FIFA 10: Demo

Yes. FIFA 09 might have been excellent in its own right, but there's no denying that it's been clearly superseded. Eight three-minute games of the newly-minted demo suggest that Peter Moore's predictions of 90% scores for this year's game might well come true.

The demo features five teams - Chelsea, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Olympique Marseille and, er, Chicago Fire. You get to play around in the Arena with Lampard, and then engage in a three-minute match at the new Wembley Stadium. So far, so last year. First game, and you're noticing slight changes. You're aware of the new 360 degree player control, but it doesn't seem massively different at first. You might spot new animations - players lunging for the ball, or jostling much more convincingly than before. Individual players look and move more like the real thing than ever before - Anelka accelerating past defenders, and Drogba forcibly holding a defender back as he shields the ball with his back to goal. Crosses are pinged into the box instead of floated slowly. There seems to be more room but less space - the pitch seems larger but you're closed down quicker (by the good teams, at least). It's tiny tweaks, but they're definitely improvements.

Then you play more and notice more. You can easily run the ball out of play when hugging the touchline, the slightest up or down movement on the analogue stick while you're holding it to the right seeing your player relinquish control. You start arcing runs more - cutting inside, or heading goalwards from the byline, gradually increasing the angle of approach until you can see that gap to the keeper's left hand to fizz in a shot. Scoring from distance seems a little easier.

There's more still. Refs will retrospectively book players in real-time after playing the advantage, sometimes even pulling out a second yellow before the sending-off cutscene plays out. The commentary from Tyler and Gray seems more fluid (despite a few minor lapses). And no longer can you just hold down the A button while defending to press for a standing tackle - if your player's coming in from the wrong angle or you just mistime it, a hooked leg across your opponent, whether it wins the ball or not, can result in a free-kick. It makes the officials seem initially fussy, but once you rewire your brain to hold off tackling until the right moment (or choose the right player, like Carvalho who's a real beast of a player here) things start to flow more.

Talking of set-pieces, these have been improved, too. Certain players are clear free-kick specialists, with assists on their strikes, making for more viciously-swerving balls, or just increased power in general. Keepers won't always hold onto low, firm shots, either - you'll see them tip the ball round the post more often, while the likes of Cech seem to prefer fisting the ball clear during a melee rather than attempting to hold on.

FIFA 10 feels more natural, more organic than 09. And with most of the new modes and options still under lock and key, we're certain we've not seen the last of FIFA 10's key improvements. One thing's for sure: Konami has its work cut out this year, because on this evidence, the current football champ has an even firmer grasp on its Premier League crown, and is in no mood to let it slip.

Marco Cecilio, NoobFeed