down.

So with that, Konami’s expensive foreign signing misses under pressure and allows EA to beat them, winning the trophy for best footie game of 2008 (even though it does say 2009 on each box, but hey).

PES 09  - X0X0X
FIFA 09 - 000X0