MagpieRacer
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- Wymondham, Norfolk
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I felt that this forum was missing something, something which I feel I must add, reviews of games! Albeit not every new game will get reviewed, just the ones I buy
But feel free to add your own reviews of games you own and a nice list should start forming in this first post.
And so I shall start with the first review of the thread.
FIFA 08 by EA Sports
There always has and always will be debates on the best football game series, FIFA or Pro Evolution Soccer (PES). Its like the 360 and PS3, you have die hard fanboys with each who wont budge no matter how terrible each version actually is. Particularly with older FIFA's, 2003, 2004, 2005 in particular which really werent actually that great but where still being claimed as the best each year over Konami's offering. However, lots of licenses and real names didnt make good gameplay, as unbiased football fans found, fifa had the names and badges but pro evo was by far more fun. Then came 06 and 07, and suddenly FIFA started becoming a real threat to Pro Evos crown, the gameplay had become more pro evo like whilst pro evos formula had remained the same. This then meant that the names and badges became an issue because FIFA was almost as good to play as pro evo but also had licenses. And here we are now, with FIFA 08. FIFA 08 is the first next gen version of FIFA to be nearly identical to the previous gen version. FIFA 07 for example when it hit the next gen seemed to lose a lot of teams and stadia. F08 on the other hand has lost, well, LA galaxies stadium, white hart lane, estadio jalisco, and apparently all 4 Portugese stadiums that are in the ps2 version. So in essence it has only lost a few stadiums no one really cares for, unless you support one of those teams.
So, the next gen version has , 621 FIFA licensed teams, 30 leagues including 3 new leagues that didnt feature in any FIFA 07 version and a whopping 15'000 plus players. For those wondering what the new leagues are, you have the FAI League of Ireland, Australian Hyundai A League and the Czech Gambrinus Liga. All the club football nations included have their own cups as well, such as the Copa del rey in spain and the Johnstons paint trophy in England (whatever the hell that is). New Zealand and South Africa also make their first FIFA appearance in the international team line up which onl has 3 out of 43 teams unlicensed, Czech Republic, Netherlands and Nigeria.
So theres your stats and stuff, onto the game. Opening movie is your typical fast paced EA affair with lots of tricks and so on. After this, your presenter with a view behind a player standing on a field with a goal and goalkeeper ahead of you, this is the arena, you can run around and try and score against the keeper, maybe to practice or something not really sure but tis entertaining and you can chose which player you control from every player in the game. Press start and the menu comes up, with your usual options, quick play, be a pro, tournament mode, manager mode, xbox live, and my fifa08. Quick play is what it says on the tin, choose 2 teams, a stadium, a ball, an amount of time to play and a difficulty and your away. Tournament mode, you can choose a pre made tournament, like all the leagues available and all the cups, and play them as an individual tournamenet or create a customer tournament such as a world cup or something. Xbox live, chose to play only against someone in the be a pro mode or in a quick ranked or unranked match, good fun and will really increase the games life. My fifa08 is where options hides, as well as fan shop and the music section.
So, onto be a pro, kinda of a disappointment as the concept is good. You choose a team, then a team to play against like in quik match, but then you choose a player, and you will control only this player whilst the AI controls the rest of your team. It works very well and is good fun, when your off the ball you can call for it, make tackls and so on and when your on the ball the controls are the same. Theres also a unique "pro" camera angle which kinda swoops behind your team and more to the point behind your player, when you run in on goal the camera zoomzs in right behind you and goes intoa sort of action style as you hone in on goal. It plays well and works well but, and its a big but, you can only play friendlys, theres no tournaments or anything which is a huge dissappointment that will hopefully be rectified in FIFA 09.
Next up, manager mode, in my opinion the real meat of the game, where it all happens. You create a manager, choose a team, choose a sponsor and off you go! Theres lots you can do, upgrade staff, do transfers, scout and so on, very basic manager controls but it all adds to the gameplay somehow. I beleive the manager mode lasts 15 seasons but I dont know for sure as it doesnt tell you anywhere. Real world rules apply in manager mode, you can get promoted, get relegated, be sacked, have your fans turn against you, lose player confidence and so on. You can even be asked questions by the press of by your board or players which can affect each of these things, so a lot of tactical decisions can playa part off the field in keeping player and fan confidence. You have goals set at the start of each season which the board expect you to fulfill and is dependant upon team and how well your doing as you progress season by season. I finished 3rd with Newcastle in my first season and won the FA cup, so suddenly instead of the goal being finish top half of table, it was, win the league and a domestic cup. If you dont fulfill these, you wont get sacked, but your job security will suffer. Job secutiry is one of several bars in the main manager mode screen. The others being, fan support and team chemistry. You can also of course change tams at the end of a season if you fancy a change. But this is the brunt of the game and it is highly addicting, transfers play a huge part as your original players age and retire, scouting too plays a huge part in this so theres always gonna be changes season to season and this keeps it realistic. Players also develop and peak at certains points in their career, usually different for each player. It is very good and realistic.
Now, finally, gameplay. This is the best bit of the game, its unlike any FIFA I have played, it is still FIFA, but its more fast, fluid, responsive and much more fun and rewarding. There are different levels of help, such as auto aim passes and shots etc, but you can also chose manual, so you have to actually point your player where you want him to play the ball, it wont then think, hmm, you pointed it there but thats just a bit away from him so il move it there for you, it will play it where you ponted it, allowing for more accurate passing and shooting, you wont find yourself scoring the same goal twice and thats a promise. All the teams play realistically and tend to play dependant on their situation. i.e. newcastle v oldham in the cup, oldham took the lead early on and played really hard aainst the premier opposition before newcastle scraped a 2-1 win, top of the table clashes are fierce and hard fought affairs whilst relegation clashes can be scrappy goaless affairs. It is great fun and realistic. The difficulty levels are excellent, from amateur though, semi pro, professional, ace and legend (i think) each one varies hugely and provides a new challenge and as you master each one the next one wont be impossible but will be challenging to play.
This FIFA is finally the FIFA, in my opinion at least, that takes the elusive "best football game" crown off of PES. FIFA 08 plays well, looks superb and is far far more immersive than konamis latest offering. FIFA 08 gets a rating of:
9/10
But feel free to add your own reviews of games you own and a nice list should start forming in this first post.And so I shall start with the first review of the thread.
FIFA 08 by EA Sports
There always has and always will be debates on the best football game series, FIFA or Pro Evolution Soccer (PES). Its like the 360 and PS3, you have die hard fanboys with each who wont budge no matter how terrible each version actually is. Particularly with older FIFA's, 2003, 2004, 2005 in particular which really werent actually that great but where still being claimed as the best each year over Konami's offering. However, lots of licenses and real names didnt make good gameplay, as unbiased football fans found, fifa had the names and badges but pro evo was by far more fun. Then came 06 and 07, and suddenly FIFA started becoming a real threat to Pro Evos crown, the gameplay had become more pro evo like whilst pro evos formula had remained the same. This then meant that the names and badges became an issue because FIFA was almost as good to play as pro evo but also had licenses. And here we are now, with FIFA 08. FIFA 08 is the first next gen version of FIFA to be nearly identical to the previous gen version. FIFA 07 for example when it hit the next gen seemed to lose a lot of teams and stadia. F08 on the other hand has lost, well, LA galaxies stadium, white hart lane, estadio jalisco, and apparently all 4 Portugese stadiums that are in the ps2 version. So in essence it has only lost a few stadiums no one really cares for, unless you support one of those teams.
So, the next gen version has , 621 FIFA licensed teams, 30 leagues including 3 new leagues that didnt feature in any FIFA 07 version and a whopping 15'000 plus players. For those wondering what the new leagues are, you have the FAI League of Ireland, Australian Hyundai A League and the Czech Gambrinus Liga. All the club football nations included have their own cups as well, such as the Copa del rey in spain and the Johnstons paint trophy in England (whatever the hell that is). New Zealand and South Africa also make their first FIFA appearance in the international team line up which onl has 3 out of 43 teams unlicensed, Czech Republic, Netherlands and Nigeria.
So theres your stats and stuff, onto the game. Opening movie is your typical fast paced EA affair with lots of tricks and so on. After this, your presenter with a view behind a player standing on a field with a goal and goalkeeper ahead of you, this is the arena, you can run around and try and score against the keeper, maybe to practice or something not really sure but tis entertaining and you can chose which player you control from every player in the game. Press start and the menu comes up, with your usual options, quick play, be a pro, tournament mode, manager mode, xbox live, and my fifa08. Quick play is what it says on the tin, choose 2 teams, a stadium, a ball, an amount of time to play and a difficulty and your away. Tournament mode, you can choose a pre made tournament, like all the leagues available and all the cups, and play them as an individual tournamenet or create a customer tournament such as a world cup or something. Xbox live, chose to play only against someone in the be a pro mode or in a quick ranked or unranked match, good fun and will really increase the games life. My fifa08 is where options hides, as well as fan shop and the music section.
So, onto be a pro, kinda of a disappointment as the concept is good. You choose a team, then a team to play against like in quik match, but then you choose a player, and you will control only this player whilst the AI controls the rest of your team. It works very well and is good fun, when your off the ball you can call for it, make tackls and so on and when your on the ball the controls are the same. Theres also a unique "pro" camera angle which kinda swoops behind your team and more to the point behind your player, when you run in on goal the camera zoomzs in right behind you and goes intoa sort of action style as you hone in on goal. It plays well and works well but, and its a big but, you can only play friendlys, theres no tournaments or anything which is a huge dissappointment that will hopefully be rectified in FIFA 09.
Next up, manager mode, in my opinion the real meat of the game, where it all happens. You create a manager, choose a team, choose a sponsor and off you go! Theres lots you can do, upgrade staff, do transfers, scout and so on, very basic manager controls but it all adds to the gameplay somehow. I beleive the manager mode lasts 15 seasons but I dont know for sure as it doesnt tell you anywhere. Real world rules apply in manager mode, you can get promoted, get relegated, be sacked, have your fans turn against you, lose player confidence and so on. You can even be asked questions by the press of by your board or players which can affect each of these things, so a lot of tactical decisions can playa part off the field in keeping player and fan confidence. You have goals set at the start of each season which the board expect you to fulfill and is dependant upon team and how well your doing as you progress season by season. I finished 3rd with Newcastle in my first season and won the FA cup, so suddenly instead of the goal being finish top half of table, it was, win the league and a domestic cup. If you dont fulfill these, you wont get sacked, but your job security will suffer. Job secutiry is one of several bars in the main manager mode screen. The others being, fan support and team chemistry. You can also of course change tams at the end of a season if you fancy a change. But this is the brunt of the game and it is highly addicting, transfers play a huge part as your original players age and retire, scouting too plays a huge part in this so theres always gonna be changes season to season and this keeps it realistic. Players also develop and peak at certains points in their career, usually different for each player. It is very good and realistic.
Now, finally, gameplay. This is the best bit of the game, its unlike any FIFA I have played, it is still FIFA, but its more fast, fluid, responsive and much more fun and rewarding. There are different levels of help, such as auto aim passes and shots etc, but you can also chose manual, so you have to actually point your player where you want him to play the ball, it wont then think, hmm, you pointed it there but thats just a bit away from him so il move it there for you, it will play it where you ponted it, allowing for more accurate passing and shooting, you wont find yourself scoring the same goal twice and thats a promise. All the teams play realistically and tend to play dependant on their situation. i.e. newcastle v oldham in the cup, oldham took the lead early on and played really hard aainst the premier opposition before newcastle scraped a 2-1 win, top of the table clashes are fierce and hard fought affairs whilst relegation clashes can be scrappy goaless affairs. It is great fun and realistic. The difficulty levels are excellent, from amateur though, semi pro, professional, ace and legend (i think) each one varies hugely and provides a new challenge and as you master each one the next one wont be impossible but will be challenging to play.
This FIFA is finally the FIFA, in my opinion at least, that takes the elusive "best football game" crown off of PES. FIFA 08 plays well, looks superb and is far far more immersive than konamis latest offering. FIFA 08 gets a rating of:
9/10
