G@mers Reviews
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FIFA 08 X-Box 360, PS3 Sat in the Fratton End watching my beloved Pompey last year, I noticed that in-between sticking a finger up to Ronaldo and questioning his parentage, much of the crowd were singing ‘Who are ya?’ to the Man Utd team that had just been defeated. A call that arguably, Pro-Evolution Soccer has been able to yell from the metaphorical stands at FIFA for many a year now. Is this the year it changes? Pro-Evo fans sit down now - I believe it is. Now before we start, let’s quantify a few things here: Pro-Evo or PES to a group of people who largely haven’t seen a girl in a long time, isn’t out for a few weeks yet. Secondly I am not saying FIFA necessarily beats PES hands down. I think at the moment they are drawing about level, I also think that isn’t going to last thanks to a little thing called Be The Pro, but I digress, what about here and now? |
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This year’s FIFA looks great in HD. Everything is nice and sharp. There are some great cut-scene touches, like a player’s reaction to missing a sitter or hurried grabbing of the ball after scoring in the final minutes of the game when you’re a goal down, but still, no more spectacular looking than PES will be. The commentary this year is fantastic, with Martin Tyler and Andy ‘he just fuzzed it past him’ Gray having a discussion of the history and hatred between Pompey and Southampton before my first game. Sometimes it’s a bit slow or random or repetitive though. This is understandable, if it was that easy Sky* would’ve sacked them both and just stuck an X-Box 360 on to commentate on Super-Sunday. |
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Now licensing has always been a stick that FIFA fans have beat the pro Pro-Evos over the head with. But why? So what if Liverpool are called Merseyside Red, it makes bugger all difference to game. Not this year. EA have actually used the licenses really well this year. Take my team Pompey, I went to play online last night, an update comes on, and hey presto – David Nugent is relegated to the bench, Benjani is up front and my squad are set up like the recent Pompey squad, complete with Papa Bouba Diop in midfield. Genius. Now I know Pro-Evo won’t be doing that. |
Then there’s the coup de grace. Be The Pro mode. You play just one player in the team for the whole game with, as Larry Sanders used to say, no flipping. At the moment you can only practise offline, so you’re playing with ten other computer players on your team, It’s fantastic. When you get a run on everything starts whizzing by you and it really gets your heart going. In a few months you’ll be able to play with five vs. five X-Box live players. Next year you’ll be able to play eleven on eleven. At which point if I was the makers of Pro-Evo. My bum would get a bit squeaky. Also, even on X-Box live one on one games this plays fantastic. You have to love those EA servers. |
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So what are the downsides? The initial difficulty level of professional when you play against the console is ridiculous. After a day of being beaten several games in a row by Southampton (dream on scummers!) I told a friend about my misery and how my inability to play console football had frankly made me have doubts about my manliness, and he told me not to be so stupid and to whack it down to semi-pro which is much better (most of my friends are now playing on amateur) It’s daft that EA set it up like this in the first place though. |
Also, I’ve heard other people say that compared to Pro-Evo, it feels like the players are on rails. I wouldn’t go that far, but if you don’t know (or in my case, can’t be arsed to learn) the special moves it’s not as fluid as you might want. Also this year scoring goals is harder than finding a newspaper without a picture of Britney Spears having a nervous breakdown in it. It’s actually a bit too hard and this is FIFA remember not PES. When all is said and done, FIFA could still do with a bit of work done on how it plays, but the touches and features that have been added and the Be A Pro mode make this is a great football game that is definitely worth owning. |
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8.5 / 10
Jason Wiltshire
* who are evil by the way.
Comments
Honestly the thing with the difficulty level is not an issue. The previous Fifa games have had semi pro as default and it was a pleasant challenge to not be stuffing the computer as soon as you played your first match. It is easily remedied by changing the dificulty as it is always popping up before you start matches. I agree its not too fluid in places as well and the tricks don't really improve it but for the things that aren't fluid, the parts that are easily make up for it such as the players falling over one another if there is someone lying in the way on the floor. By the way scum is manure. Chris Tuesday, October 16, 2007 08:14:02 |
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