Play FIFA Soccer 09 Online

Game Overview

FIFA Soccer 09 on the DS was one of those games that made you forget you were holding a tiny handheld. The Be A Pro mode sucked me in immediately—you pick a real player or create your own, then grind through matches to build their skills. That low-angle camera following just your guy? Surprisingly intense when you're making a break for goal.

What I didn't expect was how much the little details mattered. Slide tackles actually felt useful for once, and the penalty shootout mode had me white-knuckling the stylus. Local multiplayer worked shockingly well with just one cartridge, though the online servers are long gone now. Still, even solo, there's something satisfying about taking some random League Two team and slowly turning them into contenders.

It's not perfect—the graphics are obviously DS-level, and the AI sometimes forgets how to defend—but for a portable soccer fix in 2009, this was as close as it got to the real thing.