Being a student who enjoys procrastinating more than, well, other people, I thought I would review a few things to give me something to do and you procrastinating freeloaders, something to read. I will review this game while still paying attention to the critical aspects of the lecture which include Block Index, Speed up, and sequential algorithm behaviour.

FIFA 2009

The latest incarnation of one of EA’s biggest cash cows was released in October and embraced by our house. Always favouring Fifa over Pro Evo, we were pleased to hear that the new Pro Evo was, basically, shit.

The new installment of Fifa is a vast improvement on 2008, with smoother gameplay and a more natural feel to the players. Fifa 2008 made you feel like your players were running through treacle filled with glue. The problem with the quicker gameplay is that your on-screen players are not used to the freedom and continually run offside. They are so eager to run into the net that the number of offsides per match becomes ridiculous. Screams of “FUUUUUUCK!” and “FOR GOD’S SAKE” are frequently heard as Jamie’s passes are called up by the now-visible referee.

If Jamie reviewed this game, he would comment that it is moderately entertaining with an underlying socialist feel. He would also mention that the on-screen players look disillusioned with the game and should be released into the real world. Jamie, however, is a good student who prefers making notes on parallel processing rather than typing gibberish on a tiny keyboard.

One controversial aspect of the game is the fact that the Welsh national team is not included.

It is rumoured that Tom Jones (who features on the game’s soundtrack) requested that he be included in the game as a Welsh striker. When EA refused, he submitted an awful remix of Feel The Music.

I, however, am happy that they were not included. Until they admit that ‘Love Spoons’ are not a plausible solution to the credit crunch, they should not be included in any sports game.

The game does well at performing different tasks simultaneously. It can render graphics, play audio and detect controller input with virtually no lag. Fifa 2009 obviously takes advantage of the three processing cores of the Xbox 360 and could probably pass a parallel processing exam with 65%.

Here are some other opinions of the game taken from writers of the All Nighter:

Gazz : “It’s alright.”

Tristan: “It’s class, but Crespo doesn’t play for Argentina, so I’m upset.”

Anthony: “I hate any console made in the last 8 years.”

I give it a parallel processing score of 5Mm(tcalc) (Good)