28 suggestions for improvements of FIFA 09 (Xbox 360)

[coolboywind]

The 35 "problems" I experienced in FIFA09 (Xbox 360)

1. Edit team formations without saving them.
The game can allow the gamer to use an edited formation without saving it on the memory card or hard disk, because sometime we may just want to quickly try it once only. The temporary formation can be present until quiting the game.

2. More convenient substitution.
Add an option of "substitutions" to the pause menu will allow the gamer to quickly change players.

3. Fast switch the player of a free kick.
Should allow allow the gamer to easily switch the player for a free kick (not to enter the menu and xxxx). As I remember, FIFA UEFA 2008 (for PS2) is good at this point, isn't it?

4. Unchangeable free kicker.
It seems that sometimes the kicker of a free kick cannot be changed, normally at around the sides of the box.

5. Make it more notable when a player gets a card or injured.
This can be done with an eye-catching mark on that player's head or on his stamina bar when switching to him ), so that the gamer can always be aware that he/she should be more careful when using that player for sliding tackles or needs a substitution.

6. Selecting a team is a bit time-consuming.
Pro Evolution Soccer's two dimensional team selection interface seems more friendly, doesn't it?

7. Auto-tactics and auto-substitution
It would be much more helpful to add "auto-tactics" and "auto-substitute" optionsby which AI can determine marking the opponent's key player and according to stamina and abilities decide when and whom to substitute. Sometime we would just like to play an casual and non-competitive game. Why not allow AI to do those?

8. Rematch.
The game is better to allow the gamer to change his/her formations and tactics, not just simply restart the play with everything the same as the previous match.

9. Team switch after an exhibition match.
After playing an exhibition match, it seems that a gamer cannot switch to a different team quickly but have to quit to the main menu to select "exhibition" and then XXX. That is rather troublesome...

10. Auto-save and annoying prompt for saving.
Some time I'd like to save the progress manually after I create a turnament but DON'T want the game to overwrite that save file, because I want to load it in the future to REPEAT that turnament. BUT when I disable the "auto-save" option in game settings, everytime I finish a turnament match the game asks me whether to save the game or not, can EA just make it not so annoying and just let the gamer handle everything, or at least allow the gamer to turn off the prompt?

11. The one-two.
When the gamer uses the one-two, the player that passes and runs always raises his arm and point to somewhere, regardless whether the ball is intercepted or not. That seems boring, untrue and sometimes silly.

12. Weather problem.
In Manager Mode, the weather seems never to change, but always be the same as game settings in an Exhibition Match.

13. Fast free kick.
The game should enable fast free kick.

14. Goalkeeper behaviors.
The goalkeeper should be more active in saving some balls which can cause corner kicks. In FIFA09, they are a bit lazy at this point.

15. The referee.
The referee seems not so good at the time of blowing a whistle. Sometime the whistle is too late, sometime the whistles are totally unnecessary since the attackers are still holding the ball and having a good chance of scoring.

16. A Bug in player transfer.
For example, if a Chinese player is transfered to a club, he cannot be found in the China's national team squad any more. Besides, the number of players in Chinese national team is reduced to 29 players, not 30 like other national teams any more (this player and his position is missing!). This problem may also happen when a player existing in a national team but not in any league in FIFA09 is "transfered" to a club.

17. Prefered positions and abilities.
In reality, some players prefers to play on the left or the right side, but in FIFA 09, it seems that this does not make a difference.
Often in the game, a player gets a higher ability at a position which does not happen in reality.

18. Job security in manager mode.
When I used a one star team of English Cocacola League 2 to play the Manager Mode, my team encountered Arsenal (five star) in F.A. CUP. I lost by 0-1. Why my job security was still lowered? Is it a shame for my one star team to be defeated by a top Premium League team for one goal only?

19. High lights replay.
Why only 3 high lights at most are shown in the replay after a match?

20. Prefered player list for transfer.
Why not use a "prefered list" for some players the gamer is interested but cannot buy or loan immediately, so that he/she can find them quickly?

21. Top 20's.
Why not add a "top assists"? This is also important, isn't it ?

22. Saving relays.
Why doesn't the game allow to save replays on the local hard disk ?

23. Intuitive comparison between players.
A POLYGON can be used for this purpose, just like in PES and Football Manager. That helps a lot much the gamers to view the general characteristics of a player and understand what kind of player he is (dribbler like Quaresma? Attacking MF like Deco? Organizer like Pirlo? Defensive MF like Sisoko? Striker like Luca Toni or Aguero?)

24. Sequence of the values of the player stats.
I do not think it is the best way to sort those stats in alphabet. It's better to arrange them according to the players' positions, since for different positions there are relatively more important stats.

25. Captain change.
When the captain is substituted off, we cannot specify another player as the captain, why ???

26. A complete and step-by-step training mode.
The free training on the main interface is a very good idea. But what if we want to train our teamwork and defending skills, such as passing, tackling, corner kicks and indirect free kicks?

27. Recording of a whole match on local hard disk.
It sounds attractive to gamers, doesn't it?

28. Inch or CM ?
About the height of the players, if the game allow the gamer to choose his/her favorite unit, shouldn't be much better?

29. Player stats after a match.
After a match, only the stats of the "man of the match" is shown. Why not show stats for each player?


30. Rules of "shots on target"?
I found that if a player scores a goal by hitting on the pole and reflecting into the net, it is not counted as one "shots on target". Is this the correct FIFA official rule or a bug?

31. Created turnament
When a created turnaments is finished, it cannot continue to the next season, why? That also makes autosaving meanlingless, because loading the save only brings you the final result.

32. Music problem
When auto-saving the progress during play, the background music play is somehow interrupted.


33. Change of the throw-in player
Change of the throw-in player should be enbled.


34. Game speed problem
Many gamers have complained this problem, since sometimes the game is unrealistically fast. I feel roughly that if the time of my console is after 23:00 pm, the game becomes very fast. Even if I set the game speed as "low", it won't work. I have never met with such "pingpong-like" gameplay during the day time.

35. Halt the game when an injury happens
When an AI-controlled player is injured, his team mates do not stop but continuing with the match. This is not real. And also sometimes if the AI causes the opponent's injuries, the AI should kick the ball out of the side line for fair-play. Of course, if an injury is not caused by the opponent, they can continue.

[coolboywind]

Anyone else has the same feelings?

[blue166]

Seems like some good idea's though.

Why EA didn't already make sure most of that was in use i do not know.

[B0dunrin]

I agree witht he weather problems, top 20's, fast free kick, IMO they should make a bug free patch with these additions and some MM specific chages like being able to resign & find a new job when sacked, + take out loans & things like that.

[fcp4life]

They need to add allot more stuff in Manager mode say like Trophy celebrations it annoys me to see the players just jumping up and down... And there should be a game mode that allows you to start a Quick PK match like in the World Cup games and BAP Online Team should go to Extra time and PK's <- that one really annoyed me when i saw it stopped and gave a tie...

[RoadRunner2007]

Guys you are forgetting that there is a new FIFA game every year almost. FIFA 10 will have +1 new feature, FIFA 11 will have +1 new feature. If they add them all to the next FIFA game what is left for the next release? Improved graphics maybe, but that won't sell the game as well as new gameplay features.

I am still unable to understand why we cannot save replays? What has happened there?
How about a locker room, training ground sequences? Makes you more enganged with the team in Manager mode etc.

[babschild]

I'm with ya on all of these. FIFA 09 is a truly awesome game. It completely and utterly converted me from PES, but it is still with flaws. Here are three I could think of:

29) Make a run after a through ball. Unless I'm missing something, holding LB during a pass is the only way to have a player make a run. Obviously you can't do that with a ground-played through ball. Players should be able to make a run after any kind of pass, not just a direct ground pass.

30) Sprinting-into-jogging behavior. When I have a player sprinting into the box, but he's approaching the keeper and I want a closer touch and a slight change of direction, the player lunges forward to get his foot in front of the ball and slow it down, allowing the pursuing defenders to come in and smalalalala away. I don't want to stop the damn run... I'm still holding the stick forward, aren't I?... I just want to take a little speed off of it. If I'm sprinting and I suddenly hit LT to go into close dribble, then maybe you could interpret that as a desire to lunge forward and slow the ball down drastically, but not going from a sprint to a jog. Probably my biggest gripe with the game.

31) Superhuman keepers. No, I'm not vastly experienced with this game, but I'm pretty damn good and even on the middle skill level, the keepers pull off saves, particularly in 1v1 situations, that would make Peter Schmeichel look like Paul Robinson on acid. I know that in real life they save some, but in this game it's probably less than 50%. They consistently get balls that are heading for the corners. Kind of ridiculous. What's worse, and really just inexcusable, is the keepers knocking away balls that are a foot or more from their animated fingertips. These guys aren't 7'8" and there's a reason they aren't animated with the arms of a 7'8" man. Every other match I get a shot saved by a keeper's phantom hand. Annoying.

[babschild]

My goodness I almost forgot...

32) LET ME TURN OFF THE REFEREE!!!! Not turn off fouls... turn off the presence of the #$%#$% referee. I'm tired of having passes stopped by this pixelated moron. I don't care how realistic it is. I really don't. Let us turn him off... please...

33) Radar colors: Are you kidding me?! How this made it out of testing is beyond me. Put one team in white, one team in black/blue/whatever on the radar and BE DONE WITH IT. What good is the radar if the colors are so similar on it that I can't tell which team I am?

[coolboywind]

Originally Posted by babschild

31) Superhuman keepers.

I agree with this one. Goalkeepers seem to be almost never tricked, no matter who the dribbler is and what he does....

I tried with Messi and C.Ronaldo but found that even if I used "reasonable" dribbling techniques to trick the goalkeeper, for over 90% of chances he made the right judgement and stopped the ball.

Dribblers are very "FIFA" but goalkeeprs are rather "PES"

[B0dunrin]

The keepers in this game are really not that good, just aim your shots, tap them into the corners and...do NOT shoot while sprinting! When you are sprinting, all your technical skills are reduced.

[Ledz]

I want to see more more more more goalkeeper animations!! Im tired of the same old.

Also, tweak the ball physics. Dont completely change them, just tweak it

[Ledz]

OH YEAH and also make a full team practice not just a 1 player arena mode thing... and the ability to change the camera in arena mode (instead of always being be a pro cam)

[coolboywind]

Originally Posted by RoadRunner2007

Guys you are forgetting that there is a new FIFA game every year almost. FIFA 10 will have +1 new feature, FIFA 11 will have +1 new feature. If they add them all to the next FIFA game what is left for the next release? Improved graphics maybe, but that won't sell the game as well as new gameplay features.

I am still unable to understand why we cannot save replays? What has happened there?
How about a locker room, training ground sequences? Makes you more enganged with the team in Manager mode etc.

Yeah, you are right as we all know about these commercial things.

About Saving Replays, maybe EA is thinking about making money from this function?

Just look at ALS, you'll understand why FIFA does not have "Random Status" of players, because EA needs to sell ALS.

A "Random Status" will make an Exhibition Match much more enjoyable but make some gamers lose interest in ALS. In this aspect, I love PES, although in PES the "Random Status" seems to be a bit Exaggerated.

[Atom_Smasher]

I'd like to see players more sharp. They should be able to stop shoot more quickly, not necessarily more easily, but more realisticly.

[coolboywind]

Originally Posted by Isaiahledz

OH YEAH and also make a full team practice not just a 1 player arena mode thing... and the ability to change the camera in arena mode (instead of always being be a pro cam)

Good point. camera change in the training mode is always prefered by some gamers

[masterbrew]

Originally Posted by coolboywind

I agree with this one. Goalkeepers seem to be almost never tricked, no matter who the dribbler is and what he does....

I tried with Messi and C.Ronaldo but found that even if I used "reasonable" dribbling techniques to trick the goalkeeper, for over 90% of chances he made the right judgement and stopped the ball.

Dribblers are very "FIFA" but goalkeeprs are rather "PES"

Theres only one dribble that will fool the goal keeper every time and thats the step-over exit move. EA SPORTS™ Football World - NUTMEG UNITED - REAL MADRID 2 - 0

Nice suggestions btw

[coolboywind]

wanna know whether the EA stuff are realy interested in these points ?

[MartinsLegend]

i would like to see a place in like ur stats your top goal scorer and top assists online like just a wee page telling u ur top 10 goal scores of all time and assists

[B0dunrin]

Originally Posted by MartinsLegend

i would like to see a place in like ur stats your top goal scorer and top assists online like just a wee page telling u ur top 10 goal scores of all time and assists

Yeah like in PES, & Yor all-time MM best XI would be great. Training mode is a must for all versions. Medical staff should be allowed to be upgraded.

[coolboywind]

I wonder if EA has provided another space for bug reporting or suggestions...

[Diamondplus]

Great post. I have a few gripes of my own:

-- in manager mode, if I change say from 4-4-2 to 3-5-2, you find defenders in midfield, midfielders up front etc. I would like it so that when I save a custom formation, it also saves the selected players.

That way when I play a first round cup game, I can easily switch to my B squad/formation without having to faff around swapping players back and forth.

-- When defending, I'd prefer if the auto selection always picked players goalside. If the opposing player is sprinting towards my goal, why would I want to control a player five yards behind him?

-- An idea robbed from PES... can I have the player's names above my selected player regardless of if I'm attacking or defending. That way when I'm defending, it makes it easier not to run players out of position if I knew at a glance who they were.

-- If I play an exhibtion match and go to extra time, why can't I skip penalty shootouts? I find them quite dull.

-- In manager mode, how come when I'm selecting my team before a match, only half the screen is used? Use the full width, that way you can add more features.

-- And what happened to the shoulder button options from Fifa 08 that allowed you to quickly flick from the Squad screen to Formation screen?

[coolboywind]

Originally Posted by Diamondplus

Great post. I have a few gripes of my own:

-- in manager mode, if I change say from 4-4-2 to 3-5-2, you find defenders in midfield, midfielders up front etc. I would like it so that when I save a custom formation, it also saves the selected players.

That way when I play a first round cup game, I can easily switch to my B squad/formation without having to faff around swapping players back and forth.

-- When defending, I'd prefer if the auto selection always picked players goalside. If the opposing player is sprinting towards my goal, why would I want to control a player five yards behind him?

-- An idea robbed from PES... can I have the player's names above my selected player regardless of if I'm attacking or defending. That way when I'm defending, it makes it easier not to run players out of position if I knew at a glance who they were.

-- If I play an exhibtion match and go to extra time, why can't I skip penalty shootouts? I find them quite dull.

-- In manager mode, how come when I'm selecting my team before a match, only half the screen is used? Use the full width, that way you can add more features.

-- And what happened to the shoulder button options from Fifa 08 that allowed you to quickly flick from the Squad screen to Formation screen?

yeah, very nice ideas. i think some of them are already realized or quite normal in PES. FIFA 09 is a great game in its core and engine, but I'd prefer the interface of PES 2009.

[Ruairidh]

Sounds really good. Why just XBOX 360 though? All these could be done on the PS3 too.

I'd like to see more accurate stadiums - more realistic capacities and sizes as well as more away fans depending what size of team is playing.

Worse Injuries

Better Weather Conditions

[FitzNugly]

My controller cant wait for Fifa 10, it has had a hard time being smashed against the floor recently.

[JACKNITE]

That's really big writing, why are we talking so loud?

On a serious note, you make a very good point about changing the freekick taker. We used to be able to change the freekick taker without pausing (which you can only do 3 times online). Depending on where the free kick is being taken from you might want to use either a left or right footed player, so you can curl it near post. This really should never have been taken out and needs to be put back in.