UK REVIEW--EA Sports' FIFA series has improved dramatically over the last few years, finally bringing the gameplay up to the same standard as its glittering presentation. With FIFA 10, the developer has produced the best game in the series to date, thanks to incredibly fluid 360-degree player control, improved animation, and realistic opponent AI. This year's game also introduces a revitalised Manager mode and a brand-new Virtual Pro feature, allowing you to put yourself in the game and unlock new abilities across nearly every game mode. The result is an unparalleled game of football, whether you're playing a quick game with your mates or sitting in the manager's chair over several seasons. There are still some issues--the sheer number of options and game modes result in an overloaded menu system, while the ability to upgrade players in exchange for real cash is a worrying sign for the future of downloadable content. However, these small issues aside, FIFA 10 is without a doubt the best football game yet, and it's a package that no football fan will want to be without.

The gameplay hasn't been radically overhauled this year, but the tweaks and improvements really add depth to the game. The biggest new gameplay feature is 360-degree player control, which makes player movement much smoother than before. Previously, players were limited to an eight-way axis of movement--a throwback to the days before analogue control that saw them zigzagging across the pitch. In FIFA 10, they move much more naturally, since you're able to make finer tweaks to their runs and subtle alterations to their angles of attack. It's a change that really doesn't become apparent until you go back to FIFA 09 and compare the differences, but FIFA 10 possesses a fluidity that has been missing in all football games before it.

In addition to the new controls, the improved animations and more-intelligent AI banish the small but niggling problems with last year's game. The computer no longer has an unfair advantage winning the ball in the air. The goalies are superb, with an increased number of animation routines that result in more realistic saves. The players have an incredible sense of physicality, and the differences in stats such as height, weight, and fitness have never been so accurately represented. Players now deal with the ball in a more realistic way, moving to intercept a high ball and chesting it down, rather than waiting for it to land at their feet. In short, it's difficult to fault the gameplay in FIFA 10.

FIFA 09 added a lot of new game modes to the series, including Be a Pro, where you took a single player through a career. Be a Pro returns this year, but Virtual Pro builds on the idea by allowing you to create a player in your own likeness and then play him across a greater number of game modes. The customisation options are the same as they are in Be a Pro, but the big new feature is the ability to upload a digital photo of yourself and import your face onto your Virtual Pro player. Unfortunately, we were unable to get the GameFace feature working despite repeated attempts--the server reported errors on the PCs we tried, and this problem has been echoed by numerous users. The whole process seems unnecessarily complicated: you have to take a photo, upload it, and then manually map out features such as your nose and eyes on a computer.