It's easy to slag off FIFA, so let's make a start. The perennial complaint is that it's the same game every year with little more than a different number on the box. As such, it's always tempting to give it the same review. However, last year's 360 debut was markedly different from previous years in that there was actually less content, featuring only the Premiership plus a smattering of foreign leagues. Apparently, the developers were too busy honing the next-generation graphics and gameplay to type in the details of the relevant clubs, or indeed cut and paste them from the previous game.
Thankfully that has been rectified for this year's model, with the Premier League now augmented by the Championship and Leagues One and Two, plus a hefty amount of foreign outfits. You want numbers? How about 620 licensed teams, 30 official leagues, and more than 15,000 players? And while we can't vouch for the physical likenesses of every single player, some of the glaring racial inconsistencies of previous incarnations appear to have been ironed out.
Visually FIFA 08 is nice. Not so great to play though.
Instead, they've introduced a whole new array of factual howlers, largely by way of the new Tournament Mode. We know it's new as it says so in-game, a worrying trend in itself as there's a danger that FIFA could be going down the Tiger Woods route of adding and removing features each year just so they can be flagged up as new. Anyway, 35 officially licensed tournaments are included, which appears to have been a massive waste of the licence fee. If you're going to have an official tournament, it would make sense to have it resemble the actual tournament, but closer inspection reveals a raft of inconsistencies.
As any lower division dullard will attest, the early rounds of the Johnstones Paint Trophy don't have extra time; in the event of a draw they go straight to penalties. Thin end of the wedge. How about the venerable FA Cup, which in the world of FIFA 08 has Premier League teams in the Second Round and a final played in September. (Incidentally, Cardiff City beat Doncaster Rovers to lift the trophy, which has to go down as merely improbable). And in The League Cup, Plymouth Argyle's reward for an heroic march to the final was the honour of staging it at their own ground, something that is all the more frustrating given that the game features a perfectly recreated New Wembley.
Free kicks are tricky to pull off, as are corners.
You could dismiss this as nitpicking, but for fifty English pounds you'd frankly expect better. Amidst one of the world's biggest game developers, it would probably have taken one person one day to check the facts. Football Manager doesn't make such mistakes, and that's put together by some hairy- arsed blokes in a tower block in east London. The difference is that they know and care about football.
As any self-respecting pundit will confirm, it's on the pitch that it matters though, and at grass roots level 08 is a markedly different beast to 07. Gone is the pacey arcade-style action and slalom-esque dribbling, replaced by a more measured affair with the emphasis on build-up play. That said, much of open play is spent shoulder to shoulder with an opposition player, either shielding the ball or attempting to wrest it off him, something that leads to some seemingly arbitrary fouls. When you do find time and space, the direction of the through ball can now be manually controlled, although it's generally easier to go for the default option. Crosses can also be manually controlled, something of an irony given that headed goals are as rare as rocking horse dung.
Cover star Ronaldinho shows his motion-captured skills.
On the defensive front, flicking the right stick switches which player you're in control of, theoretically enabling you to defend more tactically. There's an argument that the game should auto-select the best-placed player and in fairness it generally does, somewhat negating the impact of another new feature.
Elsewhere, the D-pad can be used to select four different tactics, assuming you have the manual dexterity and indeed memory to pull it off. Of the four, the offside trap is self-explanatory (and frequently embarrassing), the opposing wing move sets a player off on a run, team press sees everyone on the pitch make a beeline for the ball like a primary school game, and finally you can send a defender up into attack, John Terry-style, albeit hopefully more effectively. The game certainly takes some getting used to, with a physical approach that borders on the brutal. As in 07, players are sometimes practically knocked off their feet, a glitch that has yet to be rectified, or indeed punished by the referee.
Practice is definitely required and goals are initially hard to come by. While it can be frustrating, what ultimately saves FIFA 08 is simply the fact that it's football. No matter how you achieve it, strumming the ball into the back of the onion bag is still deeply satisfying, allowing you to momentarily overlook any shortcomings of the game. The basic pleasure of scoring - and winning - is more important than any fancy skill moves, which are little more than a more elaborate way of losing possession.
The Milan derby obscured by a player’s backside.
As for other new stuff, we've saved the 'best' until last, namely the novel Be A Pro mode, whereby you take control of only one player on the pitch, replete with dramatic camera angle when you're in possession. If you've played about with Ronaldinho in the menu section of FIFA 07 you'll have some idea of what to expect, albeit with 21 other players on the pitch who also want the ball. It'll probably make more sense once the 5-vs-5 online mode is up and running; although a full 22 human player mode is pencilled in for next year.
Closing Comments
As often seems to be the case with FIFA, this version comes laden with promises of what they’ll do next year. This year’s effort is a perfectly playable game and in the short term at least is fairly addictive, despite the various foibles. There’s much to admire in terms of the graphics, the online elements, the atmosphere, but as ever there’s still room for improvement. Maybe next year…
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