The new features are more than enough to make it more than EA's annual 2 year international game.
First thing is the gameplay tweaks, a very good job done as well. From last years FIFA 08, players will move alot more realistically and act much more realistically on the pitch too, more moves have been added for instant control and a few new skill moves for the right analog stick too. Another thing to add is the players will jump in and slide for balls to either knock them into the net or to a nearby player which helps in tough games. The passing and long range kicks have had a small power bar as well as the normal one for added accuracy and can help with corners and free kicks too. One other thing is that I found it much more harder to get the ball back after losing it, AI won't just simply dribble it into you anymore, when you go in for a tackle, they will try to defend, take on and pass the ball realistically.
Another new feature is the new weather, It rains. This sounds great and by all means looks brilliant, not only does it have added effects in the match but the players actually look wet and for example Frank Lampards normal spiked up hair will drop with the rain and it all looks very impressive. However the rain does slow down and create both lag and frame rate issues which is abit dissappointing and hard to play with at times. This is the only dissappointing feature I found on the new game.
Another thing to note is the vast amount of international teams featured on the game, Its brilliant to pick any number of teams and have a big selection of players for you to manage any way you like, which brings me to another new feature added, you can now see managers on the touch line edging the players on, although sometimes you'll just see the same clip and routine from them, so its not such a big deal but a nice detail never-the-less.
In all there is alot to do on a game that is just made for a simple championship, for example you have the mega Euro event in which includes friendlys toos, you have the story of qualifaction which is very intresting and good to play on when you're bored of the 90 minute games. And the new Captin Your Country which ill get into next, so the replay value is good along with the gameplay tweaks and teams.
Captin Your Country is something that will take off over the next lot of FIFA's, Its something EA tried last year with some success, It allows you to create or take control of your own player and act as his postions or how you like in a match, for example if you create your own defensive midfielder you will be requied to drop back and defend as well as pushing forward to attack in order to get enough points to earn captinacy.
This is a game worth your time for fans of FIFA or anyone else looking for a game to acompany Euro over the summer, the new features are more than enough to make it more than EA's annual international 2 year game.