I shouted and raised both my arms in the air.

My son, Rafif looked at me in excitement. “Gol ya Pah?”, he joined my cheers.

Surely. This is just another Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (a.k.a Winning Eleven 2009) game played on my XBOX. But anybody who look at my expression that time, know how much the game captivated my emotion.

And by that measure, this is still a great game. One that, again and again, will make me wasting my precious idle time in front of my TV.

But is it the same thing for FIFA 09?

Yes, apparently. Maybe a bit less. But it’s getting closer. Very close.

Gameplay wise, why I finally still think PES is slightly better game is because I have religiously played this game about 10 years (please read my previous post ‘FIFA 09 vs PES 2009: History Reviewed’), and have mastered most of the moves, and known how to create goals from most angles and situations. In FIFA 09, I still need to practice my skills to beat the opponents, and still need to identify much more ways to score a goal. I haven’t been there yet. I haven’t reached the comfortable level in FIFA 09 to focus solely on how to break the opponents’ play. Instead, in number of times, I still think about how to pull off that moves. And that gives PES 2009 the advantage.

But just as if you meet a new girl in your life, you will be first attracted to how pretty FIFA 09 looks. How amazing it is sound. And how interesting it is to explore futher . That’s exactly what I feel when I first played FIFA 09. And it does live to its marketing hype and beautiful graphics. FIFA 09 is massive improvement from FIFA 08, particularly on its gameplay. The player movement is now smoother, and the goals are much less ‘scripted’ than its previous installment. After two months playing, I seriously felt FIFA 09 was superior than PES 2009. The tide has turned.

Until the XBOX version of PES 2009 hit the market.

Admittedly, when I first play PES 2009, my instant impression is PES has lost its charisma. It looks and feels tired. FIFA 2009 is definitely sleeker, a perfect fit for HD gaming. Take for example, its incredibly detailed graphics. You can notice the camera and microphone cables behind your goal post. Something which is small, but add the overall polish to the game. Konami is lazily resting on their laurels, and leave all of these kind of details untouched.

But, strangely, just as you find in your old girlfriend or your wife, after a while playing it, the old feeling of PES growingly creep inside you. You then realize how you miss those familiar touches. You remember again how comfortable you are with all of its moves and tricks. And how emotionally attached you are with netting 35 meter scorchers, finding out the superb young talent in master league, or going unbeaten while winning the cup. It’s all back haunting you, and you find your new girlfriend…err.. FIFA 09 become less interesting again.

Well, you may say, after reuniting with the old girlfriend, don’t you miss your new girlfriend again? Yes, very likely!

So, my conclusion is: FIFA 09 and PES 2009 are two great games. You hardly can’t choose which one is better. They have their own merits and critics. Play with one of them, and you will be interested (or missing) the other one. If you have to pick one, then it is a much harder task than last year. I personally will choose FIFA 09, simply because in overall it’s a more accomplished and polished game, and the fact that I owned PES 2008 and there is not much improvement from previous year installment. That said, you can’t go far wrong picking either one. We are all blessed to have these two excellent football games with us.