FIFA 09: Ultimate Team

Once you've settled on a formation and starting line-up, you can choose up to four Gameplay Modifier cards to take into a match. These cards give your players a bonus for a specific amount of time, reduce the opposing team's skill or fitness levels, or influence the ref to turn a blind eye to potentially career-threatening tackles. To activate a card during a game, you simply hold down the Back or Select button, depending on your console, and then press the d-pad direction that correlates to the bonus you want.

It's here that Ultimate Team begins to show some real promise, but sadly the system is compromised by a lack of visual prompts that indicate when a card has been activated, how it affects the gameplay, and how long it will last. Admittedly it's a relief that EA Canada has avoided the type of over-the-top bonus score icons that often obscure the action in PES 2009's Legends mode, but some flashier visual prompts displaying card-related information during games would have been welcome. (On a slightly separate note, these Gameplay Modifiers are responsible for an unintentionally hilarious disclaimer that flashes up every couple of minutes in the main menu, stating that using Gameplay Modifier Cards in Ultimate Team is not representative of real world football and the laws of the game. Thanks for that.)

Another new feature is the Custom/Quick Tactics option that allows you to customise build-up play, attacking preferences and defensive stances and easily switch between them during matches. It's certainly a decent enough feature, but again it can be hard to judge just how much of an effect your on-the-fly tactical tweakings are having on the bearing of a game.

While you're likely to spend a large chunk of time collecting bonus and player cards and playing around with the chemistry of your team, Ultimate Team's biggest selling point is its 36 online and club tournaments. There are twelve unique tournaments in total with three difficulty levels for each one, but before you can enter any of these you need to earn Skill Points. This is done by completing competitive games against AI or online opponents, and through skilful performances. These tournaments - especially the ones against other human opponents - constitute some of Ultimate Team's finest moments, notably when you find yourself up against fellow players who make cannier and more unpredictable Gameplay Modifier decisions than the AI.

While it's some way short of an essential buy, Ultimate Team is a solid enough addition to FIFA 09, adding a neat though not wholly original twist to conventional football. Collecting and trading cards and competing in the myriad tournaments can be fun, but the lacklustre chemistry mechanic and a lack of in-match glitz to accompany the more arcade-style feel created by the Gameplay Modifiers ensures the package often feels more like a glorified trading game than a whole new way of playing through 90 minutes.