. Just couldn't resist the pun. But it is, Fifa 08 is what Fifa 07 should of been. From playing the demo, well I spent most of the last weekends playing the Fifa demo, now I have the full game. As much as I hate to say it. I may not be picking up the next Pro Evo well at least this side of Christmas.
On the Xbox 360, Fifa 08 clearly has been polished. As expected the manager mode is there, the challenge modes are there, but the one that really got my attention was the 'Be a pro mode'. My only minor niggle is that this is for one game only
. But even though it is only for the one game, it works really well. Being so used to the wide camera view, the view from playing left to right. Having the camera in the 3rd person behind the player facing up the pitch. I was initially clumsy, and this felt awkward. As soon as I was able to adjust to the camera angles, which do work a treat in my opinion. It was the challenge of playing as only player in the team and remembering it is a team game.
On first attempt in the 'Be a pro mode' I chose to play as Steven Gerrard. This was great, as it was my first go, I was constantly being out of position. I tried the other positions too. In defence I kept joining the attack. Forgetting that I was playing as a defender. Playing as a striker was the reversal role of a defender trying to, beat the defender and not to stray offside, what will only come in time is that the more you keep your position properly, such as learning the hard way be have a central defender that I was playing kept bombing forwards in attack. Was gifting gaping holes in the defence for the opposition.
You don't just stay in the position for the role that you play, when you are in space you call for a pass or a through ball, or if you see your AI team mate, with a chance to have a crack on goal, you shout (well press a button) for them to shoot at goal. When you are defence you can call for some defencive assistance.
I really enjoy this new feature, it is a shame this is not a full season mode where you can move from a lower league side, to maybe the Premiership. I have already tried the online modes and they are great the games were great.
Much to my amazement, the first game that I played online in a ranked match wasn't Man Utd, Barcelona, Real Madrid, it was a good old fashioned league two match Darlington vs Wrexham. It is good to see that as of the whole game mechanics, people are playing as different teams, and about time too.
As any Fifa gamer wouldn't expect from the Fifa series, the atmosphere is spot on as always, the commentary is very good, the crowd jear and complain, the skill stick moves are awesome, I got outplayed on line with the guy even had the balls to do keep uppies, whilst playing against me, fair play to him. That is what makes this game great. It is only the tip of the iceberg for me. Its 1-0 to EA can Konami come back and equalise. Although I am not sure if they can.